Vatican Report. Cindy Wooden: Pope Benedict addressed more than 150 diplomats at the Vatican this week in what’s known as his annual state-of-the-world message. This year he focused on an issue that …More
Vatican Report.
Cindy Wooden: Pope Benedict addressed more than 150 diplomats at the Vatican this week in what’s known as his annual state-of-the-world message. This year he focused on an issue that is weighing heavily on his mind: religious freedom for Christians. I’m Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service Rome correspondent.
JT: and I’m John Thavis, CNS Rome bureau chief. Over the last several months, we’ve seen two big priorities of Pope Benedict merge into a single theme. Priority number one was to urge Western societies not to turn away from Christian values and not to silence the voice of religion in the public square. Priority number two was to convince traditionally non-Christian countries, including Islamic nations, to stop the persecution of Christian minorities. The pope has now put these two concerns together in a warning: Christianity is under attack, both from secularism and from fundamentalism.
CW: We began seeing this when the pope convened a special synod last fall to talk about the fate of Christian minorities in the Middle East. Then in his recent world peace day message, Pope Benedict was unusually blunt, saying Christians were the most persecuted religious group in the world. Over the Christmas holidays, he returned to this theme, saying there was a strategy of violence against Christians. And world events seemed to confirm the pope’s warnings, with deadly attacks on Christians in Egypt, Iraq, the Philippines and Nigeria.
JT: It’s not unusual that a Pope would condemn specific acts of violence or discrimination against Christians. What’s new here is that Pope Benedict is identifying a common thread in events occurring around the globe. Obviously, there are huge differences between a suicide bomber at an Egyptian church and the kind of ethnic riots that occurred in Nigeria. But the pope believes they form part of a pattern: that Christianity itself is under attack.
CW: The pope is taking this complaint directly to world leaders. His peace day message was sent to heads of state around the world. And his speech to diplomats was summarized and relayed in cables back to the governments of the 178 countries that have diplomatic relations with the Vatican. In other words, he wants to bring international pressure to bear on countries where Christians are under fire. In his most specific example, the pope called for repeal of an Islamic anti-blasphemy law in Pakistan that’s been used to intimidate Christians.
JT: News reports about the pope’s recent statements have focused on Islamic countries, mainly because that’s where the violence has occurred. But the pope is waging a very strategic battle in the West, too. To the diplomats, for example, the pope criticized laws that limit the right to conscientious objection by Catholic professionals. This is a crucial issue for the Vatican. It wants to protect the right of Catholic health care professionals, including doctors and pharmacists, not to be involved in abortion or other practices that violate church teaching on the right to life.
CW: The Vatican also wants Catholic lawyers and judges to be able to refuse to participate in some cases -- for example, those involving adoption by gay couples. These problems are very different from those faced by Christian minorities in Islamic countries. But for the pope, they touch on the same vital nerve: protecting religious freedom. I’m Cindy Wooden.
Cindy Wooden: Pope Benedict addressed more than 150 diplomats at the Vatican this week in what’s known as his annual state-of-the-world message. This year he focused on an issue that is weighing heavily on his mind: religious freedom for Christians. I’m Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service Rome correspondent.
JT: and I’m John Thavis, CNS Rome bureau chief. Over the last several months, we’ve seen two big priorities of Pope Benedict merge into a single theme. Priority number one was to urge Western societies not to turn away from Christian values and not to silence the voice of religion in the public square. Priority number two was to convince traditionally non-Christian countries, including Islamic nations, to stop the persecution of Christian minorities. The pope has now put these two concerns together in a warning: Christianity is under attack, both from secularism and from fundamentalism.
CW: We began seeing this when the pope convened a special synod last fall to talk about the fate of Christian minorities in the Middle East. Then in his recent world peace day message, Pope Benedict was unusually blunt, saying Christians were the most persecuted religious group in the world. Over the Christmas holidays, he returned to this theme, saying there was a strategy of violence against Christians. And world events seemed to confirm the pope’s warnings, with deadly attacks on Christians in Egypt, Iraq, the Philippines and Nigeria.
JT: It’s not unusual that a Pope would condemn specific acts of violence or discrimination against Christians. What’s new here is that Pope Benedict is identifying a common thread in events occurring around the globe. Obviously, there are huge differences between a suicide bomber at an Egyptian church and the kind of ethnic riots that occurred in Nigeria. But the pope believes they form part of a pattern: that Christianity itself is under attack.
CW: The pope is taking this complaint directly to world leaders. His peace day message was sent to heads of state around the world. And his speech to diplomats was summarized and relayed in cables back to the governments of the 178 countries that have diplomatic relations with the Vatican. In other words, he wants to bring international pressure to bear on countries where Christians are under fire. In his most specific example, the pope called for repeal of an Islamic anti-blasphemy law in Pakistan that’s been used to intimidate Christians.
JT: News reports about the pope’s recent statements have focused on Islamic countries, mainly because that’s where the violence has occurred. But the pope is waging a very strategic battle in the West, too. To the diplomats, for example, the pope criticized laws that limit the right to conscientious objection by Catholic professionals. This is a crucial issue for the Vatican. It wants to protect the right of Catholic health care professionals, including doctors and pharmacists, not to be involved in abortion or other practices that violate church teaching on the right to life.
CW: The Vatican also wants Catholic lawyers and judges to be able to refuse to participate in some cases -- for example, those involving adoption by gay couples. These problems are very different from those faced by Christian minorities in Islamic countries. But for the pope, they touch on the same vital nerve: protecting religious freedom. I’m Cindy Wooden.