Benedict XVI says faithful have 'right and duty' to spread Gospel

BY SIMON CALDWELL
POPE B ENEDICT XVI has instructed all Catholics to strive to bring people of other faiths into the Church.
A document approved by the Pontiff said that Catholics had an "inalienable right and duty" to spread their beliefs and to live lifestyles worthy of the standards of their faith.
The document informs the world's bishops that they had to do more than simply present their own ideas and then to "invite people to act according to their consciences".
"The revelation of the fundamental truths about God, about the human person and the world is a great good for every person, while living in darkness without the truths about ultimate questions is an evil and is often at the root of suffering and slavery which can at times be grievous," the document says.
"Therefore, fully belonging to Christ, who is the truth, and entering the Church does not lessen human freedom, but rather exalts it and directs it towards its fulfilment in a love that is freely given and which overflows with care for the good of all people."
The 19-page document firmly rejects religious pluralism — the assumption that "all positions are equally valid" — on the grounds that this led to a "lack of confidence in the truth".
It dismisses claims commonly made in western societies that evangelisation is an "encroachment" on the beliefs of others that "masks an attitude of intolerance and a danger to peace". Instead, it says, evangelisation is an expression of religious liberty.
"Everywhere and always each Catholic has the right and duty to give the witness and full proclamation of his faith," the document says.
It also defends the right of Muslims and Protestant and
Orthodox Christians to join the Catholic Church as converts.
Entitled Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelisation, it was signed in Rome by US Cardinal William Levada, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and his deputy, Archbishop Angelo Amato.
It not only exhorts Catholics to vigorously spread their faith but also implicitly criticises Muslim countries, such as Iran, where converts to Christianity can sometimes face the death penalty for apostasy.
It extends its criticism... Continued on Page Two