(November 27, 2008) Religions have a duty to promote coexistence and reconciliation,
said Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope affirmed this in a message delivered on his behalf
by his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, to the 83rd Social Weeks of
France. This annual event began in 1904 in the spirit of Pope Leo XIII's "Rerum Novarum."
This year's theme was "Religions: Threats or Hopes for Our Societies." According
to the papal message, the "free exercise of the life of faith and the life of democracy"
is founded on the distinction between the spheres of politics and religion. States,
he affirmed, cannot take upon themselves the "final responsibility" to respond to
"the aspirations of persons, communities and peoples" within a "social order respectful
of the dignity of the person." The Holy Father emphasized on the other hand that religions
have the "duty" to propose a vision of faith that excludes intolerance, discrimination
and conflicts, and manifests "absolute respect for the truth," motivating "coexistence
and reconciliation" and promoting "the rights of the human person."