Vatican delegate prods OSCE on protecting religious freedom

December 07, 2012

The Vatican’s top foreign-policy official stressed the importance of religious freedom at a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Dublin this week.

Archbishop Dominique Mamberti observed that the OSCE has always supported freedom of religious expression. He said that “the rights associated with religion are all the more in need of protection if they are considered to clash with a prevailing secular ideology or with majority religious positions of an exclusive nature." That is frequently the case today, he said.

"With the increase of religious intolerance throughout the world, it is well documented that Christians are among those most discriminated against, even within the OSCE region,” the archbishop told the delegates. “In spite of the commitments undertaken by participating states,” threats to religious freedom remain common, he said.

 

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Further information:

• The Right to Religious Freedom in the OSCE Area (VIS)