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Pope Francis has said it is not fair to label Islam as a “terrorist” religion.
During his return trip from a five-day pilgrimage in Poland onboard his private plane, reporters asked the pontiff why he never used the word Islam to describe terrorist violence.
It was the day after Isis extremists were said to have slit the throat of an elderly Roman Catholic priest in his Normandy church .
Pop Francis said: “It's not right to identify Islam with violence. It's not right and it's not true.
"I believe that in every religion there is always a little fundamentalist group.
"I don't like to talk of Islamic violence because every day, when I go through the [Italian] newspapers, I see violence, this man who kills his girlfriend, another who kills his mother-in-law.
"And these are baptized Catholics. If I speak of Islamic violence, then I have to speak of Catholic violence."
Pope Francis meets worshippers during his trip to Krakow in Poland (EPA) He said he spoke with imams who were “looking for peace”.
He condemned Isis, saying they presented themselves “with a violent identity card, but that’s not Islam”.
It came as Pope Francis made an unscheduled stop at a church in Krakow to pray to God to protect people from a “devastating wave” of terrorism in many parts of the world.
Show all 30 1 /30In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man reacts near bouquets of flowers near the scene where a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores and injuring more who were celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday in Nice
Reuters
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A woman arrives with a toy and a bouquet of flowers as people pay tribute near the scene where a truck ran into a crowd in Nice
Reuters
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A woman reacts as she places flowers in front of the memorial set on the 'Promenade des Anglais' where the truck crashed into the crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice
EPA
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack People gather to view the floral tributes near the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice
AP
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man reacts near bouquets of flowers as people pay tribute near the scene where a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores and injuring more who were celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday, in Nice
Reuters
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Floral tributes are laid out near the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice
AP
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A child's toy is placed among the floral tributes laid out near the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice
AP
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Investigators continue at the scene near the heavy truck that ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores who were celebrating the Bastille Day in Nice
Reuters
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Crime scene investigators work on the 'Promenade des Anglais' after the truck crashed into the crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice
EPA
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A forensic expert examines dead bodies covered with a blue sheet on the Promenade des Anglais seafront in the French Riviera city of Nice
Getty Images
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A forensic expert evacuates a dead body on the Promenade des Anglais seafront in the French Riviera city of Nice, after a gunman smashed a truck into a crowd of revellers celebrating Bastille Day
Getty Images
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man reacts as he sits near a French flag along the beachfront the day after a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores celebrating the Bastille Day in Nice
Reuters
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Discarded items are left on the beach, not far from the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice
AP
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Bullet holes in the windscreen of the lorry that was driven into the crowd at high speed
Reuters
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man walks through debris on the street in Nice, France, the morning after a lorry ran into a crowd, killing at least 84 and injuring 50
Reuters
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Rescue workers help an injured woman to get in a ambulance
AFP/Getty Images
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Authorities investigate a truck after it plowed through Bastille Day revelers in the French resort city of Nice, France
AP
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Celebrations of Bastille Day were targeted by the lorry driver
AP
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack People cross the street with their hands on thier heads as a French soldier secures the area after at least 84 people were killed along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice
Reuters
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A paramedic attends one of the dozens of people injured in the Nice Bastille Day attack
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Soldiers march on street where the lorry crashed into the crowd
REUTERS
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man sits next to a body seen on the ground after at least 84 people were killed in Nice, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday
Reuters
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Bodies are seen on the ground after at least 84 people were killed in Nice, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday
Reuters
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Children were among the 84 killed in the atrocity, with around 50 more hospitalised
Reuters
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (2nd L) speaks to the media in Nice
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In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack A man walks with his hands up as police officers carry out checks on people in the centre of French Riviera town of Nice
AFP/Getty Images
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack With injured people laying in the street police and onlookers react near to a truck in Nice
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In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Police officers, firefighters and rescue workers are seen at the site of the attack
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In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Police officers speak with a soldier after a truck that ploughed into a crowd leaving a fireworks display in the French Riviera town of Nice
AFP/Getty Images
In pictures: Bastille Day Nice attack Police shine a light into the cab as they approach the driver's cab of a truck, in Nice
AP
The murder of Jacques Hamel in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray was just one a wave of Isis inspired attacks in France and Germany in recent weeks.
On 15 July, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhel, ploughed a lorry into the Bastille Day crowds on the Nice seafront - killing 84 people and wounding hundreds more.
In Germany, a failed asylum seeker, Mohammed Daleel, blew himself outside a bar in the southern town of Ansbach after failing to get into a nearby music festival. Several people were wounded in the attack.
Additional reporting by AP
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