Cairo: Pope Francis has called on France to respect the right of Muslim women to profess their faith and just like the Christians are allowed to wear the cross, Muslim women too were allowed to wear the hijab.
“If a Muslim woman wishes to wear a veil, she must be able to do so. Similarly, if a Catholic wishes to wear a cross … People must be free to profess their faith at the heart of their own culture not merely at its margins,” Francis told the French Catholic newspaper La Croix, according to The Guardian.
“People must be free to profess their faith at the heart of their own culture not merely at its margins.”
Nearly six million Muslims live in france, the largest in Europe.
Muslim in France has been expressing dissatisfaction about the restrictions imposed on for performing their religious practices.
In 2004, France banned the wearing of all overt religious symbols, including the hijab, an obligatory code of dress, in public places and schools.
Frence also ban Muslim face veil, known as the niqab, in public in 2011.