US Embassy at the Vatican hosts conference on religious liberty

Vatican City, Dec 2, 2004 / 22:00 pm

The US Embassy at the Holy See, in collaboration with the Solidarity Association based in Atlanta, is hosting a conference on Friday, December 3, entitled, “Religious Liberty, Foundation of Human Dignity,” at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

As part of the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the US and the Holy See, the event will be inaugurated by the US Ambassador to the Holy See, James Nicholson, and by Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States.

A panel of experts on religious liberty will include presentations by Kevin J. Hasson, Director of the Becket Fund in New York, which is dedicated to promoting religious freedom in civil lawsuits; Paolo G. Carroza, Professor of Law and member of the Center for Civil and Human Rights of the University of Notre Dame, and John Hanford, Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Issues of the US State Department, the division charged with issuing annual reports to Congress on religious liberty throughout the world.

Joseph K. Griobeski, president of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy in Washington, DC, will address the conference on the role of non-governmental organizations in the defense of religious freedom, and conference attendees will also hear from Attilio Tamburini, director of the Italian section of Aid to the Church in Need.

Lastly, the conference will conclude with a broad overview of the religious freedom situation in several key areas of the world.  The discussions will be lead by Father Bernardo Cervellera, Director of AsiaNews, and Father David Maria Jaeger, OFM, expert in Jewish issues and Father Daniel A. Madigan, SJ, noted Islam expert from the Institute for the studies of culture and religion at the Pontifical Gregorian University.