Pope Francis
Pope Francis
Pope Francisis the 266th and current Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, a title he holds ex officio as Bishop of Rome, and Sovereign of the Vatican City. He chose Francis as his papal name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Francis is the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere and the first non-European pope since the Syrian Gregory III, who died in 741...
NationalityArgentinian
ProfessionReligious Leader
Date of Birth17 December 1936
CityBuenos Aires, Argentina
I do not believe it is right to identify Islam with violence. This is not right or true.
Not all Muslims are violent, not all Catholics are violent. It is like a fruit salad; there's everything. There are violent persons of this religion.
If I speak of Islamic violence, I must speak of Catholic violence.
I had a long conversation with the imam, the Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar University, and I know how they think . . . They seek peace, encounter.
I don't like to speak of Islamic violence, because every day, when I browse the newspapers, I see violence, here in Italy... this one who has murdered his girlfriend, another who has murdered the mother-in-law... and these are baptized Catholics! There are violent Catholics!
It's true, harm to Catholics must always be avoided, and all of us do this...but not at the price of the truth!
When I had to say something that I didn't like to Turkey, but of which I was sure, I said it, with the consequences that you all know [Editor's note: a reference to his comments on the Armenian Genocide]. I said these words ... I was sure
The youth say stupid things and they say good things, as we do, as everyone does. But hear them, speak with them, because we must learn from them and they must learn from me, from us.
The first genocide of the 21st century was against you, the Armenian people.
A friendship with a woman is not a sin. (It's) a friendship. A romantic relationship with a woman who is not your wife, that is a sin.
When I confess a couple who have kids, a married couple, I ask, 'how many children do you have?' Some get worried and think the priest will ask why I don't have more. I would make a second question, 'Do you play with your children?' The majority say, 'but father, I have no time. I work all day.'
The victims of problems of the family are the children. The children. Even of problems that neither husband nor wife have a say in.
Terrorism grows when there are no other options, and when the center of the global economy is the god of money and not the person - men and women - this is already the first terrorism!
I don't like it when I hear it said: 'but these youth say stupid things!'