“I say that politics is the most important of the civil activities and has its own field of action, which is not that of religion.”

—  Pope Francis

Political institutions are secular by definition and operate in independent spheres. All my predecessors have said the same thing, for many years at least, albeit with different accents. I believe that Catholics involved in politics carry the values of their religion within them, but have the mature awareness and expertise to implement them. The Church will never go beyond its task of expressing and disseminating its values, at least as long as I'm here.
2010s, 2013, Interview in La Repubblica

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Pope Francis 113
266th Pope of the Catholic Church 1936

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