A man from the Yezidi minority and young people pray at a shrine being rebuilt after it was destroyed in 2017 by Islamic State militants in Bashiqa, Iraq. (CNS photo/Khalid al Mousily, Reuters)

Persecution based on religious belief is unacceptable, pope says

779 0

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — All people have a right to freely profess their own religious beliefs without fear of duress, Pope Francis said, calling on the world community to do more to protect the Yezidi minority.

“It is unacceptable that human beings are persecuted and killed because of their religion,” he told a group of Yezidis during a private audience at the Vatican Jan. 24.

The Yezidis are a monotheistic religious minority, indigenous to areas in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. They have been especially persecuted by Islamic State militants, who, like Christians, have forced them to convert or be killed.

He told the representatives, who were now living in Germany, that his encounter with them was also a sign of his solidarity and concern for all Yezidis, particularly those in Iraq and Syria.

His thoughts and prayers went to all “innocent victims of senseless and inhuman barbarity,” underlining that all people have the right “to freely and without duress profess and their own religious belief.”

The pope said the Yezidis’ rich spiritual and cultural history has been scarred by the “indescribable violations of fundamental human rights: kidnappings, slavery, torture, forced conversions and killings.”

“Your sanctuaries and places of prayer have been destroyed,” he said, and those lucky enough to have been able to flee have had to leave behind so much, including that which they held to be most holy and dear.

Aware of this tragedy, “the international community cannot remain a mute and inert spectator.”

He encouraged organizations and “people of goodwill” to help rebuild homes and places of worship that have been destroyed and to seek out concrete ways to create the right conditions for people to return to their homelands.

He also said he hoped everything possible would be done to help save those who were still in the hands of terrorists, locate those still missing and identify and properly bury those who have been murdered.

All over the world, he said, there are religious and ethnic minorities — including Christians — who are persecuted because of their faith.

“The Holy See will never tire of intervening by denouncing these situations, calling for the recognition, protection and respect” of minorities as well as calling for dialogue and reconciliation, he said.

“Once more I speak out in favor of the rights of the Yezidis, above all their right to exist as a religious community. No one can allocate oneself the power to eliminate a religious group because it is not among those (who are) ‘tolerated,'” he said.

Related Post

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, is pictured before a pre-synod gathering of youth delegates at the Pontifical International Maria Mater Ecclesiae College in Rome March 19. The pope has updated the statutes of the dicastery, eliminating the requirement that it have three separate sections for laity, family and life. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope calls dicastery to promote reflection on role of women

Posted by - May 13, 2018 0
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has updated the statutes of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, adding…
A girl snorkels in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Greece in this undated photo. In a message for the Sept. 27 celebration of World Tourism Day, Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said tourism cannot be seen as being part of "sustainable development" unless it includes respect for workers' rights, the local culture and the environment. (CNS photo/George Tzanakis, handout via EPA)

Tourism should benefit both travelers and local communities, Vatican says

Posted by - August 4, 2017 0
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While tourism can broaden travelers’ horizons and improve local economies, it cannot be seen as being…
Priests attend Mass Nov. 9 with Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston in the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston during the third National Assembly of Filipino Priests. Cardinal DiNardo is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. (CNS photo/James Ramos, Texas Catholic Herald)

Filipino priests called to walk with fellow immigrant Catholics

Posted by - December 3, 2017 0
HOUSTON (CNS) — Part reunion, part crash course in Catholic teaching and navigating the current political climate both in the…
Pope Francis delivers the homily as he celebrates Mass Sept. 4 in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae. In his homily, the pope described the Christian life as a battle between "the spirit of God that leads us to do good deeds, to charity, to brotherhood, to adore God, to know Jesus, to do many works of charity, to pray" and "the spirit of the world that leads us to vanity, pride, arrogance, gossip." (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Worldly mentality leads to pride, gossip, pope says at morning Mass

Posted by - September 8, 2018 0
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians must engage in spiritual combat every day against a worldly spirit that leads down a…