Pope Francis blasted EU Commissioner Helena Dalli’s controversial Christmas language guide as an “anachronism”, not much unlike that which was tried by dictatorships such as that of Nazi Germany.

The European Commission last week retracted internal communication guidelines that had proposed substituting the "Christmas period" with "holiday period" after an outcry by conservatives and the Vatican, which termed the document an attempt to "cancel" Europe's Christian roots.

The European Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, said the draft document had been intended to highlight European diversity and showcase the "inclusive nature of the European Commission." But in a statement, she said it didn't meet Commission standards and failed to achieve its stated purpose.

In comments to the media, as reported by Vatican News, Pope Francis said about the document: “this is an anachronism. In history many, many dictatorships have tried to do so. Think of Napoleon: from there... Think of the Nazi dictatorship, the communist one... it is a fashion of a watered-down secularism, distilled water... But this is something that throughout hasn’t worked.”

“But this makes me think of something, talking about the European Union, which I believe is necessary: the European Union must take in hand the ideals of the founding fathers, which were ideals of unity, of greatness, and be careful not to take the path of ideological colonisation. This could end up dividing the countries and [causing] the European Union to fail,” the pontiff said.

“The European Union must respect each country as it is structured within, the variety of countries, and not want to make them uniform. I don't think it will do that, it wasn't its intention, but be careful, because sometimes they come, and they throw projects like this one out there and they don't know what to do; I don't know what comes to mind... No, each country has its own peculiarity, but each country is open to the others. The European Union: its sovereignty, the sovereignty of brothers in a unity that respects the individuality of each country. And be careful not to be vehicles of ideological colonisation. That is why [the issue] of Christmas is an anachronism,” Pope Francis said.