Sarkozy Encourages Christians to Be More Outspoken
Upon his visit to the Vatican on October 8th, 2010, French president Nikolas Sarkozy declared that "France does not forget that it has a common history of 2,000 years with the Church and that today it shares with her an inestimable treasure of moral values, of culture, of civilization, which have been inscribed in its identity." "The Church, with the spiritual means proper to her [and] the French Republic, with its political means, serve many common causes," he added, assuring that both seek "justice," "balance," "peace," "fraternity." "Then, why don't they speak to one another? Why can't they work together?" he asked. "I believe in the separation of the spiritual and the temporal as a principle of liberty," he said. "I believe in secularism as a principle of respect. But the Church cannot be indifferent in face of the problems of the society to which she belongs as an institution, and politics cannot be indifferent in the face of the religious events and spiritual and moral values. There is no religion without social responsibility, there are no politics without morality."
08. Oct. 2010
source: http://www.zenit.org/article-30590?l=english
08. Oct. 2010
source: http://www.zenit.org/article-30590?l=english