Pope Francis is one of those do-gooders who bends over backwards and twists the facts to claim that Muslims are no more likely to commit acts of terrorism than Christians or Jews.

This sort of shoot-from-the-hip equivalency is what we've come to expect from religious types all over Europe (with a few notable exceptions).  In their desperation to bury the threat of Islamic extremism, Pope Francis, the archbishop of Canterbury, and other European religious leaders refuse to acknowledge the political nature of Islamic terrorism and the fact that there are massively more Islamic terrorists and terrorist sympathizers than terrorists from any other religion.

Breitbart:

Christian terrorism does not exist, Jewish terrorism does not exist, and Muslim terrorism does not exist. They do not exist," Francis said in his speech to a world meeting of populist movements.

What he apparently meant is that not all Christians are terrorists and not all Muslims are terrorists—a fact evident to all—yet his words also seemed to suggest that no specifically Islamic form of terrorism exists in the world, an assertion that stands in stark contradiction to established fact.

"No people is criminal or drug-trafficking or violent," Francis said, while also suggesting—as he has on other occasions—that terrorism is primarily a result of economic inequalities rather than religious beliefs. "The poor and the poorer peoples are accused of violence yet, without equal opportunities, the different forms of aggression and conflict will find a fertile terrain for growth and will eventually explode."

The Pope also reiterated his conviction that all religions promote peace and that the danger of violent radicalization exists equally in all religions.

"There are fundamentalist and violent individuals in all peoples and religions – and with intolerant generalizations they become stronger because they feed on hate and xenophobia," he said.

While denying the existence of Islamic terrorism, Francis also seemed to condemn the denial of global warming, asserting that "the ecological crisis is real."

"A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system," he said.

We know "what happens when we deny science and disregard the voice of Nature," the Pope said. "Let us not fall into denial. Time is running out. Let us act. I ask you again – all of you, people of all backgrounds including native people, pastors, political leaders – to defend Creation."

...says the leader of a religion that jailed, persecuted, and executed some of the greatest scientists in history, including Galileo.

While acknowledging that science is not "the only form of knowledge," and that "science is not necessarily 'neutral'" and often "conceals ideological views or economic interests," he still insisted that people of good will should not oppose "scientific consensus" regarding global warming.

Leftist media like the liberal Guardian in the U.K. immediately politicized the speech, predictably claiming that the Pope was backing "anti-Trump protests," despite the fact that the Pope himself denied such a claim, explicitly declaring that "I am not speaking of anyone in particular."

A "consensus" that confirms the politicization of science is not a consensus at all.  But global warming has become a favorite hobby horse of this pontiff – as has promoting the moral equivalency of Islamic extremism with other religions.  Christianity and Judaism do not have 50 million adherents who approve of the murder of innocent people like abortion doctors or Palestinian women and children.  Islam does.  That fact alone makes the pope's rantings ludicrous.

Deputy Editor Drew Belsky adds: Bergoglio really does need an education in Islamic history and theology, but he's not alone in the mythmaking business.  The myths about Galileo, fostered in pursuit of the worship of science and the desire to slander the institution that founded the university system and pioneered the scientific method, just refuse to die – even, every blue moon or so, on these pages.

And I'd be curious to know which of the "greatest scientists in history" the Catholic Church "executed."  Are we calling notorious heretic and revolutionary Jan Hus a scientist now?  Or maybe this is more fallout from that daft episode of the Cosmos remake, featuring bumbling atheist Neil deGrasse Tyson, that beclowned itself in making a martyr out of Giordano Bruno, the raving maniac and definitive non-scientist.

Better that we don't peddle such stuff, or swallow it.