Still, as theologian James Ball writes for U.S. Catholic, to his knowledge, no other pope has been as explicit in denying any inherent connection between Islam and violence as Francis was in his 2013 apostolic exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel”.
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“I think it is not right to identity Islam with violence”, he told reporters, addressing media aboard a plane taking him back to Rome following a five-day trip to Poland.
He, however, said: “I believe that in every religion there is always a little fundamentalist group”.
‘And these are baptized Catholics.
“If I speak of Islamic violence, I have to speak of Catholic violence”, cautioned the pontiff.
Islam is an inherently intolerant and violent religion, and it’s desperately in need of a reformation. It’s like a fruit salad, everything’s in there.
The “world is at war”, Francis said, but the way to “overcome fear” was to welcome people fleeing conflicts and persecution – a message with particular resonance in Poland, which has taken a hard line against refugees.
He also said that the Islamic State is one of those fundamentalist groups that do not represent Islam, adding that the imams he has spoken to want peace.
Pope Francis: Terrorism is everywhere. “They look for peace, encounter”, he said. “How many youths have we Europeans left empty of ideals?”. Just think of the tribal terrorism that exists in some African countries.
Speaking to journalists aboard his return flight from Krakow, Poland, July 31, the pope also stressed that violence exists in all religions, including Catholicism, and it can not be pinned to one single religion. “Terrorism grows when there is no other option, and as long as the world economy has at its centre the god of money and not the person”, he said.
In their propaganda magazine Dabiq, the Islamic state responded to Pope Francis and insisted that he should identify Islam as violent. That is a basic terrorism against all humanity. Religious leaders especially need to speak out against Islamic terrorism, killing in the name of a deity damages the integrity of all faiths.
The Pope said that when he reads the newspaper, he reads about an Italian who kills his fiancé or his mother in law.
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The magazine says there are “exceptions among the disbelievers” who argue that jihad and “everything else deemed taboo by the Islam-is-a-peaceful-religion crowd” are in fact completely Islamic.
