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Pope Denounces Religious Justification of Violence During Albania Visit: Reports

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Pope Francis received a warm welcome in his first trip to Albania, a Muslim-majority country which he complimented for its religious harmony on Sunday while making reference to conflicts in the Middle East including Islamic State (IS) attacks, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

MOSCOW, September 21 (RIA Novosti) - Pope Francis received a warm welcome in his first trip to Albania, a Muslim-majority country which he complimented for its religious harmony on Sunday while making reference to conflicts in the Middle East including Islamic State (IS) attacks, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

"The climate of respect and mutual trust between Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims is a precious gift to the country," the Pope was quoted as saying by the news agency.

"This is especially the case in these times in which authentic religious spirit is being perverted by extremist groups, and where religious differences are being distorted and [used as an instrument]," he added.

Muslims in Albania account for more than 50 percent of the population while Catholics account for 10 percent according to Albania's 2011 census. The Pope referred to the peaceful co-existence among the religions "a rather beautiful characteristic of Albania."

Security remained strict amid threats of an attack on the Pope by the IS causing the Albanian Interior Ministry to deploy 2,500 police in the capital, Tirana.

Pope Francis, 77-year-old spiritual leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics is to meet with heads of a number of religious communities during his 11-hour stay in Albania to promote interfaith harmony.

The Pope is also scheduled to hold a mass in a Catholic church in a square named Mother Teresa- one of the most famous Catholic's of Albanian origin claimed to have performed miracles. He will visit children cared for by charity organizations as well.

This is the fourth international trip by Francis as a Pope, after visits to Brazil, the Holy Land and South Korea. He is scheduled to visit Turkey in November.

The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, it launched an offensive in Iraq and seized vast areas in both countries, proclaiming an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control, killing thousands of Shiites, Christians, and Yazidis, and forced thousands of people to flee territories under the group"s control.

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