Holy Father Pope Francis while addressing the participants at a conference on how to combat violence committed in the name of religion, highlighted that every human life is sacred. His Holiness Pope Francis emphasized that adherence to a particular religion does not confer additional dignity and rights upon individuals, nor does non-adherence deny or diminish them.
As reported by Vatican Radio, Holy Father Pope Francis remarked that “We have an obligation to denounce violations of human dignity and human rights, to expose attempts to justify every form of hatred in the name of religion, and to condemn these attempts as idolatrous caricatures of God.” Further, His Holiness added, “The religious person knows that among the greatest blasphemies is to invoke God to justify killing, mass murder, enslavement, exploitation, oppression and persecution of individuals and entire populations”.
His Holiness Pope Francis concluded his remarks by reminding the participants that political authorities, religious leaders, teachers, as well as those engaged in training and communications, must warn people tempted by perverse forms of misguided religiosity- that these have nothing to do with the profession of a religion worthy of this name.
