I like this unorthodox view of the Pope's address yesterday, as it provides the 'solidity of specification' to the overwhelming impression I had yesterday that this was Benedict XVI's most hard-hitting address yet in advocating the primacy of religious fredom as a fundamental human right.
Papa Ratzinger shows his 'rage':
Metamorphosis of a Pope
by Luigi Accattoli
Translated from
He said everything that had to be said, he kept silent about nothing, and he did not seek any accommodation. It was a truly global Pope in high relief whom we heard yesterday speak about religious freedom.
He named the nations that violate it, starting with the scenes of recent Christian massacres - Iraq on All Saints' Day and Egypt on New Year's Day.
He called on the world to act now in defense of persecuted Christians.
He was concrete - one might even say, cutting - in his references. He urged Pakistan to repeal its law against blasphemy and recalled 'the tragic assassination of the governor of Punjab' - a Muslim who advocated such a repeal - which shows 'the urgent need to make progress in this direction'.
To the states of the Arabian Peninsula, he asked for room to allow the 'pastoral' activity of the Church. Not only was he unaccommodating about the demands he presented but he even raised the bar, introducing relatively new and strongly conflictual problems.
I will cite two, in reference to Western countries: His denunciation of the tendency to "consider discriminatory actions against Christians as less grave and less worthy of attention", which seems
to introduce "a sort of scale of degrees of religious intolerance".
And citing - among the threats' to religious freedom ' in some European countries' - of obligatory 'courses' in 'sexual and civic education' imposed from a perspective that is 'opposed to faith'.
The introduction of such conflictual issues is the most vivid - and revealing - element of this papal address, which constitutes
a papal manifesto in defense of the Christians of the world.
Note that the Pope speaks in defense of all Christians, not just Catholics - another proof of the theologian Pope's 'non-diplomatic' and uncompromising attitude that is not new to those who know him.
There were at least three passages in which Benedict XVI appealed directly yesterday to the international community - particularly the Western countries, and especially the European - to defend Christians and be more attentive to their interests.
It would have been convenient for him to just use this card - difficult enough to play - without bringing up questions that have placed the Church in conflict with most European governments for some time. But he eschewed this convenient way, just as he made all his other statements devoid of prior calculation.
The first instance was to thank some European nations - thereby soliciting others to follow suit - for their "concern for the rights of the most vulnerable and the political farsightedness which they have demonstrated in recent days by their call for a concerted response on the part of the European Union for the defence of Christians in the Middle East".
The reference is to France, Italy, Poland and Hungary which, on January 7, at the initiative of Italy, signed a memorandum sent to the 'foreign minister' of the European Union, Catherine Ashton, asking for 'concrete measures' by the EU in defense of Christians and to place the question on the agenda for the meeting of EU foreign ministers on January 31.
The second instance concerned the banning 'from public life' of 'religious feasts and symbols', particularly Christian. Even in this case, he formulated the request as an expression of gratitude to some in order to 'enlist' everyone else:
"Last year, a number of European countries supported the appeal lodged by the Italian government in the well-known case involving the display of the crucifix in public places. I am grateful to the authorities of those nations..." These are Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Moldavia, Monaco, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, and the Ukraine
[Note that other than Catholic Malta, Monaco and San Marino - the smallest European states after the Vatican - all the others are nations with an Orthodox majority.]
The third was his appeal, mentioned earlier, for the Western nations to consider Christianophobia just as seriously as they do Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.
It would seem obvious - by the criterion of diplomacy, since the Pope was addressing the diplomatic corps - that in order to obtain, shall we say, the support of France or Spain for the idea that "everything possible must be done' for the protection of Christians in the Middle East, the Pope ought not to have raised questions that are 'sensitive' for them, such as religious symbols in public life (France) or compulsory sexual and civic education with radically secular content (Spain).
But the Pope ignored such calculations. And in proposing the demands of religious freedom in the most organic and broad manner, Benedict XVI made clear that the Church of Rome does not belong to any continental or ideological bloc, and that her decision to assert and claim that freedom is not for her exclusive benefit, but in the name of every other faith.