Cardinal Gracias says extremism distorts sense of religion

He said India feels the pain of the French people.

India: 

Activities of religious extremists distort the sense of religion and uses God to motivate a terrible crime, said ‎Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the archbishop of Mumbai.

Expressing disgust over the Jan. 7 attack against the offices of French ‎weekly Charlie Hebdo, the Archbishop of Bombay said it "has no justification.

The prelate, who is ‎president of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences, said that he was "deeply saddened by the ‎terrible murderous attack in Paris, which threw the families of the victims and the whole of France in a ‎state of despair and mourning. The Church in India feels the pain of the French people and expresses ‎solidarity to the families who are now mourning their dead."‎

Alluding to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Cardinal Gracias said, “we were the target of violent and dangerous religious ‎fundamentalism, which used God to justify violence.”

“Religious intolerance is contempt for human ‎beings and life, but also for the Lord. It threatens to destabilize society, communities and even nations. ‎The attack that took place in Paris is criminal and has in no way a justification".

Despite this, he noted, ‎‎"we must always be sensitive to religious feelings, and remain on guard against the danger of prejudice ‎based on membership in a community of faithful. As religious leaders, it is our responsibility to proclaim ‎and make livelier the Gospel of peace, the path for dialogue


Source: Vatican Radio