"Religious freedom is a litmus test for the respect of any other freedom and right of man. And unfortunately today, in Europe and in the rest of the world, there are still many, too many situations in which believing in something is taken for fundamentalism". Mario Mauro, vice-president of the European Parliament, expresses from Strasbourg, where the plenary meeting of the EU assembly is under way, his "belief that it is high time we finished with such a shyness in reporting situations that go against the fundamental rights". Along with Father Bernardo Cervellera, director of Asia News, and Attilio Tamburrini, director of "Aiuto alla Chiesa che soffre", he lists a series of emblematic situations in the world (including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Cuba) and denounces "the ambiguity of many positions taken by the European institutions". In this connection, Mauro mentions the thirty or so reports from the European Parliament or MPs in the last two legislatures (1994-2004) to remind the Holy See of the respect of fundamental freedoms which are "far less than in Cuba or China, countries in which for decades there has been and still there is no respect at all for human rights and people’s dignity". (to be continued)
