Pope: Christians suffer most from religious persecution

THE Pope has used his New Year message to demand the protection of religious freedom claiming Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith.

Pope Benedict also re-iterated the Church’s insistence the family has to be founded on marriage and launched an attack on religious fundamentalism and secularism.

The lengthy message for the “Celebration of the World Day of Peace” focuses heavily on the right to religious freedom and those who seek to undermine that right.

“It is painful to think that in some areas of the world it is impossible to profess one’s religion freely except at the risk of life and personal liberty,” the Pope said.

“In other areas we see more subtle and sophisticated forms of prejudice and hostility towards believers and religious symbols.”

He said at present, Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith. “Many Christians experience daily affronts and often live in fear because of their pursuit of truth, their faith in Jesus Christ and their heartfelt plea for respect for religious freedom,” he said.

“This situation is unacceptable, since it represents an insult to God and to human dignity; furthermore, it is a threat to security and peace, and an obstacle to the achievement of authentic and integral human development.”

Pope Benedict claimed there is an “illusion” that moral relativism provides the key for peaceful coexistence and that this illusion was actually “the origin of divisions and the denial of the dignity of human beings”.

“Hence we can see the need for recognition of a twofold dimension within the unity of the human person: a religious dimension and a social dimension,” he said.

“In this regard, it is inconceivable that believers should have to suppress a part of themselves — their faith — in order to be active citizens. It should never be necessary to deny God in order to enjoy one’s rights.”

Once again the Pope made reference to the Church’s belief in the sanctity of marriage.

“The family founded on marriage, as the expression of the close union and complementarity between a man and a woman, finds its place here as the first school for the social, cultural, moral and spiritual formation and growth of children, who should always be able to see in their father and mother the first witnesses of a life directed to the pursuit of truth and the love of God,” he said.

“Parents must be always free to transmit to their children, responsibly and without constraints, their heritage of faith, values and culture. The family, the first cell of human society, remains the primary training ground for harmonious relations at every level of coexistence, human, national and international.”

He also used his New Year message to draw comparisons between religious fundamentalism and secularism. He said they were alike in that both “represent extreme forms of a rejection of legitimate pluralism and the principle of secularity”.

“A society that would violently impose or, on the contrary, reject religion is not only unjust to individuals and to God, but also to itself. God beckons humanity with a loving plan that, while engaging the whole person in his or her natural and spiritual dimensions, calls for a free and responsible answer which engages the whole heart and being, individual and communitarian.”

In his New Year message, Bishop Donal McKeown, Auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor said across modern Ireland, not having any real connection with the Church is the assumed default position.

If parishes, schools or church organisations are not actively places where can people grow in holiness, then maybe they are a waste of time, he said. In the 21st century, they risk becoming mere holy huddles, gatherings of the pious, cosy coteries of the spiritually childish,” he said.

“If groups which bear the name of Christian are not places where spiritual and human maturing is actively promoted, then it is not surprising people are walking away from them.”