VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI at the Angelus prayer recalls that “religious freedom is far from guaranteed effectively and everywhere” and asks those present to pray “that every man and women may realise to the full the religious vocation inscribed in the depth of every being”

Vatican City (Fides Service) - In the spirit of Advent, when “the ecclesial Community prepares to celebrate the great mystery of the Incarnation it is called to rediscover and deepen its personal relation with God”, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI meditated at the Angelus on Sunday 4 December on religious freedom. “Just as God is supremely free in revealing himself and giving himself since he is moved only by love, so too the human person freely, although dutifully, gives: God is waiting for a response of love” the Pope said in his address telling those present to look to Mary “perfect model of this response”.
The relation between truth and freedom was the subject of profound reflection by Vatican II and the result was the Declaration "Dignitatis humanae" on religious freedom, on the “right of individuals and communities to search for the truth and freely profess their beliefs”. The Holy Father Benedict XVI recalled that “religious freedom derives from the singular dignity of the human person among all the creatures of the earth only man is able to establish a free and conscious relationship with the Creator … The Council gives ample space to religious freedom which must be guaranteed for individuals and communities with respect for legitimate demands of public order. And this Council teaching forty years later is still very relevant. In fact religious freedom is far from guaranteed effectively and everywhere: in some cases it is denied for religious or ideological reasons; other times while recognised on paper, it is hindered in facts by political powers or, in a more underhand manner, by cultural ruling predominance of agnosticism and relativism”.
The Pope urged those present to pray “that every man and women may realise to the full the religious vocation inscribed in the depth of every being” and he invoked the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, “may she help us to recognise in the face of the Child at Bethlehem, conceived in her immaculate womb, the divine Redeemer who came into the world to reveal to us the authentic face of God”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 5/12/2005; righe 23, parole 328)