Pope Francis decries Westerners as 'racists' over Ukrainian refugee relief efforts

Pope Francis on Friday derided what he considers the Western world's rush to help Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion after failing to do likewise during other, worldwide humanitarian crises.

Italian reporter Lorena Bianchetti highlighted the responses to the Ukrainian and Syrian refugee crises and asked the pontiff if he saw "cracks in the walls of indifference, of prejudice toward those who flee from other parts of the world wounded by war" or if "refugees [will] continue to be subdivided."

"Refugees are subdivided," he said in the Good Friday interview. "There’s first class, second class, skin color, [if] they come from a developed country [or] one that is not developed. We are racists, we are racists. And this is bad."

Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

The pope went on reference Jesus Christ's flight to Egypt with his parents to avoid death at the hands of King Herod.

"Jesus suffered too, because he was a migrant and a refugee in Egypt when he was a child, to escape death."

More than 4 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the start of the war on Feb. 24 while another 6 million have been internally displaced.