Pope John Paul II exhorted Christians on Friday to display signs of their faith more forcefully, contending the practice neither infringes on separation of church and state nor breeds intolerance.
His comments appeared to be a clear reference to raging debates over laws such as France’s recent ban on wearing Islamic headscarves, Jewish skull caps or large Christian crosses in schools.
In Italy, a Muslim activist’s efforts last year to remove crucifixes from public school classrooms stirred widespread resentment in the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country.
In a 31-page letter focused on the central role of Holy Communion in the life of Catholics, the pope kept up his campaign to invigorate the faith of followers.
“May there be more commitment, on the part of Christians, to give witness with more force to the presence of God in the world,” John Paul wrote. “Let’s not be afraid to speak of God and to carry on high the signs of faith.”
“Those who contend that public reference to faith can infringe the rightful autonomy of the state and civil institutions or that it can even encourage attitudes of intolerance are wrong,” he said.
John Paul’s letter marked the start this month of the Church’s Year of the Eucharist. Catholics believe that Christ is present in flesh and blood in Communion.
There is vigorous debate in the Church over divorced Catholics who want to receive Communion after they remarry in defiance of Church teaching. Several U.S. bishops have said they would deny Communion to Catholic politicians whose stands on issues like abortion and gay marriage run counter to the Vatican’s positions.
The pontiff touched on the sensitive issue, reinforcing the Vatican’s insistence that the faithful adhere to Church teaching to be able to receive Communion.
“The special intimacy which is achieved in Eucharistic Communion cannot be adequately understood or fully lived outside ecclesial communion,” the pope wrote, without wading into any specific controversies.
Earlier this year, the Vatican issued a directive clamping down on such abuses during Mass as non-Catholics taking Communion. At the time, a top Vatican official, Cardinal Francis Arinze, said priests must deny Communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.
Vatican officials, including Arinze, didn’t say what implications the pope’s letter could have for Catholic politicians.
In Paris, the Foreign Ministry noted France was not named in the pope’s letter and said there were no tensions with the Vatican over the new law, which bans the wearing of conspicuous religious signs in public schools.
Late last year, a court in Italy revoked a judge’s order to have a crucifix removed from a public school. An Islamic activist whose sons went to the elementary school had sought to have the cross removed. A 1924 Italian law says schools must display the crucifix.