Days Before US Election, Pope Warns Against 'Walled-Up' Citizens and Politics of Fear

— -- Days before the U.S. presidential election, Pope Francis spoke publicly about the danger of citizens becoming 'walled-up' and tyrannized by people exploiting their fears.

Some observers at different ends of the U.S. political spectrum took the pope's address as an indirect criticism of some of the policies of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has proposed to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The pontiff spoke at the Vatican on Saturday evening before the Third World Meeting of Popular Movements, a collection of grassroots groups representing the poor.

Pope Francis warned against "the terrorism of an economy focused only on making money," fostering fear so that "the citizens who still have some rights are tempted by the false security of physical or social walls ... Walls that enclose some and exile others," according to Catholic News Service.

“No tyranny can be sustained without exploiting our fears,” the pope further said, according to a transcript provided by Vatican Radio.

“Citizens are walled-up, terrified on one side; on the other side, even more terrified, are the excluded and banished,” Pope Francis said.

His remarks drew both praise and criticism on Twitter.

The pope also spoke about the refugee crisis, with millions fleeing Syria, Iraq and other countries for Europe. “No one should be forced to flee their homeland,” he said.

Earlier this year, the pope directly criticized Trump's proposal to build a border wall.

"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian," the pontiff told journalists in February. "This is not the Gospel."

A Vatican spokesman said afterward that Pope Francis was not personally attacking Trump or telling anyone how to vote.