“Idolatry is when a man or a woman loses his or her ID card, in other words their identity as God’s children and prefers to seek a tailor-made God.”
“Today I went to the mosque, I prayed there, the Imam got into the Popemobile to go for a short ride among the refugees. There is one small group that is very violent, I believe they are Christians or they claim to be Christians but it’s not ISIS, it’s something else.”
[on the press:] “We need professionalism.”
[on the role of religious leaders in political matters:] “They should be priests, pastors, Imams, Rabbis. Their political intervention is indirect, they preach values, real values and one of the greatest values of all is fraternity between us. We are all God’s children, we all have the same Father. I don’t like the word tolerance, we need to live peacefully alongside one another, develop friendships. Fundamentalism is a disease that exists in all religions. In the Catholic Church we have some – many – who believe they possess the absolute truth and they go on sullying others through slander and defamation and this is wrong. I say this because it is my Church. Religious fundamentalism must be combatted. It is not religious, God is lacking, it is idolatric.”
[on the AIDS/HIV epidemic in Africa and possibly allowing the use of condoms to help ease it:] “The question seems biased to me. Yes, it is one of the methods, the morality of the Church faces a bit of a predicament here. The fifth or the sixth commandment: defend life or a sexual relationship that is open to life. But this is not the problem. There is a greater problem than this: this question makes me think of the question they once asked Jesus: tell me Master, is it acceptable to heal on a Saturday? Healing is obligatory! Malnutrition, exploitation, slave labour, the lack of drinking water, these are the problems. We’re not talking about which plaster we should use for which wound. The great injustice is social injustice, the great injustice is malnutrition. I don’t like making such casuistic reflections when there are people dying because of a lack of water and hunger. Think about arms trafficking. When these problems cease to exist, then I think we can ask ourselves the question: is it acceptable to heal on a Saturday? Why are arms still being manufactured? Wars are the leading cause of death. Forget about whether it is acceptable or not to heal on a Saturday. Make justice and when everyone is healed, when there is no injustice in this world, then we can talk about Saturday.”
[on the crisis between Russia and Turkey:] “I don’t know what the Vatican thinks. What do I think? I think wars are sinful, they destroy humanity, they are a cause of exploitation and human trafficking. They need to stop. Twice, both in New York and Kenya, I said to the United Nations: your work should not be that of a declamatory nominalism. Here in Africa, I saw how the Blue Helmets work but it is not enough. Wars are not a thing of God, God is the God of peace, he created a beautiful world. In the Bible, we read about a brother killing a brother: the first world war. And it pains me deeply to say this.”
[on the climate change conference taking place in Paris, whether we can expect progress to be made:] “I am not certain but what I can say is that it is either now or never. I think the first conference took place in Tokyo…little was achieved. Every year the problems get worse. At a university meeting on what kind of a world we want to leave behind for our children, one person said: are you sure there will be any children of this generation still around? We are on the verge of suicide, to use a strong word and I am certain that people in Paris are aware of this and want to do something about it.”
[on the contribution of Islam and Mohammed to the world:] “Dialogue is possible, they have many values and these values are constructive. I am also friends with a Muslim, a world leader. We are able to talk. He has his values, I have mine, he prays and so do I. Many values; prayer, fasting. You cannot wipe out a religion just because there are some or a number of groups of fundamentalists at one moment in history. It is true, there have always been wars between faiths and we too need to ask for forgiveness: Catherine de’ Medici was no saint and that war that lasted 30 years, St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre… We also need to ask for forgiveness. But they have values and dialogue is possible. Today I went to the mosque, the Imam wanted to come with me. A Pope and an Imam both got into the Popemobile. Think of all the wars we Christians have waged. It wasn’t the Muslims who were responsible for the Sack of Rome.”
(Excerpts taken from: “Full text of the Pope’s press conference aboard the papal plane”, Rome Reports, Nov. 30, 2015) NOVUS ORDO WATCH