Earlier this week, the Pope sent a message to a conference of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences which was discussing the subject of “Universal Rights in a World of Diversity: the Case of Religious Freedom”. The Pope’s message was one we have heard from him before:
As I have observed on various occasions, the roots of the West’s Christian culture remain deep; it was that culture which gave life and space to religious freedom and continues to nourish the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion … Today these basic human rights are again under threat from attitudes and ideologies which would impede free religious expression. Consequently, the challenge to defend and promote the right to freedom of religion and freedom of worship must be taken up once more in our days.
