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17 maggio 2013 -  Istanbul per seminario Patriarcato ecumenico greco ortodosso, con Consiglio Conferenze Episcopali europee e Patriarcato Mosca. Anniversario e valore attuale Editto Costantino e libertà religiosa.

Most Reverend Eminences,

Most Reverend Excellencies,

ladies and gentlemen,

Since the beginning of my speech, I would like to thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to bring my humble contribution to the celebrations that take place on the Anniversary of the Edict of Constantine - Edict of Milan of 313. Inside it we can find, as has been rightly said, the origin and development of freedom of belief and religion. In fact, this law was enacted in view of the public safety and well-being and “to guarantee to Christians and others the full autonomy and the capacity to observe any religion they choose.” So this universal right, recognized and promoted by Article 18 of the Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966) and by the UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion and Belief (1981), should not only establish its efficacy “in itself”, but also be implemented in reality even starting from the considerations of Emperors Constantine and Licinius. If you want to promote safety and public well-being of the nation, this right must be “recognized, respected and applied at every level and in every area” (Address to the Diplomatic Corp by Pope Benedict XVI, January 2012). Therefore, it's always necessary to remember that the rights of thought, conscience and religion are fundamental human rights, as Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights and Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (signed by every State) say. The state laws must not only affirm the value of these rights, but also give practical effect to the “right to change religion freely, to practice religion individually or in community with others, in public or in private, and to manifest one’s beliefs and religion through worship, observance, practice and teaching”. In our large family of European Peoples, we see that limits fixed to the strength of these rights by the States are increasing. We must state it with courage and frankness: today many European governments reduce or impose sanctions on the right of thought, conscience and religion in the public sphere, at the workplace and in the educational sector. The sentences faced by various Christians in the UK, the economic hardship and the interruption of the agreements for Christian schools that refuse to teach sexual education (required since the 4 years of life by “European standard” of WHO), asymmetric violence carried out by the French police against peaceful demonstrators of Manuf Pour Tout, the “de facto” prohibition for Christian students of the faculty of medicine in many Scandinavian countries to become gynecologists because they do not want to give their beliefs and their conscience up, are just a few of the many cases of serious breaches in recent months. Yet international law and the judgments of different international Courts have consistently reaffirmed the principle of distinction between religion and State, secured by a “mutual independence” of religious communities by the State. If the State does not respect this autonomy of religious communities, it can't be considered a “neutral and impartial” State, but rather it must be evaluated as a State that interferes in the religious sphere. For example, the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly held that Article 9 of the Convention (declaring right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion) must be interpreted in the light of Article 11 of the Convention, that protects the right of association against “any unjustified interference by the State.” The principle of autonomy of religious freedom prohibits civil authorities to make decisions that may affect the internal life of religious communities. How can we reconcile these predictions with the arrest of Swedish pastors who had pointed out the biblical words on sodomy? The concrete respect for the basic rights of freedom, thought, conscience and religion and the dialogue between the different religious families must become more intensive and fruitful in order to curb the growing temptation of the State to interfere, restrict, sometimes discourage human lives and human rights. This is the fundamental contribution to the life of the society that these days demand us, because (as Pope Benedict recently said in his message for the World Youth Day), rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion “are not an exclusive heritage of believers, but belongs to the whole human family in the world.” It brings us back, at the beginning of my speech, to Constantine and Lucinius, who made their legislative decision precisely in consideration of “the public safety and public welfare of all.” In addiction to laws by the two Roman emperors, this concept is repeated several times, not least by the founders of modern democracy of the United State, from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln, from Alexis de Tocqueville to the present day. Now as then, it doesn't represents an abstract statement of principle, but marks a simple consideration on the natural reality of human society, even more true today because confirmed by many sociological statistics. To promote these rights and the right of full freedom of religion means, therefore, to promote the truth of man and humanity, but at the same time means to promote safety and well-being of societies and democracies in which we live. Sometimes the simplest and most authentic things may appear incredible. We live in times of incredulity, but especially of irresponsibility of many political leaders, who do not believe in God and who would like to see all their people follow them into the slavery of the idols which they themselves are built. I heard for years, from all the leaders of the conservative parties, that they couldn't, for example, abolish laws on gay marriage or abortion. They couldn't do it, they said, because it would be difficult to “go back”. I always asked them: “Return back from where?” In these cases, as in the case of the limitation of religious freedom (for example, in the regulations on “hate speech” regarding gays), it is not to go back: instead, it is to abolish these laws in order to continue move forward in civilization and in respecting human rights. In fact, doing nothing would mean to behave like a cop that didn't stop a car against the traffic on the highway for fear of the driver's reactions, instead of avoiding fatal accidents. If we want to save our Great Europe, we must fight without truce this unreasonable behaviours. To save western civilization from its insane desire to self-destruction, imagination, boldness and cohesion among Christians and between them and the Muslim and Jewish world are necessary. The target of ecumenism is to bring to “the unification of Christianity”and, as Cardinal Scola said, it “should be put into practice, historically”: there is a theological discussion open but it must be accompanied by a strong work together to promote practical life, family and religious freedom. We must begin without delay to work together, starting from the common challenges and battles of this world. I invite you to reflect and think about new tools for a joint effort, to pursue what is clear we all want: to promote the human rights of freedom of religion, thought and conscience. To engage from our common interest for man and society allows us to address the growing temptation of the States and of Europe itself to reduce the sphere of freedom of religion and believers. The range and diversity of skills, sometimes called separation, has never been theorized to preserve the public sphere from the religion; on the contrary, it has always defended religion from State interference and totalitarian temptation. So the real challenge for human civilization for the coming decades will be to work together and factually to promote and defend these rights, along with other rights threatened by the same totalitarian inclinations, safeguarding marriage (and family composed by father, mother and children) and human dignity, from conception to natural death. Facing the current growing barbarism, that wants to bring humanity back to pre-Christian fears, once again everything will depend on our responsible, enthusiastic and brave reaction. I hope that the "yes" of Mary would spur us to the same availability!

On. Luca Volontè