Pope Francis has condemned violence and discrimination based on religion and asked people to pray for its end in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan. Source: OSV News.
At his weekly general audience yesterday, he asked people to work and pray “that ethnic discrimination in regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan would be eliminated and especially discrimination against women.”
Before the audience, he met with nine men representing the Afghan Community Association in Italy.
Afghanistan and Pakistan, he told them, “are made up of many peoples, each proud of their culture, traditions and unique way of life.”
Unfortunately, he said, instead of “protecting the characteristics and rights of each group,” some people use diversity “as a reason for discrimination and exclusion, if not outright persecution.”
“The religious factor, by its very nature, should help soften the harshness of contrasts and create space for everyone to be granted full citizenship rights on an equal footing and without discrimination,” he said.
“Yet oftentimes religion is manipulated and instrumentalised and ends up being used for contrary ends.
“In such cases, religion becomes a factor of confrontation and hatred, which can lead to violent acts,” the Pope said. “You have often seen this yourselves. I too have seen these difficult moments reported by the news — so much difficulty and pain!”
“One cannot invoke God’s name to foment contempt, hatred and violence toward others,” he told the group, thanking them for their “noble endeavour to promote religious harmony and to strive to overcome misunderstandings between different religions in order to build paths of trusting dialogue and peace.”
With the situation in the Middle East remaining tense after the assassination in Iran of a leader of Hamas, at the end of his general audience Pope Francis again expressed his deep concern and called for a ceasefire, starting in Gaza.
He also asked people to join him in praying for Ukraine, Myanmar and Sudan. “May these war-torn populations soon find the peace for which they yearn,” he said.
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Pope prays for peace, calls for end of discrimination in Afghanistan (By Cindy Wooden, OSV News)
