US ambassador to Vatican: Obama committed to promoting religious freedom
January 11, 2011
Miguel Diaz, the US ambassador to the Holy See, welcomed Pope Benedict’s annual address to the diplomatic corps and said that the Obama administration and the Holy See are of “one heart” in promoting religious liberty around the world.
“This is a great opportunity to underscore that the US had been a steady defender of the right to religious freedom,” he said. “President Obama has strongly condemned the attacks against Christians in Iraq, Egypt, and Nigeria and has offered any necessary assistance to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Asked by Vatican Radio to comment on the Pontiff’s criticism of increasingly intolerant secularism in the West, Ambassador Diaz said that in the United States “we do not have this kind of radical secularism that dismisses the positive contributions of religious figures and religious ideas from our society, and in fact, you know we probably come very close to what the Holy Father has characterized as a positive form of a secular society.”
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Further information:
- US Ambassador reflects on papal address (Vatican Radio)
- Pope underlines his top public priority: religious freedom (News/Analysis) (CWN, 1/10)
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