The politician, Salman Taseer, had campaigned against the law and had petitioned the government to re-examine the case of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was sentenced to death last November under the legislation.
Mr. Taseer’s “tragic murder,” the pope said, “shows the urgent need to make progress in this direction: the worship of God furthers fraternity and love, not hatred and division.”
Referring to the attacks on Christians in Iraq and Egypt, Benedict called on the governments of those predominantly Muslim countries to adopt “effective measures” to better protect religious minorities. Urging Pakistan to repeal its blasphemy law, the pope said the legislation was being used “as a pretext for acts of injustice and violence against religious minorities.”
The pope has often spoken out against religious intolerance, but his condemnations increased after recent attacks on Christian communities in several countries, including Nigeria and the Philippines, where churches were bombed during the recent holidays.
The plight of Christians in the Middle East has been of particular concern to the Vatican, which hosted a meeting of bishops in October to address the issue.
The concerns have deepened in recent months in the face of what clerics see as sustained violence. After a New Year’s Mass at a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria, a suicide bomber killed at least 23 people and wounded nearly 100. In October, a siege at a Baghdad church killed 53 people, prompting yet another exodus of Christians from the country.
On Monday
, the pope cited a message to Christians in the Middle East that he delivered during the bishop’s synod in October. “It is natural,” he said, that “they should enjoy all the rights of citizenship, freedom of conscience, freedom of worship and freedom in education, teaching and the use of the mass media.”
The pope also took Western nations to task for marginalizing religion and minimizing its role in contemporary society, and he called for dialogue between faiths to promote “a common commitment to recognizing and promoting the religious freedom of each person and community.”
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The New York Times
