Pope Francis Slams Extremists Who 'Pervert Religion' On Trip To Mainly Muslim Albania
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/21/pope-francis-extremist-religion-_n_5856648.html
Posted: 09/21/2014 6:04 am EDT Updated: 09/22/2014 12:59 pm EDT
Pope Francis waves to faithful as he is driven through the crowd, in Mother Teresa Square, in Tirana, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. Pope Francis arrived Sunday in Albania on his first European trip, designed to highlight the Balkan nation's path from a brutal communist state where religion was banned to a model of Christian-Muslim coexistence for a world witnessing conflict in God's name. (AP Photo/Hector Pustina) | ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Philip Pullella and Benet Koleka
TIRANA, Albania, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Pope Francis, in his strongest criticism of Islamist militants to date, said on Sunday no religious group which used violence and oppression could claim to be "the armor of God."
Francis made his comments during a one-day visit to Albania, an impoverished Balkan country hailed by the pontiff as a model of inter-faith harmony because of good relations between its majority Muslim community and its Christian denominations.
"Let no one consider themselves the 'armor' of God while planning and carrying out acts of violence and oppression," he said in the presidential palace in Tirana, responding to an address by Albanian President Bujar Nishani, who is Muslim.
"May no one use religion as a pretext for actions against human dignity and against the fundamental rights of every man and woman, above all to the right to life and the right of everyone to religious freedom," he said.
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