Pope Francis on free
speech: ‘You
cannot insult the faith of
others’
Josephine McKenna |
January 15, 2015
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope
Francis on
Thursday (Jan. 15) condemned last week’s terrorist attack on the French
satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo but warned there
were limits
on freedom of expression.
Speaking to journalists
as he flew
from Sri Lanka to the Philippines on a weeklong visit to Asia, the pope
said freedom of expression was a “fundamental human right” and stressed
that killing in the name of God was an unacceptable “aberration.”
“You don’t kill in
God’s name,”
Francis said.
However the pope, who
has made a
point of reaching out to Muslims, Jews and other faiths, said there
were limits
to self-expression when it involved insulting or ridiculing people’s
faith.
“You cannot provoke,
you cannot
insult the faith of others,” he said. “You cannot make fun
of the
faith of others.”
By way of example, the
pope referred
to Alberto Gasparri, who organizes the papal trips and was beside him
on the plane.
He said
if
Gasparri cursed his mother, he could “expect a punch,” and at that
point he gestured with a fake punch towards him, saying: “It’s normal.
You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot
make fun of the faith of others.”
Freedom of expression
has remained a
hotly contested issue since Islamist terrorists stormed the office of
the weekly known for mocking Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
Several cartoonists were
killed in
the first of three days of terror attacks that rocked France and
claimed the lives of 17 victims and three terrorists.
On January 8, 2015 four
French imams
on a visit to the Vatican issued a statement denouncing the violence
and appealing to people whatever their faith to do more to promote a
“culture of peace and hope.”
YS/AMB END MCKENNA
We
Muslims highly
appreciate this
Great Statement by Pope Francis on free speech on January 15, 2015,
‘You cannot
insult the
faith of others’, ‘You
cannot provoke, you
cannot insult the faith of others’, and ‘You cannot make fun
of the
faith of others’. Freedom of Speech does not mean hurting
the
feelings
of others and NO one should be allowed on bullying or insulting others
including others faiths. There must
be an
International Laws to punish
those who insult others faiths which ignites Global Terrorism.
Muslims are First
Victims of
Global
Terrorism, Fanaticism, Fundamentalism, Intolerance, Discrimination and
Racism. When others are victims, you hear on the main
stream
media
round the clock 7
days a week, but when Muslims are victims they are
hardly presented on the main stream media. When around 40
million
Muslims were victims on false accusation of Weapons of Mass
Destruction, main stream media hardly covered them except for only few
times instead of 400
years, which is totally unjust with Muslim
Community and it has become breeding grounds for Criminal Minds. No one
is there to wipe off tears of 40
million Muslims and
help them
re-build. For few centuries Muslims
are being
Holocaust, Genocide,
Massacre & Ethnic Cleanse till the beginning of 21st
century and no
one know how long will it continue against them.
No Muslim is a Muslim if he/she doesn’t feel pain/hurt due to Blasphemy
of any of the Prophets/Messengers of Allah including Ibrahim (Abraham),
Musa (Moses), Isa (Jesus), Dawood (David) and Muhammad
(Peace-Be-Upon-Them). The
Quraan suspends the punishment till the Day-of-Judgment by allowing
time to repent before his/her deathbed, (Ref:
Al_Quraan_004:018,
020.130, 021.005,
050:039,
068.002,
073.010).