Condemns Al-Quran Burns, Pope Francis: Freedom Of Expression Should Not Be Used As A Lowering Facilities

Pope Francis. (Wikimedia Commons/Xonn)

JAKARTA - World Catholic Church leader Pope Francis stressed he rejected authorizing the burning of the Qur'an, underscoring such actions angered him, in an interview on Monday.

"Every book that is considered sacred must be respected in honor of those who trust it," the Pope stressed in an interview with the UAE newspaper al-Ittihad, citing Arab News and Reuters July 3.

"I feel angry and disgusted by this action," he stressed.

The statement is considered the first statement by the leader of the world Catholic Church about the burning incident of copies of the Koran in Sweden.

"Letting this be unacceptable and condemned," he said, stressing "Freedom of expression should not be used as an excuse to offend others".

"Our mission is to turn a religious sense into a real cooperation, brotherhood, and act of goodness," Pope Francis said.

An Iraqi living in Sweden, Salwan Momika (37) tore up and burned the Qur'an in Sweden's capital Stockholm last week, resulting in strong criticism from several countries, including Turkey whose approval was being needed by Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Although Swedish police have rejected several recent requests for anti-Qur'an demonstrations, the court has overturned those decisions, saying it violates freedom of expression.

As previously reported, the Swedish government on Sunday condemned the burning of the Qur'an last week outside the main Stockholm mosque, calling it an "Islamophobia" act.

Sweden's foreign minister spoke after the international Islamic state cooperation body called for steps to avoid future arson.

"The Swedish government fully understands that the actions of Islamophobia carried out by individuals at demonstrations in Sweden could offend Muslims," the Foreign Ministry said.

"We strongly condemn this action, which does not reflect the views of the Swedish government at all," the ministry continued.

"The burning of the Qur'an, or other holy texts, is an offensive and disrespectful and clear provocation," the Swedish Foreign Ministry said.

"Expression of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance has no place in Sweden or in Europe," the ministry said.

The ministry added that Sweden guarantees "constitutionally protected freedom of assembly, expression and demonstrations".

Swedish police have given Momika permission in line with the protection of freedom of expression, but authorities later said they had opened an investigation into "the nature of ethnic groups".

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the protests were "sah but inappropriate", saying it was up to the police to allow it or not, as quoted by The Independent.

Momika herself calls her actions a step to highlight the importance of freedom of expression in democracy.

"It's in danger if they tell us that we can't do this," he said.

Nearly 200 witnessed the arson in the protest. Several people who were present at the location shouted "God Almighty" in Arabic to protest the arson. A man was detained by police after he tried to throw stones.

Separately, Saudi Arabia-based Organizations of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held an extraordinary meeting to respond to the incident. The organization urged member states to "take integrated and collective steps, to prevent a repeat of the Al-Qur'an copy-violating incident".