Vatican City, May 15, 2013 / 12:31 pm
Pope Francis stressed the importance of religious freedom in a message for the 1,700th anniversary of the Roman Emperor Constantine legalizing Christianity.
The Pope said in his message, released May 15 by the Vatican's Secretary of State, that "this historical decision" which gave religious freedom to Christians, "opened new ways to the Gospel and contributed decisively to the birth of the European culture."
He added that "thanks to the foresight of civil authorities, the right to express one's own faith is respected everywhere," and Christianity's continued contribution "to culture and to the society of our times is accepted."
Issued in 313 A.D., Emperor Constantine's decree legalizing Christianity throughout the Roman Empire is known as the "Edict of Milan." At the time, the empire included modern-day Istanbul, which was called Constantinople during that period.