Pope Addresses United Nations-- Focuses On Human Rights

Pope Benedict XVI this morning addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York Beginning hs speech in French, he continued in English. (Full text.) A significant portion of his remarks focused on human rights issues as Benedict noted that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Pope said in part:

Human rights, of course, must include the right to religious freedom, understood as the expression of a dimension that is at once individual and communitarian - a vision that brings out the unity of the person while clearly distinguishing between the dimension of the citizen and that of the believer. The activity of the United Nations in recent years has ensured that public debate gives space to viewpoints inspired by a religious vision in all its dimensions, including ritual, worship, education, dissemination of information and the freedom to profess and choose religion.

It is inconceivable, then, that believers should have to suppress a part of themselves - their faith - in order to be active citizens. It should never be necessary to deny God in order to enjoy one's rights. The rights associated with religion are all the more in need of protection if they are considered to clash with a prevailing secular ideology or with majority religious positions of an exclusive nature. The full guarantee of religious liberty cannot be limited to the free exercise of worship, but has to give due consideration to the public dimension of religion, and hence to the possibility of believers playing their part in building the social order.

The Washington Post reports on the Pope's s address and also links to a video of his speech to the General Assembly. In separate remarks (full text), the Pope gave special thanks to the administrative staff and employee of the United Nations for their ongoing work.