Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) – Among the "painful situations" that have recently affected many people in different parts of the world, like the earthquake in Haiti and Chile, there is also "that of the people who suffer because their fundamental human rights, above all religious freedom, are trampled.” Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and President of the Italian Bishops' Conference, in his opening speech before the Bishops' Permanent Council, delivered on the afternoon of March 22, underlined that "in recent times there has been a spate of attacks on Catholics."
"For example in India...where in spite of everything the Catholic community is growing thanks to the esteem it has, but where there was also a blasphemous picture of Jesus recently published,” continued Cardinal Bagnasco, “thus to humiliate and perhaps even provoke our brothers in the faith, already suffering with churches being burned and priests and believers being made the object of persecution. We can also think of the very serious clashes occurring in Nigeria and earlier in Malaysia, Egypt, and Algeria. In recent weeks, in light of local elections, tensions have risen once again in Iraq, and Christians took to the streets to express their mild resistance to raids conducted against them. Because of the persistent discrimination, they are now an even smaller minority, but not likely to change the status of a religious component that is certainly not alien to that region, as the roots of Christianity date back two thousand years."
The President of the CEI has warned that "the gentleness that marks in general the Catholic response cannot be misunderstood, however: no one has the right to lord over others in the name of God." He then expressed his closeness "to these our brothers in faith," remaining "in solidarity with their suffering, admiring them for their perseverance, and committing [ourselves] to ensure that international policies can take greater steps to assure all men...the sacred respect for freedom of belief and worship."
In particular, Cardinal Bagnasco had words of solidarity and encouragement for the missionaries who live in situations of tension and conflict: "For the missionaries, nuns, lay volunteers who, as has also happened recently, face discrimination and violence of any kind and do not leave the land in which they work, we express our constant proximity: they are at the heart of our prayer. We want, indeed, to be worthy of them, and hence will not cease to examine our way of living the faith, so that the witness and proclamation of the Gospel grows in us, in a clear sign of joy and and with more courageous conviction."
Among the other topics touched upon by the President of the CEI in the extensive discourse, were: the international economic crisis, with its large and dramatic negative impact on the world of employment and families; the need for "a fundamental strategy for the integration of immigrants into Italian territory"; the difficulties faced by a number of social and health structures in the country, of Christian inspiration, working in favor of the poor; the reference to the “non-negotiable values” given by Benedict XVI, which emerge in the light of the Gospel:"human dignity...the sacredness of life, from conception to natural death; freedom of religion and freedom of education; and the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman." (SL) (Agenzia Fides 23/03/2010)
