VATICAN CITY: Four leading French imams and the Vatican have issued a joint statement denouncing the Paris newspaper massacre, warning that the world is a dangerous place without freedom of expression but urging the media to be respectful of religion.

The Muslim spiritual leaders were visiting the Vatican this week along with French Catholic bishops. The Vatican’s office for inter-religious dialogue on Thursday said the four joined Pope Francis in condemning the cruelty of the attack and urging all believers to show solidarity with its the victims.

They stressed that dialogue among different faiths is the only way to eliminate pre­judice. The signatories were Djelloul Seddiki, head of the great mosque of Paris; Tareq Oubrou, director of the Bor­deaux mosque; Azzedine Gaci of the Villeurbanne mos­que; and Mohammed Mous­saoui, president of the Union of Mosques in France.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2015

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