Pope calls for an end to fundamentalism

Pope Francis has called for an end to all forms of fundamentalism and said fighting hunger and poverty, rather than military intervention alone, were key to stopping Islamist militants carrying out "grave persecutions" in Syria and Iraq.

Speaking at the start of a three-day trip to Turkey, Francis said “terrorist violence” showed no sign of abating in Turkey’s southern neighbours, where Islamist insurgents had declared a caliphate and persecuted Shi’ite Muslims, Christians and others who do not share their ultra-radical brand of Sunni Islam.

“It is licit, while always respecting international law, to stop an unjust aggressor,” the leader of the world’s 1.2bn Roman Catholics said in reference to the Islamic State militants after a meeting with Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan.

“What is required is a concerted commitment on the part of all... (to) enable resources to be directed, not to weaponry, but to the other noble battles worthy of man: The fight against hunger and sickness,” he said.

Before the meeting with Erdogan, Pope Francis visited the tomb of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the modern secular Turkish state in 1923. Francis faces a delicate mission in Turkey, a majority Muslim but constitutionally secular state, in strengthening ties with religious leaders while condemning violence against Christians and other minorities in the Middle East.

Pope Francis called for inter-religious dialogue “so that there will be an end of all forms of fundamentalism and terrorism which gravely demean the dignity of every man and woman and exploit religion.”

Turkey has been a reluctant member of the US-led coalition against Islamic State, refusing a frontline military role but backing the Syrian opposition and calling for President Bashar al-Assad to be toppled.

It is sheltering nearly 2m refugees from Syria, thousands of Christians among them. Turkey has seen its own Christian population dwindle over the past century, with decades of violence and economic and political pressure forcing most Christians to leave after the First World War and the emergence of the post-Ottoman Turkish state.

“It is essential that all citizens — Muslim, Jewish and Christian — both in the provision and practice of the law, enjoy the same rights and respect the same duties,” Pope Francis said.

The Pope travels to Istanbul today to meet Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual head of 300m Orthodox Christians worldwide, to try and forge closer ties between the ancient western and eastern wings of Christianity.

Bartholomew’s seat remains in Istanbul, a vestige of the Byzantine Empire, even as his flock in Turkey has dwindled to less than 3,000 among 75m Muslims.