VATICAN, Dec 6, 02 (CWNews.com) - Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the top «foreign-policy» officer of the Holy See, has delivered sharp criticism of nations that undermine religious freedom, making it clear that Russia-- which has expelled several Catholic clerics this year-- falls into that category.
Although he never explicitly mentioned Russia, Archbishop Tauran left no doubt about his intentions during a speech to the European Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE), which was meeting in Porto, Portugal. He said that the year 2002 has seen «the alarming deterioration of conditions for exercising religious freedom» in some European countries-- including some countries that were represented at that very meeting.
The Russian government has expelled 5 Catholic priests this year, and the country's press has seen a notable increase in the number of articles denouncing «foreign» or «fanatical» faiths. Under the terms of a 1997 law, religious organizations in Russia are subject to state registration, and only «traditional» faiths are free from restrictions. The government recognizes the Russian Orthodox Church as the sole clearly «traditional» Christian body in the country, with Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam also enjoying some privileges as traditional groups.
Archbishop Tauran said that some unnamed countries have adopted an unreasonable fear of religious faiths, and restrict the activities of believers «in an often arbitrary fashion.» Without the ability to express his faith and fulfill the demands of his conscience, the archbishop said, a man is deprived of his freedom. And he argued forcefully that European society is risking its own cultural patrimony by failing to honor its Christian heritage. He cited the 19th-century Italian jurist Luigi Taparelli d'Azeglio, who said: «If you suppress religion in society, man soon becomes an item of merchandise.»
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6. desember 2002