Pope’s quotes: Cruelty

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A quote from Pope Francis:

“We used to speak of conventional wars; today, this does not count. I’m not saying that conventional wars are a good thing, of course not. But today a bomb is dropped and kills the innocent and the guilty, the child and the woman with him, his mother. … They kill everybody. But we need to stop and think a bit about the degree of cruelty at which we have arrived. This should frighten us! I don’t say this to create fear: one can make an empirical study. The degree of mankind’s cruelty is presently frightening.

… Today, torture is an almost, I would say, ordinary means used in intelligence work, in trials. … And torture is a sin against humanity, it is a crime against humanity. And to Catholics, I say: to torture a person is a mortal sin; it is a grave sin, but even more, it is a sin against humanity.”

— Answer to journalist’s question on suffering, in-flight press conference from Korea to Rome, Aug. 18, 2014

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