Pope condemns ‘childlike’ whims of those who start wars

From left, Ahmed El-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, Pope Francis and Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa attend the closing session of the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and west for Human Coexistence, at the Al-Fida square at the Sakhir Royal Palace, Bahrain (Hussein Malla/AP)

Pope Francis has joined Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders in calling for the world’s great religions to work together for peace, telling an interfaith summit that religion must never be used to justify violence and faith leaders must counter the “childlike” whims of the powerful to make war.

On his second day in the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, Francis closed out a conference on East-West dialogue sponsored by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.