“Murderous violence can never be justified, the life and dignity of all must be guaranteed and protected with determination, any instigation of hatred must be rejected and respect for others must be fostered.”
“The Holy Father expresses the strongest condemnation for the horrible attack that plunged the city of Paris into mourning this morning with a large number of victims, spreading death and bringing dismay to the whole of France, deeply unsettling all lovers of peace, well beyond the French borders.” Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said this in a statement issued this evening.
“Pope Francis joins the wounded and the families of victims in their prayers and suffering and urges all people to do everything in their power to stand against the spread of hatred and all forms of physical and moral violence that destroy human life, violate people’s dignity and radically undermine the fundamental goodness of peaceful coexistence among persons and peoples, regardless of nationality, religion and cultural background. Murderous violence is abominable no matter what the motivation and can never be justified. The life and dignity of all must be guaranteed and protected with determination, any instigation of hatred must be rejected and respect for others must be fostered. The Pope expresses his closeness, spiritual solidarity and support to all those who, in each of their roles, continue to strive for peace, justice and people’s rights, in order to eradicate the sources and causes of hatred at this painful and tragic time in France and throughout a world that is marked by tensions and violence”
L’Osservatore Romano opened today’s issue, which as usual came out this afternoon but with tomorrow’s date, with the title “Strategia della barbarie” (A strategy of barbarity). “A bloody terrorist attack in Paris is the latest tragic expression of the strategy of barbarity that has been dominating international news almost every day for some time now,” the article on the front page of the Holy See’s newspaper reads. “Fifteen minutes prior to the attack, the weekly newspaper had published a cartoon of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the so-called Islamic State, on Twitter. The attack appears to be a horrible act of revenge against the newspaper for publishing such content.” Late this morning, the Vatican newsroom immediately commented on the news that came in from Paris, assuring the Holy See’s “condemnation” of the “double act of violence” against people and against the freedom of press.
In the morning, a group of prominent French imams had attended Pope Francis’ first General Audience for 2015. The imams are in Rome, along with the President of the French Bishops Conference Council for Interreligious Relations, Mgr. Michel Dubost and the Director of the National Service for Relations with Islam, Fr. Christophe Roucou, for a series of gatherings that will culminate tomorrow in a meeting with the President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, French cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran. The imams in question are Azzedine Gaci, Rector of Orhman Mosque in Villeurbanne, Tareq Oubrou, Rector of the Grand Mosque of Bordeaux, Mohammed Moussaoui, President of the Union of French Mosques and Djelloul Seddiki, Director of the Al Ghazali Institute of the Grand Mosque of Paris. They were informed of the attack on Charlie Hebdo as they left the Paul VI Hall after the Pope’s General Audience.
“The Muslim community must protest” and express its “disgust” at the fact that “the silent majority are taken hostage by madmen” Tareq Oubrou said in a comment to French newspapers I.Media and La Croix. The secretary general of the Union of French Mosques, Mohammed Mraizika, firmly and unreservedly condemned the violent act, which he described as a “cowardly, criminal and unforgivable attack”. “Nothing, absolutely nothing can justify or act as an excuse for this crime. The French Council of the Muslim Faith called it a “terrorist attack of exceptional violence,” “an extremely serious barbaric act” and “an attack against democracy and the freedom of press”. Words of condemnation also came from the Grand Mosque of Paris and Hassen Chalghoumi, Imam of Drancy Mosque (Seine-Saint Denis). The Muslim community outside France also spoke out against the violence. Al-Azhar, Egypt’s main Sunni Muslim university, said the attack was a “criminal” act and underlined that “Islam denounces all violence” while the Arab League issued a statement from its headquarters in Cairo, saying that it “strongly” condemned “this terrorist attack”.
The French Bishops’ Conference expressed its “profound shock and horror” at today’s events. “The Church of France addresses above all the families and friends of the victims that face a horror that is hard to understand and expresses its deepest sorrow to the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo. Such horror is of course monstrous. Nothing can justify such violence. This is also an attack on the freedom of press, a fundamental element of our society,” said Mgr. Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, General Secretary and spokesperson of the bishops of France. French society must work tirelessly in order to build peace and fraternity. The barbarity of this assassination causes pain to us all. A situation like this may fill us with anger but now more than ever we must double the dose of our spirit of fraternity, fragile though it may be and increasingly consolidate peace.”
