Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale312
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale314
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale316
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale318
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale320
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale322
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale324
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale326
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale328
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale330
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale332
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale334
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale336
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale338
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale340
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale342
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale344
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale346
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale350
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale352
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale354
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale356
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale358
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale360
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale362
Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale354
II
Ad XVII Plenariam Sessionem Pontificiae Academiae de Scientiis Socialibus.
To Her Excellency Professor Mary Ann Glendon
President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences
I am pleased to greet you and the members of the Pontifical Academy of
Social Sciences as you hold your seventeenth plenary session on the theme of
Universal Rights in a World of Diversity: the Case of Religious Freedom.
As I have observed on various occasions, the roots of the West's Christian
culture remain deep; it was that culture which gave life and space to religious
freedom and continues to nourish the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of
religion and freedom of worship that many peoples enjoy today. Due in no
small part to their systematic denial by atheistic regimes of the twentieth
century, these freedoms were acknowledged and enshrined by the interna-
tional community in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. Today these basic human rights are again under threat from atti-
tudes and ideologies which would impede free religious expression. Conse-
quently, the challenge to defend and promote the right to freedom of religion
and freedom of worship must be taken up once more in our days. For this
reason, I am grateful to the Academy for its contribution to this debate.
Deeply inscribed in our human nature are a yearning for truth and mean-
ing and an openness to the transcendent; we are prompted by our nature to
pursue questions of the greatest importance to our existence. Many centuries
ago, Tertullian coined the term libertas religionis.1 He emphasized that God
must be worshipped freely, and that it is in the nature of religion not to admit
coercion, "nec religionis est cogere religionem".2 Since man enjoys the capacity
for a free personal choice in truth, and since God expects of man a free
response to his call, the right to religious freedom should be viewed as innate
to the fundamental dignity of every human person, in keeping with the
innate openness of the human heart to God. In fact, authentic freedom of
religion will permit the human person to attain fulfilment and will thus
contribute to the common good of society. Aware of the developments in
1 Cfr. Apologeticum, 24:6, 2 Ad Scapulam, 2:2.