Pope Francis has compared the EU to a 'Nazi dictatorship' for trying to impose woke rules on language and ban using the word Christmas.
The pope, 84, warned the bloc not to 'take the path of ideological colonisation' as he returned from Greece after a four-day trip.
Last week, the EU was accused of trying to 'cancel Christmas' after telling staff to avoid the word in favour of 'holiday period' because it could be offensive to non-Christians.
Eurocrats published the rule months ago as part of a guide on 'inclusive communication', details of which leaked leading to a furious backlash.
Other suggestions in the book included replacing Christian names such as Mary and John with 'international' names such as Malika and Julio when using them in generic examples, and swapping the word 'man-made' for 'human-induced'.
The pontiff said the language diktats, which the European Commissioner for Equality admitted 'clearly needed more work', 'a fad, watered-down secularism'.
Pope Francis (pictured holding an Acropolis model on his return flight from Greece) has compared the EU to a 'Nazi dictatorship' for trying to impose woke rules on language and ban using the word Christmas
He said while on board the papal plane on return to the Vatican: 'It is something that throughout history has not worked.
'In history, many dictatorships have tried to do these things. I'm thinking of Napoleon, the Nazi dictatorship, the Communist one.'
He added that the EU is 'necessary' but it needs to avoid stirring up divisions among its member states.
He said: 'The European Union... must be careful not to take the path of ideological colonisation. This could end up dividing countries and causing the EU to fail.
Helena Dalli, the EU's equality commissioner, issued the guide (pictured) back in October but its contents only just became public
'The European Union must respect each country's internal structure, its variety and not try to make them uniform — I don't think it will do that, it wasn't its intention, but it must be careful, because sometimes they come and throw projects like this one out there.'
Last week's EU document also told staff to 'avoid assuming that everyone is Christian' and that 'not everyone celebrates the Christian holidays, and not all Christians celebrate them on the same dates'.
Instead of saying 'Christmas time can be stressful', staff were told to say 'Holiday times can be stressful'.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, accused the EU of trying to 'cancel our roots' by ignoring - rather than respecting - Europe's Christian heritage.
'We know that Europe owes its existence and its identity to many influences, but we certainly cannot forget that one of
