In his latest in-flight news conference, Pope Francis said Monday he’s not afraid to be called a ‘heretic’ for engaging in dialogue with Muslims; that he felt “imprisoned” during Covid-19 lockdowns; he was “shocked” by the destruction he witnessed in the Iraqi city of Mosul Sunday; and, on inter-national Women’s Day, expressed regret over the exploitation of women, including the practice of genital mutilation.
“Women are more courageous than men, this is true,” he said. “Today, women are humiliated. A woman on the plane [Spanish journalist Eva Fernandez, from Spain’s Radio Cope] made me see the list of prices for women [slaves]” under ISIS.
“I couldn’t believe it. Women are sold. They are enslaved. Also in downtown Rome, the work against trafficking is daily,” the pope said.
Francis also mentioned that there are countries, “primarily in Africa,” that still practice genital “mutilation, mutilation as a rite that needs to be done. But women are still slaves and this is something we have to fight against.”
Women, he continued, are the ones “carrying history,” and this Francis said, is “not an exaggeration. Women carry history forward.”
Human fraternity, the term often used by Francis to describe the aim of interreligious dialogue, is important because men and women are all siblings, the pope said, adding, “We need to move forward with other religions too.”
Francis defined his Saturday meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest-ranking Shiite leader of Iraq, as a “second step” in this path towards fraternity after signing a joint declaration with Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb of Al-Azhar, a leading point of reference in Sunni Islam, in 2019.
Without prompting, the pontiff acknow-ledged that when it comes to interreligious dialogue and fostering human fraternity, he takes “risks” because this is “necessary.”