Pope condemns terrorism as ‘moral perversion’

POPE BENEDICT XVI condemned terrorism as a “moral perversion” and demanded religious freedom around the globe yesterday in an annual foreign-policy speech to Vatican-based diplomats.

Benedict stressed the need for forgiveness and reconciliation to bring peace in armed conflicts around the world. And he told the ambassadors that wealthy countries must do more for the world’s poor. Even half of what they spend on weapons “would be more than sufficient to liberate the immense masses of the poor from destitution.”

Benedict described a global “clash of civilisations” taking root and said the danger was made even greater by terrorism, whose causes he attributed to politics as well as “aberrant religious ideas.” “No situation can justify such criminal activity, which covers the perpetrators with infamy, and it is all the more deplorable when it hides behind religion, thereby bringing the pure truth of God down to the level of the terrorists’ own blindness and moral perversion,” he said.

Benedict stressed the need for all human rights to be respected, but said religious freedom was most important because it involves “the most important of human relationships: our relationship with God,” he said.

“Unfortunately, in some states, even among those who can boast centuries-old cultural traditions, freedom of religion, far from being guaranteed, is seriously violated, especially where minorities are concerned.”

He did not name any countries, but the Vatican has in the past expressed concern about the plight of Roman Catholic minorities in China, in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East, as well as in the former Soviet bloc where Orthodox Christianity is dominant.

“To all those responsible for the life of nations, I wish to state: if you do not fear truth, you need not fear freedom!” Benedict said.

Benedict has indicated he wants to restore the diplomatic ties with China that were severed a half-century ago. He did not repeat that message yesterday, but a former Vatican foreign minister said China remained the top political priority for the Pope’s diplomatic initiatives.

“He is ready to open up, to enter into a concrete dialogue with China,” Cardinal Achille Silvestrini told the church-affiliated Telepace TV.

The top religious priority for Benedict was unifying with the Russian Orthodox Church, Silvestrini said during a panel discussion to analyze the pope’s speech.