Cardinal Parolin speaks at conference on religious freedom
(Vatican Radio) On Thursday 5 May, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of the Vatican, spoke at a conference at the Palazzo Madama on the subjects of religious freedom, human rights, and globalization. The Cardinal said ecumenical and interreligious dialogue is not a luxury but something that our increasingly injured world needs, otherwise we will continue in a cycle of violence and suffering.
Cardinal Parolin called on religious leaders to act as instruments of peace for their governments by combining the concept of dialogue and the concept of peace, for the service of the greater good. He asked that they do everything possible for reconciliation between parties, and not only resolve conflicts, but offer alternatives to military action. He said peace will be ensured through recognizing fundamental human rights.
The Cardinal said this is the new border of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, that religions can come together in order to develop the process of peace and avoid suffering, resentment, and revenge, as well as poverty and other forms of injustice.
He also spoke about the significant evolution of the role of the Catholic Church and the protection of religious freedom. He said that this does not refer only to the “libertas Ecclesiae”, the liberty of the Church, but to the protection of all believers and all those religious and ethnic minorities who are suffering.
Cardinal Parolin said that “the distinction between the spiritual and the temporal” which “has born much fruit” was produced by Christianity, but he strongly criticized that “persistent secularist practice that wants to eliminate religions from public spaces”. The distinction proposed by the Church on the other hand is “a mature inclusive and welcoming laicization with respect to the dignity of others and the rejection of every form of violence to human dignity”. And he expressed his dismay at the increasing numbers of Christian martyrs and the indifference that involves everyone.