"The right to religious freedom is a fundamental, irrepressible and inviolable right. And even more: the exercise of this freedom includes also the right to change religion, which should be granted not just legally, but also as usual practice". Those words were spoken by Msgr. Anthony Frontiero, Official of the Papal Council of Justice and Peace. In the last few days, in Warsaw, he spoke at the annual meeting for carrying out the commitments taken on (within human rights) by the 56 countries participating in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). During his speech (delivered last September 26th but made known by the press room just today), Msgr. Frontiero recalled that "the society and the State must not force one person to act against his conscience in any way, or prevent that person from acting in accordance with his conscience". "Even though a religious community he added, – owing to its cultural and historical links with a Nation, may receive a special acknowledgement by the State, such acknowledgement should never create discriminations of social and civil kind, with respect to other religious groups. Unfortunately, a similar vision of the relationships between states and religious organizations does not seem to be shared everywhere, and the right to religious freedom, as we know, is often violated".
