Pope says there are ´limits´ to freedom of speech

MANILA: Pope Francis on Thursday condemned killing in God´s name but warned religion could not be insulted, weighing into a global debate on free speech ahead of a rapturous welcome in the Philippines.

“To kill in the name of God is an absurdity,” Francis said when asked about last week´s assault by gunmen on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people died.

But the 78-year-old pontiff, flying in from Sri Lanka to begin a five-day visit, also said “each religion has its dignity” and “there are limits”.

“If a good friend speaks badly of my mother, he can expect to get punched, and that’s normal. You cannot provoke, you cannot insult other people´s faith, you cannot mock it,” he said.

Brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi stormed Charlie Hebdo’s Paris office on January 7, killing some of France’s most loved satirical cartoonists.

The assault was followed two days later by an attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris by a gunman claiming to have coordinated his actions with the brothers.

In all, 17 people died over three days in the bloodiest attacks in France in half a century, sparking a global debate on the limits of free speecch

Pope Francis, seen by many around the world as more progressive than many of his predecessors, said freedom of speech should be tempered by respect for faith.

“Freedom of speech is a right and a duty that must be displayed without offending,” he said just before arriving in the Philippine capital of Manila.