Premier Giorgia Meloni said Thursday
that her government was committed to defending religious freedom
around the world, saying it was a right that is too frequently
not respected.
"Religious freedom is not a second-tier right," Meloni said in a
video message for the presentation of the XVI edition of the
Religious Freedom Around the World report published by the Aiuto
alla Chiesa che Soffre (Help the Church that Suffers)
foundation.
"It is not a freedom that comes after others and it cannot be
forgotten in favour of new freedoms or rights," she continued,
recalling Pope Francis's words on the danger of "educated
persecution dressed up as culture, modernity, progress.
"It is profoundly mistaken to think that one must reject one's
own identity, including religious identity, to receive others,"
she continued.
"Unfortunately the right to religious freedom is still trampled
on in too many nations around the world, often in almost total
indifference.
"Being silent about the denial of religious liberty is the same
as being complicit.
"We don't intend to be. It is everyone's duty to defend
religious freedom".
She said her government has allocated 10 million euros to
interventions to help persecuted Christians in Syria, Iraq,
Nigeria and Pakistan, adding that it was only a first step and
"many others will follow".
The report said that religious freedom is not respected in 61 of
the world's 196 States, around one in three.
It said Africa was the continent where this freedom was most
frequently restricted. China and North Korea were the
biggest-offending States on this front, it said.
It said 4.9 billion people, 62% of the global population, live
in nations where religious freedom is restricted in a major way.
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