Spanish Archbishop calls for measures to combat anti-Christian prejudices

Madrid, Spain, Jun 8, 2005 / 22:00 pm

Archbishop Antonio Cañizares Llovera of Toledo and Vice President of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference is calling for the adoption of concrete actions to “combat and contrast prejudices and false representations of Christians and of members of other religions” in the media and in schools.

Participating in a conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance, the archbishop emphasized that such measures should encourage “the contribution of churches and other religious communities to public life in their countries.”

“Intolerance and discrimination against Christians and members of other religions are worrisome phenomenon which must be put to a stop with the same determination with which anti-Semitism and discrimination against Muslims is combated,” said Archbishop Cañizares.

He went on to note, “It would be paradoxical to omit concrete measures to guarantee religious freedom for Christians and members of other religions when the general plan is to supposedly eliminate discrimination and intolerance.”

Archbishop Cañizares emphasized that “the Holy See will continue to collaborate with the OSCE in its struggle against anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance and to promote human dignity,” because “history has recently demonstrated the tragic consequences that occur when such dignity is denied or reduced to a merely formal proclamation.”

The Holocaust and “the attempt to systematically destroy an entire people extends over Europe and the whole world like a dark shadow,” a “horrible tragedy that is also a dramatic call to educate the young generations not to yield before ideologies that justify the possibility of trampling human dignity,” the archbishop stated.

The Catholic Church “deplores all expressions of anti-Semitism of which the Jews have been objects,” he declared, noting that “the Holy See is pleased that inter-religious dialogue supports and promotes tolerance, mutual recognition and co-existence among peoples.”