“Terrorism grows when there is no other option, and as long as the world economy has at its center the god of money and not the person, ” the pope said, adding that “This is fundamental terrorism, against all humanity”.
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God, said Francis in his final homily of the pilgrimage, “demands of us real courage, the courage to be more powerful than evil, by loving everyone, even our enemies”. He had a speech prepared but looking at the pages in his hand with annoyance he said, “five pages?” and then began speaking freely in his native Spanish.
Rev Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, referred to an estimate by Polish authorities of 1.5 million at yesterday’s closing mass.
Hundreds of people, mostly parents, gathered to welcome the enthusiastic youths. Poland has been among the European Union countries that have refused to take in many Muslim refugees, saying it has already welcomed hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian immigrants.
On a flight back to the Vatican after a five-day visit to Poland, Francis was asked by a reporter about remarks he made following last week’s attack on a church in northern France in which an elderly priest was brutally murdered.
“We must avoid a media verdict, a verdict based on gossip”, he told journalists aboard the papal plane during the return trip from Poland, where he had headlined a Catholic youth festival.
Francis responded that the characterization of Islam as violent is untrue and that violence committed by extremists groups such as the Islamic State should not be attributed to the religion as a whole.
Pope Francis said on Sunday that he will wait until Australian justice takes its course before taking a position on Cardinal George Pell, who is under investigation in his homeland over sexual abuse allegations. “This is not right and it is not true”, he said. Motorcycle police rode close to metal barriers keeping the crowd away.
The Pope was in Poland from Wednesday to Sunday for World Youth Day, a week-long event attended by over a million pilgrims. Later, he told rally volunteers he did not know if he would be at that one.
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– Delia Gallagher in Rome contributed to this article.
