HOLY SEE AT U.N. ON BETHLEHEM 2000, RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

VATICAN CITY, NOV 12, 1999 (VIS) - Archbishop Renato Martino, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations, spoke twice on November 10 at the U.N.'s New York headquarters, addressing the plenary session of the General Assembly on Item 36, Bethlehem 2000, as well as the Third Committee of the General Assembly on Item 116E, Religious Freedom.

In his first speech, he highlighted the November 1998 Resolution on Bethlehem 2000 which "recalls that the Palestinian city of Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus Christ. ... The world will celebrate in Bethlehem, a city of peace, the onset of the new millennium in a global vision of hope for all peoples." Both Jesus Christ and His birthplace of Bethlehem are the patrimony of all humanity, he added.

Archbishop Martino remarked that though Bethlehem's message was "the promise of peace," the city has often been marked by violence. On the threshold of the Third Millennium, he affirmed, "after decades of violence, what Bethlehem and its inhabitants need most today is peace. Peace delayed could become peace denied, and whichever side holds the peace talks back will be judged responsible by history for accumulating negative consequences and for further escalation of violence. ... Peace is only possible where a will to reconciliation exists."

In his talk on Religious Freedom, the apostolic nuncio asserted that religious freedom "constitutes the very heart of human rights." This right "is based upon the dignity of the human person who experiences the inner and indestructible exigency of acting freely according to the imperatives of his or her conscience."

Noting the "significant steps" that the U.N. has taken towards protecting this right, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, Archbishop Martini then stated: "In spite of this, however, there still exist today places where the right to gather for worship is either not recognized or is limited to members of one religion alone. ... This grave violation of one of the fundamental rights of the person is a source of enormous suffering for believers."

He reaffirmed that the Holy See views "recourse to violence in the name of religious belief as a perversion of the very teachings of the major religions. ... Religious freedom is a cornerstone of the structure of human rights and the most profound expression of conscience."

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