This exchange in a Zenit.org interview with Attilio Tamburrini, director of the Italian section of Aid To The Church in Need, grabbed my attention:
Q: Are Christians accepted in the post-modern secularized culture?
Tamburrini: Aggressive secularism against Christians is clearly seen in secular cultures. There is a phrase of John Paul II which has not been sufficiently understood: "The democratic system which loses sight of referenced values is transformed into a dictatorship." Benedict XVI has called this the dictatorship of relativism. [emphasis added]
It is a question of exaggerated attention to supposed values of the so-called minorities that are in detriment of the majority.
In France, for example, in the name of the homosexual minority, there is a draft law that punishes with a year of imprisonment and considerable fines anyone who criticizes homosexuals, even if only verbally.
In this connection, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, the retired archbishop of Paris, said that in virtue of this legislation the punishments would be applied to any person who expresses the opinion of the Bible or of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on matters of the family or sexual orientation.
Also in France, for example, a law has been enforced on religious freedom that, in the name of a clear separation between Church and state, has caused paradoxical and disagreeable situations. According to this law, for example, Catholic chaplains of public schools are not allowed to wear their cassock or other religious symbols in school buildings.
It's a bit exhilarating when you stumble upon a quote that gives you a sharpened insight into an idea you thought you already apprehended fairly well. Mr. Tamburrini did that for me.
It also demonstrates the strength of the continuum between the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. In some sense, they are the same papacy. Pope Benedict XVI is carrying forward JP II's work and consolidating his predecessors successes, while preparing the Church Militant for the next leap forward in the battle against heterodoxy and unbelief both within and without.
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