Pope Francis has slammed cancel culture as part of his annual "state of the world" address at the Vatican, saying the phenomenon propagates "one-track thinking".
As part of his address on Monday, January 10, the pope spoke before diplomats from 183 countries and said that cancel culture "leaves no space for freedom of expression."
The remarks come after the European Union in November drafted a document calling for officials to replace the word "Christmas" with "holiday season".
Per The Guardian, the document, which is now under revision, was regarded by some critics as having stemmed from cancel culture. As such, they saw it as an attempt to cancel Christmas.
While the Pope refrained from naming any particular examples of cancel culture, he argued that "one-track thinking" from today's point of view doesn't account for the context of the past.
In his speech, he referred to cancel culture as "a form of ideological colonization — one that leaves no room for freedom of expression."
"Cancel culture is invading many circles and public institutions," he said in the address. "As a result, agendas are increasingly dictated by a mindset that rejects the natural foundations of humanity and the cultural roots that constitute the identity of many people."
He then proceeded to argue that cancel culture, "under the guise of defending diversity," ends up "canceling all sense of identity."
"Diplomacy is called to be truly inclusive, not canceling but cherishing the differences and sensibilities that have historically marked various peoples," Pope Francis added.
Elsewhere in the address, the Pope condemned the spread of "baseless" misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines.
This comes after Pope Francis said last week that couples who choose to have pets over children are "selfish".
"Today we see a form of selfishness," he said at the Vatican. "We see that some people do not want to have a child."
"Sometimes they have one, and that's it, but they have dogs and cats that take the place of children. This may make people laugh but it is a reality," he went on to say.
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