Pope Francis has called for Muslim leaders around the world to speak out against terrorism carried out in the name of Islam.

In a press conference on board a flight back to Rome from Turkey, the Pope said that such a move would help dispel the stereotype of Islam as a violent faith.

The pontiff denounced people who say that "all Muslims are terrorists".

"As we cannot say that all Christians are fundamentalists," he said.

In Istanbul, Pope Francis called for an end to the persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

In a joint declaration, the Pope and Patriarch Bartholomew I said they could not accept a "Middle East without Christians", and expressed their "common concern for the current situation in Iraq, Syria and the whole Middle East."