Pope Francis didn’t reference the Charlie Hebdo shootings directly, but he came down strongly against violence in the name of religion, while also cautioning against insulting others. “One cannot make war (or) kill in the name of one’s own religion,” Francis said on his way to the Philippines. “To kill in the name of God is an aberration.” But he also noted that “One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people’s faith, one cannot make fun of faith … you can’t make a toy out of the religions of others.””
He joked that if someone “says a swear word against my mother, then a punch awaits him,” a little joke the media was quick to jump on as a possible endorsement of violence (we know the media has not always been good at understanding what Pope Francis is saying) …
