Pope Francis visits Poland at a tense time for relations between Europe’s Christians and Muslims

Pope Francis has stated that the ‘world is at war’ following the series of terrorist attacks in France and Germany in the summer of 2016, including the murder of the Catholic priest Jacques Hamel on 26 July 2016.

Commenting on the Pope’s visit to Poland in July 2016, Kristin Garrity Sekerci writes that he will find a country in which tensions between Christians and Muslims are already heightened, where several anti-Islam protests have been held over the last year.

Some of the related hyperlinks below widen the discussion to look at how Pope Francis was dealing with the acts of terrorism, attacks on Christian targets, and rising Islamophobia in Europe.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Pope brings hope to migrants, chastises leaders in Lesvos visit http://www.europeansources.info/record/pope-brings-hope-to-migrants-chastises-leaders-in-lesvos-visit/

BBC News, 27.07.16: Pope Francis warns world 'is at war' after Europe attacks http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36902882

ESO: Background information: Priest killed in French church, attackers 'claimed to be from IS group' http://www.europeansources.info/record/priest-killed-in-french-church-attackers-claimed-to-be-from-is-group/

ESO: Background information: Poland’s Islamophobia http://www.europeansources.info/record/polands-islamophobia/

Radio Poland, 28.07.16: Pope calls for ‘compassion‘ towards migrants, protection of life http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/263936,Pope-calls-for-%E2%80%98compassion%E2%80%98-towards-migrants-protection-of-life

Radio Poland: Tag: Pope Francis http://www.thenews.pl/1/3/Tematy/109091

The Economist, 28.07.16: Catholicism and violence. Time for some new religious thinking about war and peace http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2016/07/catholicism-and-violence

Euro|Topics: Debates, August 2016: Francis appeals to the young http://www.eurotopics.net/en/163375/francis-appeals-to-the-young

Radio Poland: Tag: World Youth Days 2016 http://www.thenews.pl/1/3/Tematy/119790

---