Pope Francis called for “fraternal relations” between Christians, Jews and Muslims at an event with the victims of the Nice terrorist attack in July.
“We need to start a sincere dialogue and have fraternal relations between everybody, especially those who believe in a sole God who is merciful,” the pope said Saturday.
Islam, Judaism and Christianity share the distinction of worshipping a monotheistic God, which each tradition regards as having been revealed to Abraham. They differ on their conceptions of that deity, however.
Eighty-six people were killed or wounded when a Tunisian native with ties to Islamic State drove a truck into a crowd at a Bastille Day celebration. Fifty-eight families from Nice attended the event, which was held at the Vatican, along with 150 other people from France representing numerous religious traditions.
“It is with a feeling of great emotion that I am meeting you, those who are suffering in body and in spirit because an evening of festivity turned into one of violence which struck blindly at all, without taking into account their origins or religion,” Francis said. “We can only respond to the Devil’s attacks with God’s works which are forgiveness, love and respect for the other, even if they are different.”
Pope Francis declared that “the world is at war” with the Islamic State after two other jihadists stormed into a Norman church and assassinated a priest who was saying a mass. That took place about two weeks after the Nice attack. “It’s a real war, not a religious war,” the pope said.
Islamic State propagandists seized on that statement while insisting that their actions are commanded by Allah. “Francis continues to hide behind a deceptive veil of ‘good will’, covering his actual intentions of pacifying the Muslim nation,” they wrote.
