In his final public address before leaving Kazakhstan on September 15, Pope Francis underlined the importance of inter-faith cooperation, praising the document issued by the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, which he had attended.

The inter-faith declaration, the Pope remarked, “states that extremism, radicalism, terrorism and all other incentives to hatred, hostility, violence and war, whatever their motivations or goals, have nothing to do with the authentic spirit of religion and must be rejected in the most decisive terms possible.”

The Pontiff went on to say that religious leaders must unite in the cause of peace, which “grows through the struggle against injustice and inequality.” In a plea for an end to religious intolerance and persecution, he added that “those who legitimately desire to voice their beliefs must be protected, always and everywhere.”