In a press conference on Monday, Pope Francis called fundamentalism

a disease that exists in all religions. In the Catholic Church we have some – many – who believe they possess the absolute truth and they go on sullying others through slander and defamation and this is wrong. I say this because it is my Church. Religious fundamentalism must be combatted. It is not religious, God is lacking, it is idolatrous.

…as quoted in Religion News Service, from part of the Pope’s answer to the question “Religious fundamentalism is threatening the whole planet, we saw this with the Paris attacks. In the face of this danger, do you think religious leaders should intervene more in the political sphere?” In the Vatican Insider:

If intervening in the political sphere means doing politics, then no. They should be priests, pastors, Imams, Rabbis. Their political intervention is indirect, they preach values, real values and one of the greatest values of all is fraternity between us. We are all God’s children, we all have the same Father. I don’t like the word tolerance, we need to live peacefully alongside one another, develop friendships.

The Pope also spoke on climate change, AIDS, poverty and other topics (read the transcript at the Vatican Insider link above).

Photo from the Vatican Insider.

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