Pope Francis defended religious freedom and called for peace and an end to violence in the Middle East

The dad Francisco Monday launched in Abu Dhabi a call for freedom of religion and the end of conflict, as well as to avoid using religions to justify violence.

"Among the freedoms, I would like to emphasize the religious ones. This is not limited to freedom of worship", said the pontiff to hundreds of participants at an international interreligious meeting in the United Arab Emirates.

At the same time, he considered that no religious practice can be imposed "forced" on a person.

Francisco, the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula, also asked to grant "the same right to citizenship" to people of different religions.

"I hope that, not only here, but throughout the sensitive and sensitive neuralgic region of the Middle East, there are concrete possibilities of meeting: a society where people of different religions have the same right to citizenship"he said.

The pontiff also spoke of non-violence, peace and disarmament, expressing his firm opposition to the use of religion for non-peaceful purposes.

"In the name of God the Creator, all forms of violence must be condemned without hesitation because use the name of God to justify hatred and violence against the brother is a serious desecration"he said.

For Francisco, "there is no violence that finds justification in religion"

"Human fraternity demands from us, representatives of religions, the duty to ban all shades of approval of the word war," he said.

In the pontiff's vision, war is synonymous with "misery" and "cruelty".

For this reason, he drew attention to four countries that are experiencing "disastrous consequences" of conflict: Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya.

"Together, brothers of the only human family sought by God, let us commit ourselves against the logic of armed power, against the commodification of relations, the arming of borders, the lifting of walls, the gagging of the poor", a- he declared.

(With information from AFP)