Pope calls to stop ‘grave persecutions’ in Syria, Iraq

Pope calls to stop ‘grave persecutions’ in Syria, Iraq

PanARMENIAN.Net - Pope Francis called for an end to all forms of fundamentalism on Friday, Nov 28, and said fighting hunger and poverty, rather than military intervention alone, were key to stopping Islamist militants carrying out "grave persecutions" in Syria and Iraq, Reuters reported.

Speaking at the start of a three-day trip to Turkey, Francis said "terrorist violence" showed no sign of abating in Turkey's southern neighbors, where Islamist insurgents had declared a caliphate and persecuted Shi'ite Muslims, Christians and others who do not share their ultra-radical brand of Sunni Islam.

"It is licit, while always respecting international law, to stop an unjust aggressor," the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics said in reference to the Islamic State militants after a meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

"What is required is a concerted commitment on the part of all ... (to) enable resources to be directed, not to weaponry, but to the other noble battles worthy of man: the fight against hunger and sickness," he said.

Before the meeting with Erdogan, Francis visited the tomb of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the modern secular Turkish state in 1923.

Francis called for interreligious dialogue "so that there will be an end of all forms of fundamentalism and terrorism which gravely demean the dignity of every man and woman and exploit religion."

Francis will travel to Istanbul on Saturday and meet Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual head of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, as part of an effort to forge closer ties between the ancient western and eastern wings of Christianity.

Bartholomew's seat remains in Istanbul, a vestige of the Byzantine Empire, even as his flock in Turkey has dwindled to less than 3,000 among a population of 75 million Muslims.

Syria's total Christian minority made up around 10 percent of the population of 22 million before its civil war began in 2011, while Iraq's Christian population has fallen by nearly 70 percent since the start of its 2003 war.

The Turkey trip is the third by Francis to a mainly Muslim nation, after Jordan and Albania.

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