Vatican City, May 5, 2011 / 13:55 pm
Pope Benedict XVI warned members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences that religious freedom is coming under a renewed attack, from forces he compared to the totalitarian powers of the twentieth century.
The Pope observed that religious freedom was among the rights that underwent a “systematic denial by atheistic regimes of the twentieth century” such as Communism and Nazism.
“Today,” he warned in an address made public May 4, “these basic human rights are again under threat from attitudes and ideologies which would impede free religious expression.”
“Consequently,” he told the social scientists, “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.” The pontifical academy's most recent gathering, held in Rome from April 29 to May 3, took up the theme of “Universal Rights in a World of Diversity: The Case of Religious Freedom.”