Pope demands religious freedom

Pope Benedict XVI condemned terrorism as a “moral perversion” and demanded religious freedom around the globe in an annual speech today to Vatican-based diplomats outlining the Vatican’s foreign policy priorities.

He stressed the need for forgiveness and reconciliation to bring about peace in conflicts from the Middle East to Africa. And he told the ambassadors that wealthy countries must do more for the world’s poor, saying that even half of what they spend on weapons “would be more than sufficient to liberate the immense masses of the poor from destitution”.