VATICAN – UNITED ARAB EMIRATES The Pope, outraged and disgusted by the burning of the Koran in Sweden

In an interview with the Emirati daily al-Ittihad, the pontiff warned: “Any book that is considered sacred must be respected.” Recalling the Document on Human Fraternity that was signed in Abu Dhabi, he asked that it be translated into concrete gestures and praised the initiative of the House of Abraham. He asked to hear “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” at COP28 in Dubai.

Vatican City () – “I am outraged and disgusted by these actions.” This is how Pope Francis responded to a question about the burning of a copy of the Koran in Sweden a few days ago, in a interview with the newspaper al-Ittihad from the United Arab Emirates. In a conversation with editor Hamad al-Kaabi, the pontiff warned: “Any book considered sacred by its authors must be respected out of respect for its believers. Freedom of expression must never be used as an excuse to despise others, and allow this must be rejected and condemned.”

In the interview, Pope Francis returned to his 2019 trip to the United Arab Emirates and to the Document on Human Fraternity that he signed in Abu Dhabi together with the imam of al Azhar Ahmad al Tayyeb. “I think it is an important text not only for dialogue between religions – he explained – but for peaceful coexistence among all human beings. Either there is a civilization of fraternity or that of enmity, or we build the future together or there will be no future”.

“Our task -Francis added- is to transform the religious sense into cooperation, into fraternity, into concrete works of good. Today we need peacemakers, not arms manufacturers; today we need peace builders, not instigators of conflicts; we need firefighters, not arsonists; We need advocates of reconciliation, not people who threaten destruction.” And this commitment must be concrete: “It is easy to talk about fraternity, but the true measure of fraternity is what we really do in a concrete way to help, support, nurture and welcome my brothers and sisters in humanity. All good, please its own nature must be for everyone indistinctly. If I do good only to those who think or believe like me, then my good is hypocrisy, because good knows no discrimination or exclusions.”

In the interview, the Pope praised the initiative of the House of the Abrahamic Family, which, in the spirit of the Human Brotherhood document, brings together in Abu Dhabi the Church of Saint Francis, a mosque and a synagogue. “It is a place to respect diversity, which God desires, and not turn difference into contempt or a reason for conflict”, explained the Pontiff, “it is a place of coexistence, tolerance and faith. Each one can live their own faith respecting the faith and the freedom of the other. Only those who are not sure of their faith live in fear of meeting the other and rush into confrontation”.

Lastly, when asked about the appointment of Cop28 -the World Climate Conference to be held in Dubai at the end of the year-, he wished it to be a significant appointment in the commitment to give “answers to the environmental crisis, to the cry of the earth and to the cry of the poor, who can no longer wait any longer. The only effective way to face this crisis”, he concluded, “is to find realistic solutions to the problems. We must move from statements to facts before it is too late”.