"The objective of the Catholic church is not to endanger social cohabitation in the Muslim countries. It does not identify itself with an aggressive proselytism that demonises non-Christian cultures and religions". It was repeated by card. Angelo Scola, patriarch of Venice, as he opened today in Amman, Jordan, the meeting of the Scientific Committee of the International Study and Research Centre Oasis, of which he is the founder. However, commented Scola, "the respect of a community’s identity cannot go so far as to violate the human freedom of the individual. This must be testified today to our Muslim counterparts. The Catholic doctrine does certainly not look at religious freedom as at an option in an imaginary supermarket of religions. It insists on religious freedom as a consequence of everyone’s absolute and impending duty to adhere to the truth but in their objective, appropriate conscience". (continued)
