Pope Francis said the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, has made him angry and disgusted and that he condemned and rejected permitting the act as a form of freedom of speech.
“Any book considered holy should be respected to respect those who believe in it,” the pope said in an interview in the United Arab Emirates newspaper Al Ittihad, published on Monday. “I feel angry and disgusted at these actions.
“Freedom of speech should never be used as a means to despise others and allowing that is rejected and condemned.”
Swedish police had granted permission for a protest to take place. But after the burning, police charged the man who carried it out with agitation against an ethnic or national group.
The incident has triggered large protests in Baghdad in front of the Swedish Embassy. It has also been condemned by the United States.
An Islamic grouping of 57 states said on Sunday collective measures are needed to prevent acts of desecration to the Koran and international law should be used to stop religious hatred after the holy book was burned in a protest in Sweden.
The statement by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, most of whose members have a Muslim-majority population, was issued after an extraordinary meeting in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah called to discuss Wednesday’s incident.
“We must send constant reminders to the international community regarding the urgent application of international law, which clearly prohibits any advocacy of religious hatred,” OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha said.
A man tore up and burned a Koran outside Stockholm’s central mosque on Wednesday, the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holidays. The act angered OIC member Turkey whose backing Sweden needs to gain entry to the NATO military alliance.
Turkey in late January suspended talks with Sweden on its NATO application after a Danish far-right politician burned a copy of the Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
