A key theme in Pope Benedict's thinking and pastoral program is the place of religious freedom in our thinking and our actions. He devoted this year's message for the XLIV World Day of Peace. He's also set a similar theme for 2011's World Youth Day in Madrid. Several other events through the next year, like the gathering of religions in Assisi in October, aim in the Pope's mind to help the human family grow in authentic and lasting peace.
The whole text of Pope Benedict XVI's 2011 message for the World Day of Peace
But a papal thoughts:
"...I implore all men and women of good will to renew their commitment to building a world where all are free to profess their religion or faith, and to express their love of God with all their heart, with all their soul and with all their mind."
"The right to religious freedom is rooted in the very dignity of the human person, whose transcendent nature must not be ignored of overlooked. For this reason each person is endowed with the sacred right to a full life, also from a spiritual standpoint. Without the acknowledgement of his spiritual being, without openness to the transcendent, the human person withdraws within himself, fails to find answers to the heart's deepest questions about life's meaning, fails to appropriate lasting ethical values and principles, and fails even to experience authentic freedom and to build a just society."
"When religious freedom is acknowledged, the dignity of the human person is respected at its root, and the ethos and institutions of peoples are strengthened."
"Religious freedom is not the exclusive patrimony of believers, but of the whole family of the earth's peoples"
"I invite all those who wish to be peacemakers, especially the young, to heed the voice speaking within their hearts and thus find in God the stable point of reference for attaining authentic freedom, the inexhaustible force which can give the world a new direction and spirit, and overcome the mistakes of the past."
"Religious freedom is an authentic weapon of peace, with an historical and prophetic mission."
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