Pope: Religion should not be insulted

"To kill in the name of God is an absurdity," the pope told journalists on Thursday aboard a plane traveling to the Philippines, Asia's most populous Catholic country. At the same time, he stressed that other people's religion should not be insulted.

He made these remarks in relation to last week's terrorist attack on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Al Qaeda had claimed it directed the men carrying out the killings, stating that they were "vengeance" for the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.

Pope Francis insisted that religion could never be used to justify violence. But at the same time he said there was a limit to free speech when it concerned offending someone else's religion: "There are so many people who speak badly about religions ... who make fun of them, who make a game out of the religions of others," he stated. "There is a limit."

To illustrate his point, Pope Francis joked about Vatican aide Alberto Gasparri who was standing nearby on the plane. "It's true that we can't react violently, but, for example if Dr. Gasparri here, a great friend of mine, says a curse against my mother, then a punch awaits him," the pontiff said.

Many people around the world defended the right of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to publish controversial caricatures of the prophet Muhammad after the terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 17 people. But the Vatican and four prominent French imams issued a joint declaration that condemned the attacks but also urged the media to treat religions with respect.

das/sb (AP, AFP)