The Pope slams ‘deviant forms of religion’ following Paris attacks

Pope Francis on Monday, January 12, slammed “deviant forms of religion” following deadly attacks by Islamist militants in France last week which left 17 people dead. “Losing their freedom, people become enslaved, whether to the latest fads, or to power, money, or even deviant forms of religion,” he said, laying the blame on “a culture of rejection” which leads to “the breakdown of society and spawning violence and death.” The 78-year-old was speaking after France’s bloodiest attacks in half a century, which began with a massacre at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, and ended with the deaths of four Jews in a kosher supermarket. He pointed to “chilling repercussions” from conflicts in the Middle East and “the spread of fundamentalist terrorism in Syria and Iraq.”

Read the full story on Rappler.