'Angered, disgusted': Pope Francis slams desecration of Quran in Sweden

Pope Francis has condemned the burning of the Quran, saying that the move left him "angry and disgusted" and that he refused to term it a form of freedom of speech.

The Pope's remarks came in response to the latest incident of Quran's desecration in Sweden, when a man set a copy of the sacred book ablaze outside a mosque in the country's capital city last week.

In an interview published in the United Arab Emirates newspaper Al Ittihad on Monday, the Pope said: "Any book considered holy should be respected to respect those who believe in it."

"I feel angry and disgusted at these actions," he said, adding: "Freedom of speech should never be used as a means to despise others and allowing that is rejected and condemned."

The incident of burning the Quran in Sweden's capital Stockholm garnered condemnation from countries worldwide.

Among these was Turkey, whose backing Sweden needs to gain entry to the Nato military alliance.

The Swedish police have recently rejected numerous applications for anti-Quran demonstrations; however, Swedish courts over-ruled those decisions, maintaining that they went against the principle of freedom of speech.

On Sunday, 57 Muslim states — under the banner of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation — said that collective measures are needed to prevent acts of desecration of the Quran and that international law should be used to stop religious hatred.

Swedish police had granted Momika a permit in line with free speech protections, but authorities later said they had opened an investigation over "agitation against an ethnic group", noting that Momika had burnt pages from the Islamic holy book very close to the mosque.

Sweden's government condemned Momika's actions on Sunday, calling them "Islamophobic".

Saudi summons Swedish ambassador

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has summoned Sweden's ambassador to denounce the Quran-burning incident outside a Stockholm mosque that sparked a diplomatic backlash across the Muslim world, state media reported early Monday.

The kingdom — home to the holiest sites in Islam, in Makkah and Madina— had already condemned Wednesday's incident in which an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, 37, stomped on the Muslim holy book and set several pages alight.

The foreign ministry summoned the ambassador on Sunday to urge Sweden "to stop all actions that directly contradict international efforts seeking to spread the values of tolerance, moderation and rejection of extremism, and undermine the necessary mutual respect for relations between peoples and states", the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Momika's Quran burning coincided with the start of the Eid ul Adha and the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, triggering widespread anger.

Countries including Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco have also summoned Swedish ambassadors in protest.

Iran said on Sunday it was holding off on sending its new ambassador to Sweden because of the incident.

— Additional input from AFP