By Sapa_AFP via sowetanlive.co.za

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a key figure in South Africa's post-apartheid reconciliation, urged Norwegians on Monday to forgive mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, the worst criminal in the nation's recent history.

"That is our position and ... I think this would be God's position too," Tutu said when questioned about the appropriateness of forgiving Breivik, who is serving an extendable 21-year prison sentence for killing 77 people in 2011.

"God hates no one. We are all God's children and there are those of us who become bad children but we're still children, we still belong to the family," he added during a press conference at the Oslo Nobel Peace Centre, 30 years after receiving the prestigious award.

The retired Anglican archbishop said that forgiveness is compatible with considering Breivik's crimes as "the worst possible thing that you could imagine", but highlighted that hatred and bitterness are "corrosive".

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