(AFP via Getty Images)
Pope Francis said he rejected the authorization of the burning of Al-Qur’an in an interview with UAE's newspaper al-Ittihad on Monday, adding that such acts made him angry.
“Any book considered holy should be respected to respect those who believe in it,” the pope said. “I feel angry and disgusted at these actions”
The remarks are considered the first statement by the head of the Catholic Church about incidents of burning copies of Al-Quran in Sweden.
“Allowing this is unacceptable and condemned,” he said, stressing that freedom of expression should not be used as an excuse to offend others.
“Our mission is to transform the religious sense into cooperation, fraternity, and tangible acts of goodness.”
A man tore up and burned an Al-Qur’an in Sweden’s capital Stockholm last week, resulting in strong condemnation from several countries.
While Swedish police have rejected several recent applications for anti-Al-Qur’an demonstrations, courts have over-ruled those decisions, saying they infringed freedom of speech
On Sunday, an Islamic grouping of 57 states said collective measures are needed to prevent acts of desecration to the Qur’ran and international law should be used to stop religious hatred.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called for collective measures to prevent future incidents of Qur’an desecration on Sunday, after convening an emergency meeting of its executive committee to address the consequences of the sacrilegious act.
Following the call, Sweden condemned the desecration of Islam’s holy book, calling it an “Islamophobic” act.
Sweden has repeatedly permitted Qur’an burning in recent years. In January, a Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist burned a copy of the Qur’an near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
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