Madrid, Spain, Feb 23, 2009 / 22:15 pm
The Apostolic Administrator of Valencia in Spain, Cardinal Agustin Garcia-Gasco, called on Catholics last week to exercise their religious freedom in public because otherwise “they condemn the living and expressing of their faith to social clandestineness, limiting their creativity and impoverishing their contribution to the common good.”
In his weekly pastoral letter, the cardinal warned that if Catholics give in to living merely an underground faith, “Would we not be denying the right to exist in the society of our religiously inspired traditions, customs, art and culture?”
“This patrimony is the fruit of many successive generations, who passed it on to the generations of today so that, in their own creative way, they might pass it on to those of the future. This society is not the patrimony of the State but of the people, of the citizens. Included therein are the citizens who profess the Catholic faith,” he reminded his readers.