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Rights need universal, not local, foundations, pope says
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Universal rights grounded upon a rational, objective foundation are needed if countries are to successfully combat the problems of violence, religious intolerance and violations against human dignity, Pope Benedict XVI told a group of European legislators. "How could a fruitful dialogue among cultures take place without common values, rights and stable universal principles understood in the same way" by all member states of the Council of Europe? he asked. The pope met privately with 38 members of the bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe at the end of his weekly general audience at the Vatican Sept. 8. The pope recalled that 2010 marked the 60th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights, which commits member states to promote and defend human dignity. He also recognized the parliamentary assembly's recent work in trying to address the problems of extremism, human trafficking, the illegal drug trade and prostitution, as well as its efforts to help war victims, defend religious freedom and fight religious intolerance and violence. The only way international bodies such as the Council of Europe can be effective in a multicultural world is by emphasizing the universal validity, inviolability, inalienability and indivisibility of human rights, he said.
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