“Fanaticism, fundamentalism and practices contrary to human dignity can never be justified, even less so in the name of religion,” the Pope said. “The profession of a religion cannot be exploited or imposed by force.”
Governments that tolerate “religious or antireligious fanaticism” fail their responsibilities to “protect and promote justice and the rights of all,” he said.
If religious freedom is not guaranteed, the Pope added, society risks “falling under the sway of idols” and “forms of political and ideological totalitarianism which emphasize public power while demeaning and restricting freedom of conscience, thought and religion as potential competitors.”
The Pope reserves some his most direct criticism for the way religious faith is increasingly mistreated and marginalized in the secularized nations of Europe and the West. There, “we see more subtle and sophisticated forms of prejudice and hostility towards believers and religious symbols,” he said.
He expresses hope that Western societies will end their “hostility and prejudice against Christians because they are resolved to orient their lives in a way consistent with the values and principles expressed in the Gospel.”
“It should be clear that religious fundamentalism and secularism are alike,” the Pope stated.
Both reject a “legitimate pluralism” of viewpoints in society and both are based on “a reductive and partial vision of the human person,” that denies people’s religious needs.
“A society that would violently impose or, on the contrary, reject religion is not only unjust to individuals and to God, but also to itself,” the Pope said.
Societies that deny the “public role of religion … create a society which is unjust, inasmuch as it fails to take account of the true nature of the human person,” the Pope emphasized.
Instead, Pope Benedict urged societies to recognize the “undeniable” contributions that religious believers and institutions make.
“Numerous charitable and cultural institutions testify to the constructive role played by believers in the life of society,” he said. “More important still is religion’s ethical contribution in the political sphere. Religion should not be marginalized or prohibited, but seen as making an effective contribution to the promotion of the common good.”
The Pope ends his message with a personal appeal to all “Christian communities suffering from persecution, discrimination, violence and intolerance, particularly in Asia, in Africa, in the Middle East and especially in the Holy Land, a place chosen and blessed by God.”
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He exhorts them to “not lose heart” and to forgive those who persecute them.
“We ourselves lay down the condition and the extent of the mercy we ask for when we say: ‘And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us,’” the Pope urges. “Violence is not overcome by violence. May our cries of pain always be accompanied by faith, by hope and by the witness of our love of God.”