God should never be used to justify fundamentalism, said Pope Francis on his visit to the mainly Muslim country of Azerbaijan yesterday.
Speaking at a mosque in the capital Baku named after the country's late president Heydar Aliyev, Francis said: "From this highly symbolic place, a heartfelt cry rises up once again: no more violence in the name of God! May his most holy name be adored, not profaned or bartered as a commodity through forms of hatred and human opposition."
Addressing an audience of Muslims, Christians and Jews, he continued: "God cannot be used for personal interests and selfish ends; he cannot be used to justify any form of fundamentalism, imperialism or colonialism."
Francis had previously visited a Catholic church and said mass there for the congregation, many of whom were foreigners working for embassies or in the oil and gas industries.
"You are a little flock that is so precious in God's eyes," he told the congregation in the modern church, which opened in 2007 and was built on the site of one demolished under Soviet rule in 1931.
"Here the faith, after the years of persecution, has accomplished wonders," he said. "I wish to recall the many courageous Christians who trusted in the Lord and were faithful in the face of adversity."
In his homily he compared the Christian life to the traditional Azerbaijan hand-woven carpets.
"Your carpets are true works of art and have an ancient heritage. The Christian life that each of you has, also comes from afar," he said.
"Every carpet, and you know this well, must be made according to a weft and a warp; only with this form can the carpet be harmoniously woven," he continued. "So too in the Christian life: every day it must be woven patiently, intertwining a precise weft and warp: the weft of faith and the warp of service."
He added that when faith is interwoven with service, the heart remains open and youthful, and it expands in the process of doing good.
"Thus faith, as Jesus tells us in the Gospel, becomes powerful and accomplishes marvellous deeds," he said. "If faith follows this path, it matures and grows in strength, but only when it is joined to service."
The Pope's visit to Azerbaijan followed his visit to Georgia, where he was warmly welcomed by the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Ilia II, but faced opposition from Orthodox fundamentalists.
