During the plane trip from Sri Lanka to the Philippines yesterday, Pope Francis gave candid responses to a variety of questions from the press, admitting that he believes suicide bombers are unstable individuals and how he has already asked the Lord to spare him a lot of pain should he be personally attacked.

Vatican Radio is reporting that the Pope gave honest and interesting answers to a variety of questions asked of him by reporters from all over the world who accompanied him from Sri Lanka to the Philippines yesterday.

One of the most widely reported parts of this press conference concerned the pope’s response to a question from French reporter Sebastian Maillard of La Croix who asked,

“ . . . (I)n the respect for the different religions, up to what point can one go in freedom of expression?”

The pope responded: “As for freedom of expression, each one not only has the freedom, the right but also the obligation to say what one thinks to help the common good. The obligation! . . . We have the obligation to say openly, to have this liberty, but without giving offence, because it is true, one cannot react violently.”

He then turned to Dr. Gasbarri, a good friend who also serves as the papal trip organizer.

What if a good friend like Dr. Gasbarri says a bad word against my mother, the pope asked?

“Then a punch awaits him. But it’s normal, it’s normal. One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people’s faith, one cannot make fun of faith. . . . And so many people who speak badly about other religions, or religions [in general], they make fun of, let’s say toy with [make into toys] other people’s religions, these people provoke and there can occur what would happen to Dr. Gasbarri if he said something against my mother. That is, there is a limit. Every religion has dignity; every religion that respects life, human life, the human person. And I cannot make fun of it. This is a limit and I have taken this sense of limit to say that in freedom of expression there are limits, like that in regard to my mother.”

Because the Holy Father is known to be a target of Islamic terrorists, Italian journalist Ignatio Ingrao asked him if he’s worried about these threats on his life and the lives of the faithful who might be injured during one of these attacks.

“What in your view is the best way to respond to this threat from the Islamic terrorists?” Ingrao asked.

“The best way to respond is always with meekness — meek, to be humble. Like bread, no? Without causing aggression. But there are people who do not understand this. As for the worry about the faithful, I am worried about this truly. They worry me. I have spoken about this with the Vatican security staff, who are charged with solving this. On the plane there is (Dr.) Gianni, the person who is responsible for security, and he updates me on this matter. This worries me, no? It worries me quite a lot. I have fear but I have a defect, a good dose of unawareness. I am unaware of these things.”

He goes on to admit that sometimes he has prayed to the Lord, saying “’Lord, I only want to ask you one grace. Don’t make me hurt, because I am not courageous when faced with pain.’ I am very, very fearful (of physical pain), but I am in the hands of God. . . .”

Juan Vincente Bo for ABC, representing Spanish journalists, then asked the Holy Father what he thought about the use of suicide bombers, which have even used children at times to deliver these lethal explosives.

“I believe that behind every suicide attack there is something unbalanced, a lack of human equilibrium. I’m not sure if it is mental, but . . . something that is wrong with that person, who does not have true equilibrium regarding the meaning of his own life and that of others,” the pope said.

“He fights. He gives his life but he doesn’t give it in a good way. Many people, many people who work… think of the missionaries for example, who give their lives, but to build. Here they give their life destroying themselves and to destroy. There is something not right here.”

As for the use of children, they are exploited everywhere for many things – for work, for sex.

“Some years ago with some senators in Argentina we wanted to make a campaign in the more important hotels to say publicly that children are not to be exploited for the tourists, but we were not able to do so. There are hidden resistances. I don’t know if they exploited them or not, it was a preventative measure. Then sometimes when I was in Germany I came across some papers where there were advertisements for sexual tourism, tourism in that area of south-east Asia, erotic tourism and there were children (included) in this. Children are exploited, the slave labor of children is terrible, and they are used for suicide (bombings too) too.”

Francis also referred to his upcoming encyclical on ecology, saying that he doesn’t know if human activity is the only cause of climate change, but that mankind has “slapped nature in the face” and is hoping this document will impact the discussion at an upcoming climate change meeting in Paris where world leaders should make “courageous decisions” to protect God’s creation.

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