Pope Francis said on Sunday that it was wrong to identify Islam with violence, and that social injustice, idolatry of money were among the prime causes of terrorism.
“I think it is not right to identity Islam with violence,” he told reporters aboard the plane taking him back to Rome after a five-day trip to Poland. “This is not right and this is not true.”
Francis was responding to a question about the killing on July 26 of an 85-year-old Roman Catholic priest by knife-wielding attackers who burst into a church service in western France, forced the priest to his knees and slit his throat. The attack was claimed by the hardline Sunni militant group ISIS.
“I think that in nearly all religions there is always a small fundamentalist group,” he said, adding “We have them,” referring to Catholicism.
“I don’t like to talk about Islamic violence because every day when I look at the papers I see violence here in Italy — someone killing his girlfriend, someone killing his mother-in-law. These are baptized Catholics,” he said.
“If I speak of Islamic violence, I have to speak of Catholic violence. Not all Muslims are violent,” he added.
“I know it dangerous to say this, but terrorism grows when there is no other option and when money is made a god and it, instead of the person, is put at the centre of the world economy,”
“That is the first form of terrorism. That is a basic terrorism against all humanity. Let’s talk about that,” he said.
Thomson Reuters
