Pope calls on religious leaders to condemn fundamentalism

Pope Francis yesterday said that last week's terrorist attacks in Paris are the expression of "a culture of rejection" which leads to "the breakdown of society" and which spawns "violence and death".

He furthermore called on religious, political and intellectual leaders, “especially those of the Muslim community”, to condemn all fundamentalist interpretations of religion which justify acts of violence.

Speaking at his annual address yesterday to the Diplomatic Corps to the Holy See, Pope Francis painted a picture of a modern world struggling with the problems of warfare, poverty and disease.

Just as the Child Jesus was rejected and left out in the cold to be born in a stable, so too with “many of our brothers and sisters”. Rejection engenders a “throwaway culture which spares nothing and no one: nature, human beings, even God himself”, said the Pope, adding:

“We think immediately of Pakistan, where a month ago, more than a hundred children were slaughtered with unspeakable brutality.”