Pope decries surge of polarization over race, faith

New Cardinal Mario Zenari, Apostolic Nuncio in Syria, receives the red three-cornered biretta hat during a consistory inside the St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. In the ceremony to formally give the Catholic church 17 new cardinals, Francis lamented how immigrants, refugees, and those from different races or faiths are increasingly seen as enemies. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) (The Associated Press)

A cardinal holds a red three-cornered biretta hat before a consistory inside the St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. Pope Francis has named 17 new cardinals, 13 of them under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect his successor. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) (The Associated Press)

A view of of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, before the start of a consistory, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. Pope Francis has named 17 new cardinals, 13 of them under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect his successor.(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, pool ) (The Associated Press)

Pope Francis has decried what he calls a surge of polarization in the world while welcoming 17 new cardinals from five continents.

During a ceremony Saturday in St. Peter's Basilica to formally induct the prelates into the cardinals' ranks, Francis lamented how immigrants, refugees, and people of different races or faiths are increasingly seen as enemies.

Francis cautioned somberly against those who "raise walls, build barriers and label people."

In his homily, the pope said: "We live at a time in which polarization and exclusion are burgeoning and considered the only way to resolve conflicts."

Among new cardinals pledging loyalty to the pope are churchmen from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and North and South America. Their homelands include Papua New Guinea, Albania, Mauritius and Lesotho, Malaysia, Venezuela, Mexico and the United States.