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                               VIS-Press releases

WORLD DAY OF PEACE: "RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. THE PATH TO PEACE"

VATICAN CITY, 16 DEC 2010 (VIS) - In the Holy See Press Office at midday today,
a press conference was held to present the Pope's Message for the forty-fourth
World Day of Peace. The Day falls on 1 January 2011 and has as its theme:
"Religious Freedom. The Path to Peace".

Participating in today's press conference were Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah
Turkson, Bishop Mario Toso, S.D.B., Msgr. Anthony Frontiero and Tommaso De
Ruzza, respectively president, secretary and officials of the Pontifical
Council for Justice and Peace.

Cardinal Turkson, speaking English, explained how this year's Message is made
up of "an introductory reference to the attack on Christians in Iraq, the main
body of the text which presents the meaning of religious freedom and the
various ways in which it fashions peace and experiences of peace, and a
concluding reflection on peace as a gift of God and as the work of men and
women of goodwill, especially of believers.

"Religious freedom", he added, "is the theme of the Pope's
Message for the
World Day of Peace not only because that subject matter is central to Catholic
social doctrine, but also because the experience of religious freedom - a basic
vocation of man and a fundamental, inalienable and universal human right, and
key to peace - has come under great stress and threat: From raging secularism,
which is intolerant of God and of any form of expression of religion. From
religious fundamentalism, the politicisation of religion and the establishment
of State religions. From the growing cultural and religious pluralism that is
becoming ever more present and pressing in our day".

"The Holy Father", the cardinal said, "sees the safeguarding
of religious
freedom in our multi-cultural, multi-religious and secularised world as one of
the ways to safeguard peace".

"One of the important tasks that our world set for itself following World War
II was the formulation, adoption and promulgation of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights", said the president of the pontifical council. Benedict XVI,
he said, "is also worried about the increasing instances of the denial of the
universality of these rights in the name of different cultural, political,
social and even religious outlooks".

"Religious freedom is not a right granted by a State", it
"is derived, ... from
natural law and from the dignity of the person, which are rooted in creation.
Rather, the State and other public institutions, ... need to recognise it as
intrinsic to the human person, as indispensable for integrity and peace".

Cardinal Turkson went on: "Religious freedom is a duty of public
authority" but
"it is not an unlimited right. ... Religious freedom refers primarily to man's
freedom to express his being 'capax Dei': his freedom to respond to the truth
of his nature as created by God and created for life with God without coercion
or impediments. It is in this that man finds his peace, and from there becomes
an instrument of peace".

"Religious freedom does not imply that all religions are equal. Nor is it a
reason for religious relativism or indifferentism. Religious freedom is
compatible with defence of one's religious identity against relativism,
syncretism and fundamentalism, which are all abused forms of religious
freedom".

After then highlighting how "religious freedom is not limited to the free
exercise of worship", the cardinal pointed out that "there is a public
dimension to it, which grants believers the chance of making their contribution
to building the social order".

"Denying the right to profess one's religion in public and the right to bring
the truth of faith to bear upon public life has negative consequences for true
development", he said.

"The exercise of the right of religious freedom as a way to peace thus implies
the recognition of the harmony that must exist between the two areas and forms
of life: private and public, individual and community, person and society. ...
Accordingly, the development and the exercise of one's religious freedom, is
also the task of one's community".

Referring then to the relationship between religious freedom and the State,
Cardinal Turkson affirmed that, "although religious freedom is not established
by the State, it (the State) nevertheless needs to recognise it as intrinsic to
the human person and his public and communitarian expressions. Recognition of
religious freedom and respect for the innate dignity of every person also imply
the principle of the responsibility to protect on the part of the community,
society and the State".

"The Church's appeals for religious freedom are not based on a claim of
reciprocity, whereby one group respects the rights of others only if the latter
respect their rights. Rather, appeals for religious freedom are based on the
dignity of persons. We respect the rights of others because it is the right
thing to do, not in exchange for its equivalent or for a favour granted. At the
same time, when others suffer persecution because of their faith and religious
practice, we offer them compassion and solidarity".

Cardinal Turkson concluded his observations by noting that "all proclamation of
the Gospel ... is an effort to awaken the (religious) freedom of man to desire
and to embrace the truth of the Gospel. This truth of the Gospel, however, is
unique, because it is truth that saves. ... Evangelisation and the carrying out
of the missionary charge, then, do not contradict and oppose the sense of
religious freedom".

For his part, Bishop Toso affirmed that Benedict XVI's Message "invites us
particularly to examine the truth of the right to religious freedom; in other
words, its anthropological, ethical, juridical, political, civil and religious
implications. ... Over and above mere tolerance, religious freedom is the
marrow bone of all morality and freedom, of reciprocal respect, of peace".

"The Message reserves the same criticism for fanaticism, fundamentalism and
laicism, because they all overlook the essence of religious freedom, which is
the free and common search for transcendent truth".

"For the Church", the bishop concluded, "dialogue between followers of
different religions is an important stimulus to collaborate with all religious
communities for the promotion of peace. In this way - in a globalised world
characterised by increasingly multi-ethnic and multi-confessional societies -
the great religions can represent not a problem but a resource, an important
factor of unity and harmony".

To read the text of the Holy Father's Message click here.
AC/VIS 20101216 (1070)

SUMMARY

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