Post by Bozur on Feb 26, 2005 17:11:55 GMT -5
World
Sunday February 13, 7:42 PM
Pope acknowledges role of secularism in France
PARIS (Reuters) - Pope John Paul acknowledged the potentially positive role of secularism in France as a way to balance power, on the 100th anniversary of the separation of church and state in the once largely Roman Catholic country.
"The principle of secularism, to which your country is very attached, if it is correctly understood, also belongs to the church's social doctrine," the ailing pope wrote in a lengthy letter to France's Catholic bishops dated on Friday. "It is a reminder of the necessity of a just separation of powers."
France has strictly separated the church from the state for the last 100 years to prevent discrimination and the bloody religious wars of prior centuries. The government has vigilantly kept religious symbols out of public institutions such as state schools.
But the frail 84-year-old Pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and arthritis and just spent 10 days in hospital after a breathing crisis, also stressed Europe's Christian roots and said such values must be strengthened.
"Christianity in large part shaped the face of Europe, and today's men must build European society on the values that presided over its birth and that are part of its richness," the Pope wrote.
The Pope said the 1905 French law separating church and state was a "sad and traumatic" event for the French Church. Still, the French government by 1920 had begun to recognise the role of religion in the country, he wrote.
The current peace between the church and state, obtained gradually over the years, was now a reality to which the French were profoundly attached, the Pope wrote.
"She permits the Church in France to fulfil its own mission with confidence and serenity, and to take an ever more active role in the life of society, respecting the competencies of each," the Pope wrote.
The Pope also wrote of the crisis of values and lack of hope seen in France and other Western countries.
Sunday February 13, 7:42 PM
Pope acknowledges role of secularism in France
PARIS (Reuters) - Pope John Paul acknowledged the potentially positive role of secularism in France as a way to balance power, on the 100th anniversary of the separation of church and state in the once largely Roman Catholic country.
"The principle of secularism, to which your country is very attached, if it is correctly understood, also belongs to the church's social doctrine," the ailing pope wrote in a lengthy letter to France's Catholic bishops dated on Friday. "It is a reminder of the necessity of a just separation of powers."
France has strictly separated the church from the state for the last 100 years to prevent discrimination and the bloody religious wars of prior centuries. The government has vigilantly kept religious symbols out of public institutions such as state schools.
But the frail 84-year-old Pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and arthritis and just spent 10 days in hospital after a breathing crisis, also stressed Europe's Christian roots and said such values must be strengthened.
"Christianity in large part shaped the face of Europe, and today's men must build European society on the values that presided over its birth and that are part of its richness," the Pope wrote.
The Pope said the 1905 French law separating church and state was a "sad and traumatic" event for the French Church. Still, the French government by 1920 had begun to recognise the role of religion in the country, he wrote.
The current peace between the church and state, obtained gradually over the years, was now a reality to which the French were profoundly attached, the Pope wrote.
"She permits the Church in France to fulfil its own mission with confidence and serenity, and to take an ever more active role in the life of society, respecting the competencies of each," the Pope wrote.
The Pope also wrote of the crisis of values and lack of hope seen in France and other Western countries.