Pope Francis adjusts his skullcap flanked by Panama President Juan Carlos Varela and First Lady Lorena Castillo after arriving at Tocumen International airport for World Youth Day in Panama City, Panama January 23, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis wasted no time wading in on the standoff over funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall on Wednesday as he started his trip to Panama, saying on the plane from Rome that hostility to immigrants was driven by irrational fear.
In a brief conversation between the pope and journalists on the flight, one reporter described the barrier that juts out into the Pacific Ocean between the two countries in San Diego, California, as a "folly".
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