2011-12-08 17:22:32

Vatican Official Calls for World Day on Anti-Christian Persecution


(December 08, 2011) A Vatican official is calling for a World Day to mark anti-Christian violence and persecution, saying there might be more than 200 million Christians suffering discrimination. Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Holy See's secretary for Relations with States, addressed the 18th Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) held on Tuesday and Wednesday in Vilnius, Lithuania. The archbishop addressed the Organization's commitments in defence of fundamental freedoms and human rights, one of which is the right to freedom of religion. "The right to religious freedom, despite being repeatedly proclaimed by the international community, as well as in the constitutions of most states, continues to be widely violated today," he lamented. Pope Benedict XVI himself recalled, in his message from this year's World Day of Peace, that Christians "are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith," the prelate noted. According to Archbishop Mamberti, "there may be more than 200 million Christians, of different confessions, who are in difficulty because of legal and cultural structures that lead to their discrimination." For this reason, he proposed the institution of an International Day against persecution and discrimination of Christians as "an important sign that governments are willing to deal with this serious issue." Archbishop Mamberti also spoke about the problem of trafficking in human beings, especially of women and minors, for sexual exploitation as well as for labour exploitation and domestic servitude and respect their rights in order to build together a common future."








All the contents on this site are copyrighted ©.