Pope Benedict spoke about the Divine Mercy today in his Regina Caeli homily. He said that it is "the merciful love of God that firmly
unites the Church, today as yesterday, and makes humanity a single
family; the divine love, which through Jesus crucified and risen
forgives our sins and renews us from within." The Pope thanked people for remembering him on his birthday (April 16) and the anniversary of his election as pope (April 19).
Full translations are available at Zenit and Papa Ratzinger Forum. The original Italian text with greetings in several languages can be found at the Vatican Press Office's Daily Bulletin. Articles have been published by Asia News and the Associated Press.
After the prayer, the Pope followed the perspective of most European countries in supporting the upcoming U.N. Durban Review Conference. That conference is a follow-up to the 2001 UN World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance (WCAR).
The first WCAR in 2001 had an anti-Israeli agenda, driven by Iran, with a final draft of a declaration labeling Zionism as racist. The 2009 final draft of the declaration has removed all anti-Israeli references and all references to the Middle East.
The U.S. still opposes the WCAR because the new draft of the declaration contains a clause stating that "any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law" The final draft WCAR statement can be downloaded from the U.N. website. The U.S. State Department website has the U.S. Statement opposing that document. The U.S. Constitution protection on free speech prevents laws that curtail inflammatory speech unless it incites imminent lawless action (such as rioting) and is actually likely to produce such action. (Brandenburg v Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969)). Mere advocacy is constitutionally protected in the U.S.
International human rights groups have
expressed dismay that a statement in opposition to religious hate
speech would be allowed to derail a conference on racism. See BBC article, NGO Monitor, Human Rights Watch, Inter Press Service.
The Pope's words were in opposition to racism, and not in favor of a legal prohibition on hate speech. See the Associated Press article. He did not mention the boycott of the event by the U.S. and several other western countries. Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and Israel presently join the U.S. in its refusal to attend the conference.
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