Speaking aboard a plane taking him back to Rome after a five-day trip to
Poland, Pope Francis said it would be unfair to label Islam as
terrorism. When asked by reporters why he never mentions Islam when
condemning terrorism or violence, especially in the wake of brutal
murder of a Catholic priest in France and other recent attacks in Europe
claimed by the Islamic State group, he said,
“It’s not true and it’s not correct to say Islam is terrorism. It’s not
right to identify Islam with violence. I believe that in every religion
there is always a little fundamentalist group. I don’t like to talk of
Islamic violence because every day, when I go through the newspapers, I
see violence, this man who girls his girlfriend, another who kills his
mother-in-law. And these are baptized Catholics. If I speak of Islamic
violence, then I have to speak of Catholic violence. Not all Muslims are
violent”.
