Pope Francis
As a Roman Catholic I am saddened by the poor health of Pope Francis.
If there is any leader the world should not lose at this moment in time it is Pope Francis, because of his humanitarianism and work for peace and security.
I vividly remember his message at the end of 2024 which he dedicated to peace and unity, and called for an end to Israel’s war in Gaza and Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as terrorism and other wars.
For me, one of the most unforgettable moments was when he stated during inter-faith prayer service in Iraq in 2021 that “hostility, extremism and violence are betrayals of religion”.
Through my lens Pope Francis’s communication was directly addressing extremism and disunity around the world.
It would be a tragedy if Pope Francis left this world with the current global leadership crisis, where greed and egos are escalating calamities from wars and endless conflict to political instability and racial supremacy.
One of the causes of wars and conflicts is extremism stemming from revenge, separatism, political ideological differences and religious intolerance.
Throughout his tenure Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, has worked to minimise religious extremism.
The papal visit to the United Arab Emirates’ president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the Egyptian Islamic scholar and Grand Imam of al-Azhar al-Sharif, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, was a significant step towards religious diversity, tolerance and co-existence.
Christian followers compose 31% — or 2.3 billion — of the world’s population, while Islam is the second largest religion in the world with two billion followers. Hinduism has about 1.2 billion adherents worldwide (15%), Buddhism has about 535 million followers (8% to 10%) and the global Jewish population is about 15.3 million (about 0,2%).
Some groups aggressively impose supremacy over others. For example, in the last year Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah was criticised by some of his fellow Muslims for celebrating Christmas.
“Men can never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction,” said 15th century philosopher and Catholic writer Blaise Pascal.
Religious extremism oftentimes spills into acts of terrorism. For instance, the 911 attacks in the US, the attack on the upmarket mall in Nairobi in 2013 and the 2010 World Cup Kabalagala bombing in Kampala, Uganda.
The Bible and Qur’an, upon which Christianity and Islam derive their doctrines, preach love not hatred. I wonder where some believers behave otherwise.
A global citizen who was on the mark against hatred and prejudice is former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton who said: “Extremism thrives amid ignorance and anger, intimidation and cowardice.”
Extremism has proved to be a global threat to peace and co-existence. Extremism also spills over into other areas such as gender and ethnicity. It results in gross inequalities and refugees.
It’s regrettable that people have not learnt from past tragedies such as the Holocaust, black genocide, slavery, colonialism and the two World Wars.
Globally, extremism has seen the rise of the radical far right. Here in Africa extremism sprung from Western political ideologies, religion and patriarchy.
Hate can only beget hate; mutual respect for differences and tolerance is paramount.
We all should follow the example of Pope Francis to combat extremism.
Robert Kigongo is a sustainable development analyst.