Posted on 12/09/2006 1:37:00 PM PST by fabrizio
AGI) - Vatican City, Dec. 8 - Benedetto XVI firmly defends the Italian Church's right to intervene on ethical issues. "It is not an expression of secularism, but its degeneration in secularism," he stated in a speech addressed to the Union of Italian Catholic Law Experts, "the hostility for every form of political and cultural importance of religion; especially in the presence of every religious symbol in public institutions." Also "the rejection of the Christian community and those who legitimately represent it is not a healthy sing of secularism, and their right to comment on moral problems that today ask for the conscience of all human beings, especially legislators and law experts."
For Pope Ratzinger, "in fact, it is not about Church's inopportune intrusion in legislative activities, that are exclusively of the State, but the affirmation and the defence of great values that give meaning to people's lives and protect their dignity." These values, before being Christian, are human, thus the Church cannot be indifferent and silent, it has the right to firmly proclaim the truth of man and its destiny." For the Pontiff is it thus obvious that "the Church cannot indicate which political or social structure should be preferred." In fact, he reminded, "it is the people that must freely decide the best and more suitable ways to organize political life" and thus "every direct intervention of the Church in these field would be an inopportune intrusion."
But he repeated "healthy secularism means that the State does not consider religion as a simple individual sentiment, that can be confined only to the private sphere. On the contrary, religion, being also organized in visible structures, as occurs for the Church, must be acknowledged as public community presence." For the Pope this "also means that every religious faith (as long as it does not go against morality and is not dangerous for public order) must be guaranteed free exercise of religious activities - spiritual, cultural, educational, charity - for the community of followers."
Another not-so-veiled reference to islam. I love this courageous Pope.
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