Pope Francis: "Hostility, extremism and violence are betrayals of religion"

We have regained our dignity thanks to your visit, happy peacemakers, we are all brothers, I promise in your presence that I will stay on the land of my fathers, and it is my decision

we promise you that we will continue for the work for peace

terrorism

Islamic

From this place of faith, from the land of our father Abraham, we affirm that God is merciful and that the most blasphemous offense is to profane his name by hating the brother.

Hostility, extremism and violence do not arise from a religious soul: they are betrayals of religion.

And we believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion.

On the contrary, it is up to us to clear up any misunderstandings

so that freedom of conscience and religious freedom are respected and recognized everywhere: these are fundamental rights because they make man free to contemplate the Heaven for which he has been created

Let us ask it in prayer for the whole Middle East, I am thinking in particular of neighboring Syria, martyred

I would like to recall in particular the Yazidi community, which mourned the deaths of many men and saw thousands of women, girls and children abducted, sold as slaves and subjected to physical violence and forced conversions

Terrorism, when it invaded the north of this dear country, barbarically destroyed part of its marvelous religious heritage, including churches, monasteries and places of worship in various communities.

But, even during this dark moment, stars shone.

I think of the young Muslim volunteers in Mosul who helped redevelop churches and monasteries by building fraternal friendships on the rubble of hatred, and of the Christians and Muslims who together are now restoring mosques and churches.

Peace requires neither winners nor losers, but brothers and sisters who, despite misunderstandings and wounds of the past, walk from conflict to unity.

From renouncing having enemies.

Whoever has the courage to look at the stars, whoever believes in God, has no enemies to fight.

He has only one enemy to face, who stands at the door of the heart and knocks to enter: it is enmity.

While some seek to have enemies more than to be friends, while many seek their own benefit at the expense of others, he who looks at the stars of promises, he who follows the ways of God cannot be against someone. , but for everyone.

It cannot justify any form of imposition, oppression and prevarication, it cannot behave aggressively.

they cannot see their dreams annihilated by the conflicts of the past!

It is urgent to educate them in fraternity (…) It is a real emergency;

it will be the most effective vaccine for a day after peace.

we are called to leave these links and these attachments which, by locking us up in our groups, prevent us from welcoming it. infinite love of God and of seeing brothers and sisters in others.

Yes, we need to come out of ourselves, because we need each other.

The pandemic has made us understand that no one runs away on their own.

However, the temptation to distance yourself from others often comes up.

But “the“ man who can ”will quickly become“ all against all ”, and this will be worse than a pandemic.

In the storms that we are going through, isolation will not save us, the race to strengthen armaments and to erect walls, which on the contrary will make us ever more distant and angry, will not save us.

the idolatry of money, which locks up on oneself and causes chasms of inequalities into which humanity sinks

consumerism, which anesthetizes the mind and paralyzes the heart " .

The way that Heaven indicates to our march is different, it is the way of peace.

She asks, especially in the storm, to row together on the same side.

It is unworthy, when we are all tested by the pandemic crisis, and especially here where conflicts have caused so much misery, that we think avidly of our own affairs.

There will be no peace without sharing and welcoming, without justice that ensures equity and promotion for all, starting with the weakest.

There will be no peace without peoples reaching out to other peoples

true religiosity is to adore God and love one's neighbor.

In today's world, which often forgets the Most High or presents a distorted image of him, believers are called to bear witness to his goodness, to show his fatherhood through their fraternity

Heaven has not grown weary of the Earth: God loves each people, each of his daughters and each of his sons!

above all up to us, believers of all religions, to convert the instruments of hatred into instruments of peace.

It is up to us to strongly urge the leaders of the nations so that the growing proliferation of arms gives way to the distribution of food for all

Abraham's path was a blessing of peace.

But it was not easy: he had to face struggles and unforeseen events.

We too have a rough road ahead of us, but we need, like the great patriarch, to take concrete steps, to wander to discover the face of the other, to share memories, glances and silences, stories and experiences