Pope Francis on Sunday night revealed that he urged the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to condemn violence carried out in the name of Islam during a meeting at the start of his three-day visit to the country.
The Pope told reporters aboard the papal flight from Istanbul back to Rome that a strong condemnation of terrorism from Muslim leaders would help its followers worldwide.
The news agency Reuters reported him as saying that it was wrong to become “enraged” by Islam because of terrorist acts.
“You just can't say that, just as you can't say that all Christians are fundamentalists. We have our share of them [fundamentalists]. All religions have these little groups," he said.
He revealed: "I told the president that it would be beautiful if all Islamic leaders, whether they are political, religious or academic leaders, would speak out clearly and condemn this, because this would help the majority of Muslim people.”
"But this must come from the mouths of their leaders, from religious leaders, academic leaders, intellectuals and political leaders.”
He empathised with Muslims who reject a predominantly Western association of Islam with terrorism.
He added: “They say: ‘No, we are not this, the Qu’ran is a book of peace, it is a prophetic book of peace. This is not Islam,’"
Pope Francis used his trip to Turkey this weekend to highlight the suffering of Christians in the Middle East, and on Friday urged religious leaders to unite in condemnation of violence carried out in the name of faith.
Also aboard the papal flight, during the now-traditional press conference with which he concludes pastoral visits abroad, Francis reportedly said that he did pray in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque alongside the city’s Grand Mufti.
Until now, a Vatican spokesman would only say that the Pope shared a moment of “silent adoration” with the Muslim leader.
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