Dalai Lama thinks Europe has let in 'too many' refugees

Mainz, Germany — The Dalai Lama thinks Europe has let in "too many" refugees.

The Tibetan spiritual leader said that "we feel the misery" of each individual refugee and that humans have a "responsibility to help" — but that there are "too many" who have been accepted in Europe.

"Europe, for example Germany, cannot become an Arab country. Germany is Germany," he laughed in an interview published Tuesday with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. "There are so many."

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The Dalai Lama said that "from a moral standpoint" he thinks refugees should "only be accommodated temporarily" — with the goal of them returning home to rebuild their countries.

Germany took in over 1 million refugees last year from war-torn countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan over the past year.

The influx of migrants and refugees has led to a spike in anti-foreigner sentiment in Germany.