Conference is promoted by the US Embassy to the Holy See and will host bishops, diplomats and NGOs.

Rome (AsiaNews) – 'Religious Freedom: The Cornerstone of Human Dignity' is the title of an international conference presented by the US Embassy to the Holy See that will open tomorrow at Rome's  Pontifical Gregorian University.

The event will start at 8:30 am; diplomats, Vatican officials, and representatives from the media, university and NGOs are expected to participate. It will focus on what John Paul II called—in his first speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations—the "first freedom" and the "foundational human right," i.e. religious freedom.

Under the patronage of Jim Nicholson, US Ambassador to the Holy See, the conference is the last in a series marking the 20th anniversary of full diplomatic relations between the United States of America and the Holy See.

The first speaker will be Mgr Giovanni Lajolo, Secretary of the Holy See for Relations with States, who will speak about 'Religious Freedom: Guarantor of Security and Stability in the 21st Century'.

He will be followed by Professor Kevin J. Hasson, founder and chairman of the Becket Fund, and Paolo Carozza, professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame Law School, who will discuss 'Religious Liberty: Cornerstone of Human Dignity and International Order'.

John Hanford, US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, will speak about the US approach to promoting religious freedom.

Joseph K. Grieboski, president of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy and Mr. Attilio Tamburrini, director for Italy of Aid to the Church in Need, will explain the role of the non-governmental organisations (NGOs), these advocates on the frontlines.

The study session will close with an overview of how the situation of religious freedom has improved in some areas of the world; main speakers will be Fr Bernardo Cervellera, editor of AsiaNews, Fr David-Maria Jaeger, from Rome's Pontifical Athenaeum Antonianum, and Fr Daniele A. Madigan, deputy dean of the Institute for the Study of Religion and Cultures at the Pontifical Gregorian University. (LF)

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