Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday criticized anti-migrant activists who stoke “fears” of Islam and said co-operation between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon should be an example for Europe and the United States.

The 70-year-old pope spoke to reporters on the plane at the end of his visit to Turkey and Lebanon – his first trip outside of Italy since becoming head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in May.

Leo said anti-Muslim sentiment was “oftentimes generated by people who are against immigration and trying to keep out people who may be from another country, another religion, another race.”

He said his visit to Lebanon was intended to show “that dialogue and friendship between Muslims and Christians is possible.”

Leo said stories he heard during the trip of Christians and Muslims helping each other were “lessons... that we should perhaps be a little less fearful.”

The US-born pope spent two decades in Peru as a missionary within the Augustinian order.

He has been critical of growing nationalist sentiment in Europe and the United States and has called for an end to the “inhuman treatment” of migrants under US President Donald Trump.

He has also exhorted followers to reject an “exclusionary mindset” that he said had led to nationalism around the world.

Leo has said the Catholic Church “must open the borders between peoples and break down the barriers between class and race.”