During his annual foreign policy address to Vatican-based ambassadors, Pope Francis called for a united response from the international community against the kind of terrorism that inspired the killings of 17 people in Paris last week, saying the attackers were enslaved by “deviant forms of religion”.

In his address, the pope first addressed the problem of people who reject others for one reason or another, much like the rejection Jesus experienced in His lifetime.

“Rejection is an attitude we all share; it makes us see our neighbor not as a brother or sister to be accepted, but as unworthy of our attention, a rival, or someone to be bent to our will. This is the mind-set which fosters that ‘throwaway culture’ which spares nothing and no one: nature, human beings, even God himself. It gives rise to a humanity filled with pain and constantly torn by tensions and conflicts of every sort.”

If left unchecked, this rejection eventually takes on a social dimension which leads to the breakdown of society and the spawning of violence and death.

“We see painful evidence of this in the events reported daily in the news, not least the tragic slayings which took place in Paris a few days ago. Other people ‘are no longer regarded as beings of equal dignity, as brothers or sisters sharing a common humanity, but rather as objects’ . . . . Losing their freedom, people become enslaved, whether to the latest fads, or to power, money, or even deviant forms of religion,” he said.

"Religious fundamentalism, even before it eliminates human beings by perpetrating horrendous killings, eliminates God himself, turning him into a mere ideological pretext," he continued.

Francis went on to denounce the kidnapping and enslavement of young girls by Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria last year as well as the heartless slaughter of more than 100 children by Taliban in Pakistan in December.

“tt saddens us to see the tragic consequences of this mentality of rejection and this ‘culture of enslavement’ in the never-ending spread of conflicts. Like a true world war fought piecemeal, they affect, albeit in different forms and degrees of intensity, a number of areas in our world . . .” he said.

A unanimous response by the world community is needed to confront this unjust aggression by acting within the framework of the law to “end the spread of acts of violence, “restore harmony and health and heal the deep wounds which the ongoing conflicts have caused.

“Here, in your presence, I appeal to the entire international community, as I do to the respective governments involved, to take concrete steps to bring about peace and to protect all those who are victims of war and persecution, driven from their homes and their homeland.”

Click here to read the entire address.

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