” “The Italian bishops are mobilizing in favour of Abdul Rahman, the Afghan citizen sentenced to death because he decided to accept a religion different from the one he had been brought up with. Msgr. Arrigo Miglio, president of the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace, and Msgr. Luigi Bressan, president of the Episcopal Commission for the Evangelization of the Peoples, sent a letter made known by the Italian Episcopal Conference today – to the Italian Foreign Minister, Gianfranco Fini. "We are asking you, Minister, to go on strengthening the undertaken action, also by collaborating with the European Union and other States (including some states with Islamic majorities, at least). The threatened sentence should conclude with the declaration that the fact is not a crime. Not only should the accused person be acquitted, but it should be granted the right of living serenely wherever he wants". "Like many others it is written in the letter, – we were also deeply impressed by the piece of news". The bishops remember what the Second Vatican Council and the numerous papal documents state about "freedom of religion", reminding us that "such right is the basis for many others". "Upholding this principle wrote Miglio and Bressan – is not just a defence of the rights of one person, but it is also a concrete help for a people to foster its real development, in the union of the nations. A contribution will be given in this sense, because those who belong to other religions may develop truer values and purify restrictive interpretations. After all, quite often the Muslims tell us that the very Koran states that constrictions in the religious field are not accepted".” “
