"The Church is supposed to live in permanent and responsible relation with society, relativising the State". Those words were spoken by Msgr. Jorge Ortiga, confirmed president of Portuguese bishops (CEP) again for the three years from 2008 to 2011, while opening the works for the 168th Plenary Assembly of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference, taking place in Fatima from 31st March to 4th April. "A State may protect or hinder free expression of thought in a clear or hidden way. We all know what we can hope for from a legitimately formed authority: fostering freedom of cult and conscience, and at the same time, ensuring all the conditions for it to be exercised with a spirit of equality and tolerance". However, owing to a "singular contradiction", on the one hand, there is "the ideologic tolerance of a pluralist society, where all the cultural, ideologic and ethical positions must be regarded as legitimate and worth of being taken into account", but on the other hand, there is "an inconceivable exclusion of the Catholic presence from political and public circles". "The Catholics stated Msgr. Ortiga – cannot accept to be excluded from an integral humanization process, and the Church will never be able to avoid paying its contribution to the construction of a fairer society". ” “
