Italy’s 53rd prime minister said: “At this moment, in my opinion, the main leader of the left wing is the Pope.”

He added: “The person that expresses, with the force that derives from his role, this criticism of society and its exclusion mechanisms, is certainly the Pope.”

Mr D'Alema made the comments while presenting a book - ‘Catholics without a political party?’ - by Giorgio Merlo, which looks at political Catholicism in Rome.

The former communist made the comments at a time when the country faces political and economic uncertainty.

With no clear favourite in the election, experts and leaders across Europe are concerned about possible economic problems which might occur if no government can be formed following the March 4 vote.

Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing coalition of his Forza Italia and Lega Nord is expected to fall short of the 40 per cent required to form a coalition.

This same is true for the other main political parties - 5Star Movement founded by Beppe Grillo and Matteo Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party.

Europe’s leaders are concerned that Italy’s economy is growing at a slow pace and is highly indebted. Italy has a public debt at roughly 130 percent of GDP and is second only to Greece, at 180 percent.

As leaders and figures across the political, business and financial and media sectors meet at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Pope Francis said “there is a growing fragmentation between states and institutions”.

In his message to the Executive Chairman of the Forum, Professor Klaus Schwab, Pope Francis said: “Men and women risk being reduced to mere cogs in a machine that treats them as items of consumption to be exploited, with the result that – as is so tragically apparent – whenever a human life no longer proves useful for that machine, it is discarded with few qualms”.

He added: “Now is the time to take courageous and bold steps for our beloved planet. This is the right moment to put into action our responsibility to contribute to the development of humanity.”