Responding to news of the horrific murder earlier this week of Pakistani Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's representative to the UN, made a strong statement in defense of religious liberty:
Religious strife is a danger to social, political, and economic development. Religious conflict polarizes society, breaking the bonds necessary for social life and commerce to flourish. It produces violence, which robs people of the most fundamental right of all, the right to life…. The State has the duty to defend the right to freedom of religion and it has therefore the responsibility to create an environment where this right can be enjoyed.
Bhatti, the only Christian member of the federal cabinet, had come under criticism for speaking out against blasphemy laws.
