Pope Francis has blamed Western military interventions for the rise of the Islamic State terror group and for the distabilising of Libya and the ensuing migration crisis in the Mediterranean.
In an interview for a new book, the Holy Father said the invasion of Iraq and support for jihadi groups in the so-called “Arab Spring” had created more problems than they have solved.
The British and French support for jihadi groups in the Libyan civil war of 2011, which led to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, had particularly disastrous consequences, the Pope said.
The instability that followed the conflict has since allowed warlords to traffic weapons to jihadis attacking Christians in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa and criminal gangs to traffic vast numbers of migrants across the Mediterranean, tens of thousands of whom have drowned during attempted crossings.
The Pope also said that the invasion of Iraq by an American-led coalition in 2003 directly led to the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq neighbouring Syria a decade later.
Francis said the West was misguided in their policies to “import its own type of democracy” into countries with a political culture “similar to” tribal.
“Let’s think about Libya,” said the Pope. “A Libyan told me that they once only had one Gaddafi, but now they have 53.”