Francisco urges respect for the right to freedom of religion

During a meeting held yesterday with the patriarchs, major archbishops and other religious offices of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, Pope Francisco called for the respect for everybody’s right for a decent life and religious freedom.

The Argentine pope referred particularly to the existing threat in the Arab countries to non-Muslims. He also urged not to settle for a “Middle East without Christians” and claimed to feel a “great concern” about the lives of Christians in the Middle East, especially in countries such as Syria , Iraq and Egypt.

Francisco said that the Middle East is “the blessed land where Christ lived, died and rose” and where Christians lived “two thousand years ago” who should feel “inserted as full citizens in the social, cultural and religious life of nations to which they belong.”

The Jesuit urged to pray because “prayer disarmed folly and generates a dialogue where there is a war.”