"What are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how far do they extend? ... [T]here are those who argue – paradoxically with the intention of eliminating discrimination – that Christians in public roles should be required at times to act against their conscience. These are worrying signs of a failure to appreciate...the rights of believers to freedom of conscience ... [R]eligious bodies – including institutions linked to the Catholic Church – need to be free to act in accordance with their own principles and specific convictions based upon the faith and the official teaching of the Church."Speaking at a residence for the elderly on Saturday evening Pope Benedict said:
"Life is a unique gift, at every stage from conception until natural death and it is God’s alone to give and takeSpeaking to pilgrims in Hyde Park, Pope Benedict said:
"in our day, when an intellectual and moral relativism threatens to sap the very foundations of our society," every person is called "to work for the advancement of God's Kingdom by imbuing temporal life with the values of the Gospel."
"No one who looks realistically at our world today could think that Christians can afford to go on with business as usual ... Each of us has a mission, each of us is called to change the world, to work for a culture of life, a culture forged by love and respect for the dignity of each human person."
In his public address to the English and Welsh bishops, Pope Benedict told them
"As you proclaim the coming of the Kingdom, with its promise of hope for the poor and the needy, the sick and the elderly, the unborn and the neglected, be sure to present in its fullness the life-giving message of the Gospel, including those elements which call into question the widespread assumptions of today’s culture."
