Pope Francis condemned "fundamentalist terrorism" and "deviant forms of religion" for last week's terrorist attacks in Paris, amid fresh claims that he himself may be at risk of attack from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
The Pope said religion was being perverted by extremists and used to justify evil, including "the tragic slayings" of 17 people that took place in Paris last week after Islamist extremists attacked the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and took people hostage in a kosher supermarket.
"Religious fundamentalism, even before it eliminates human beings by perpetrating horrendous killings, eliminates God himself, turning him into a mere ideological pretext," the 78-year-old pontiff said in an annual address to foreign diplomats accredited to the Vatican.
"Losing their freedom, people become enslaved, whether to the latest fads, or to power, money, or even deviant forms of religion," he said in his State of the World speech.
He spoke out against the menace posed by Islamic fundamentalism after an Israeli television channel reported that the Vatican could be Isil's next target. » | Nick Squiress, Rome | Monday, January 12, 2015
