Pope Francis slams 'anti-Semitism as a bad ideology' during rare interview as he calls for an end to wars, including in Ukraine, arguing that 'indifference is a very ugly disease'

Pope Francis condemned growing anti-Semitism during a rare wide-ranging interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday.

The pontiff, 87, described anti-Semitism as 'bad ideology' while also calling for an end to the war in Ukraine and slammed the worldwide indifference to suffering. 

'There are so many Pontius Pilates on the loose out there… who see what is happening, the wars, the injustice, the crimes… "That's OK, that's OK" and wash their hands,' he said. 

'It's indifference. That is what happens when the heart hardens… and becomes indifferent. Please, we have to get our hearts to feel again... The globalization of indifference is a very ugly disease. Very ugly.'

Speaking about anti-Semitism, the pope said that it was part of an ideology and that: 'All ideology is bad, and antisemitism is an ideology, and it is bad. Any "anti" is always bad.'

'You can criticize one government or another, the government of Israel, the Palestinian government. You can criticize all you want, but not "anti" a people. Neither anti-Palestinian nor anti-Semitic. No,' he continued.

The pontiff, 87, described anti-Semitism as 'bad ideology' while also calling for an end to the war in Ukraine and slammed the worldwide indifference to suffering

The rare interview with Norah O'Donnell aired on Sunday night 

When asked by Norah O'Donnell if he could help to negotiate peace in the ongoing conflicts in the world, he said: 'What I can do is pray. I pray for peace. And also, to suggest: "Please, stop. Negotiate."'

In a more light-hearted exchange, when O'Donnell spoke about her parents fleeing Ireland for the US in the 1930s in search of a better life. Pope Francis' family left Italy for Argentina following the rise of Benito Mussolini, the pontiff had a joke. 

'They say that you Irish migrated and brought the whiskey, and that the Italians migrated and brought the mafia… (laugh) It's a joke. Don't take it badly. But, migrants sometimes suffer a lot. They suffer a lot.'

From there, the conversation turned to the southern border in the United States with the pope speaking about the shutting down of a Catholic charity that offered services to migrants. 

'That is madness. Sheer madness. To close the border and leave them there, that is madness. The migrant has to be received. Thereafter you see how you are going to deal with him. Maybe you have to send him back, I don't know, but each case ought to be considered humanely. Right?'

The interview was conducted on April 24 inside of his modest residence in the Vatican City.

Pope Francis was also asked his thoughts on the conservative backlash against his papacy, with many of his critics being American clergy members.

The interview was conducted on April 24 inside of his modest residence in the Vatican City

Pope Francis has clashed with the conservative wing almost since he was elected as head of the church in 2013

He responded by saying a conservative is someone who 'clings to something and does not want to see beyond that.'

'It is a suicidal attitude,' the pontiff said, according to a brief transcript excerpt made available by CBS Thursday.

'Because one thing is to take tradition into account, to consider situations from the past, but quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box.'

Pope Francis has clashed with the conservative wing almost since he was elected as head of the church in 2013.

Moves conservatives have opposed include papal attempts to make the church more welcoming to the LGBT community and to give lay people more responsibility in the church. 

Francis last year dismissed a conservative U.S. bishop who was a withering critic of his papacy, and said the conservative wing in the U.S. church was 'reactionary.' He also a conservative American cardinal of some Vatican privileges.