Also Europe must be alert

“In order to prevent hate crimes” against Christians “from occurring, it is essential to promote and consolidate religious liberty, the concept of which must be clear from the outset”, said Msgr. Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States in the address delivered in Rome on 12 September at the OSCE – Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – Conference “Preventing and responding to hate incidents and crimes against Christians”. Along with the Holy See representative, the meeting was attended by high-ranking dignitaries including OSCE leadership (such as the new Secretary General Lamberto Zannier and director Janez Lenarcic), Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Foreign Relations Department of Moscow’s Patriarchate; Evaldas Ignatavicius, vice-Foreign minister of Lithuania, who holds the rotating presidency of the inter-governmental organization set up in Helsinki in 1975; 150 representatives of 56 Member States, religious communities and NGOs. Episodes of violence in 12 OSCE countries. “One may contend, and rightly so, that most of the hate crimes against Christians in the world occur outside the OSCE area”, said Msgr. Mamberti. There are, however, warning signs even within that area”. “The annual hate crime report of ODIHR provides irrefutable proof of a growing intolerance against Christians”. According to the document, in 2011, there have been episodes of violence directed against Christians in no less than 12 OSCE countries: aggressions and/or discrimination, acts of vandalism, church and cemetery profanation. The situation is particularly critical in Kosovo and in Albania, but there have been episodes of intolerance also in Austria, Belgium, France and Spain. For this, underlines Msgr. Mamberti, the Holy See “welcomes” the Resolution of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted this year in Belgrade “as an important step towards “initiat[ing] a public debate on intolerance and discrimination against Christians”.Stepping up religious freedom. Whilst highlighting the importance of promoting and consolidating religious liberty also across Europe, the Vatican diplomat argued that religious freedom “cannot be restricted to the simple freedom of worship” and, “with due respect to the rights of all, religious freedom includes, among others, the right to preach, educate, convert, contribute to the political discourse and participate fully in public activities”. Religion, he explained, “is more than just a private opinion. It always has an impact on society and its moral principles”. For Msgr. Mamberti, in the OSCE region, “we are largely blessed with a consensus on the importance of religious liberty”. That’s why it is important “that we continue our conversation on the substance of religious liberty, “on its fundamental connection with the idea of truth, and on the difference between religious freedom and relativism that merely tolerates religion while considering it with some degree of hostility”.Coordinating interventions. “It’s the first time that an international summit demands that the crimes against Christians be recognized as a relevant juridical category and as a humanitarian emergency”, remarked sociologist Massimo Introvigne, rappresentative of OSCE in the fight on intolerance and discrimination of Christians. “These crimes – he underlines – mostly take place in Africa and in Asia, but OSCE countries (USA, Canada, Europe) must urgently coordinate more incisive interventions”. Speakers in the Rome summit recalled the case of Sister Laura Mainetti, the Italian nun whose beatification cause is under way. “She was killed in Chiavenna in the year 2000 by three young women who were induced online into hatred and violence against the Catholic Church”. According to a survey by the French Gendarmerie presented during the meeting, every second day a Catholic church in France is profaned, desecrated or vandalized. A threat to security and stability. For Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, “OSCE States must step up their commitment to effectively combat hatred crimes against Christians” which Lamberto Zannier, neo-Secretary general of the organization and former head of the UN mission in Kosovo (Unmik), describes as “a threat to security and stability of the entire area”. For this, he assures, their prevention “falls within the supervision and conflict prevention commitment of OSCE” and this requires to collect “reliable data on these episodes across Member States”. Hence the proposal to create “an international data bank”. Evaldas Ignatavicius launched the proposal of “introducing the violation of the freedom of religion in national penal codes”, underlining the importance of “undertaking a process of reflection and education at all levels so as to create public acknowledgement and legislative action aimed at eliminating this insidious form of violation of human rights”.