France’s future must be built with mutual respect, recognising everyone’s contribution, the country’s bishops have said.
In a statement to mark the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in which 17 people were killed, the bishops asked whether lessons had been learned since then, saying that while “it is certainly urgent to listen to our youth and offer them prospects for fulfillment and success”, more is needed.
“But the Church stresses that we must imagine and build our country’s future together in mutual respect, recognising everyone’s contribution to the collectivity,” they said in a statement, continuing, “Every suspicious glance at religions injures believers and serves to exclude them from the national community.”
Joining in tributes to the victims, as well as to the 130 people killed and more than 300 injured in November’s ISIS-linked attacks in Paris, the bishops said, “it is together, without any form of exclusion, that we will succeed in giving our country an impetus and perspective again”.