Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - In his Message for the XLIV World Day of Peace, 1 January 2011, Benedict XVI assigns “an historic and prophetic mission” to religious freedom so that humanity may live in peace and serenity.
The Pope extends his gaze to the global situation, especially in those countries in the Middle East, which have been a war theatre where no one has made the peace that was expected by armed intervention. Indeed an unprecedented level of violence continues, deliberately triggered by discrimination and religious intolerance, which becomes persecution. Somewhere in there in fact lies the scarcely hidden design of removing the signs of Christianity and the Christian community from the Country.
But his gaze also extends to subtle persecution, the issue of marginalization in Western countries, where in the name of misunderstood State secularism, religion, especially Christianity, is barely tolerated as a private affair, indeed it must seek legitimacy for its very existence.
The Pope insists that without religious freedom there cannot be a path that leads to peace. Because that is the fundamental human right from which all other human rights flow. Unfortunately, although religious freedom is recognized by the UN and global governance, in fact, it is denied in many states of Africa and Asia.
If we want peace, we must ensure that the right to choose and profess our own faith is guaranteed to every human being. The institutions of world politics, the leaders of Nations and religious leaders, must work for the promotion and protection of religious freedom, because today it is “a true weapon and the way to peace.”
(18/12/2010) (Fr Vito del Prete, Acting Director, Agenzia Fides)
