Pope Francis condemns cases of burning the Holy Quran

By Robert Mutasi

The leader of the Catholic Church in the world, Pope Francis, has condemned the harsh pronunciation of the acts of burning the holy book to Muslims, the Qur'an.

Pope Francis has also called for the veneration of the sacred books of religion as a way to show respect for people who believe in them. 

"Any book considered holy should be respected to respect those who believe in it,"the pope said.

In an interview with the United Arab Emirates newspaper Al-Ittihad, the Catholic leader said he was disgusted with the actions and opposed any efforts to allow the events to become part of freedom of opinion.

"I felt angry and disgusted to see holy book desecrated,"lamented Pope Francis.

Pope Francis ' remarks follow an action last week in which a man burned the Holy Quran in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, and sparked outrage from several nations around the world.

The pope stated,"Permitting the burning of the Quran is rejected and condemned."

Although Swedish authorities have been rejecting petitions for anti-Quran protests, the country's courts have rejected the ban saying they interfere with people's freedom of expression.

Sweden is one of the countries that have high population of devoted Christianity in the world.

It is estimated that 61.3%,that is about 6.3 million people are christians, about 200,000 are Islam(2.3) while more than 12,000 (0.1%) are Buddhism and 13,000 (0.13%) being mandaeism.