Opinion of this quote about #populism <3...

[Antonio the Sixth]

Maybe it has some more importance in Europe?

My impression was that a lot of the political parts of the encyclical seemed specifically informed by what's going on with the Italian center-right. §§86 and 125 also seem like they're directed at Lega in particular rather than at the global #populist right more generally. Popes, even post-1870 Popes, adopting Italy as their main reference point when it comes to assessing world politics is a long and proud tradition, of course. Perhaps Antonio or Battista Minola would be able to say more about this.

Yeah, "populism" is possibly even more abused as a political term in Europe than it is in America. Almost all the rhetoric against the yellow-green government back in its days was painting is as "the government of the populists".

I think Francis' point is precisely that this term has been so abused as to become meaningless.

[Antonio the Sixth]

By the way: it's quite some time that my usual reaction to all of this is "Lega populist my ass - have you seen the flat tax? "

Oh God thank you for saying that.

The flat tax is the most pro-elite, anti-populist political idea currently being floated in Italy. It's a f**king disgrace that Salvini was able to sell it as a reform for the little guy and it says some scary things about the idiocy of Italian political discourse.