Pope Francis said on Sunday that equating Islam with violence was wrong and called on Muslim leaders to issue a global condemnation of terrorism to help dispel the stereotype. Francis, the leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, told reporters aboard his plane returning from a visit to Turkey that he understood why Muslims were offended by many in the West who automatically equated their religion with terrorism. ....
The Argentine pope, who has been trying to foster cooperation with moderate Islam in order to work for peace and protect Christians in the Middle East, said it was wrong for anyone to react to terrorism by being "enraged" against Islam.
"You just can’t say that, just as you can’t say that all Christians are fundamentalists. We have our share of them (fundamentalists). All religions have these little groups," he said.
This is not a statement I would want to have attached to my name...no way, no how. A lot of false equivalency in here...
I don’t think even the most anti-Islam person does “automatically equate[] their religion with terrorism.”
NOTE; The Pope did not say its a religion of peace anymore than any other religion can be considered religions of terrorism based on individual behavior.