MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti) - Pope...

Speaking at the Throne Hall of the Archbishop"s House in Prague on the second day of his pastoral visit to the Czech Republic, the pontiff said: "... Attempts to marginalize the influence of Christianity upon public life - sometimes under the pretext that its teachings are detrimental to the well-being of society - are emerging in new forms.

"We may ask ourselves, what does the Gospel have to say to the Czech Republic and indeed all of Europe today in a period marked by proliferating world views?"

The 82-year-old pontiff is visiting the Czech Republic as the country prepares to celebrate 20 years since the 1989 Velvet Revolution that ended the atheist Communist rule.

"As Europe listens to the story of Christianity, she hears her own. Her notions of justice, freedom and social responsibility, together with the cultural and legal institutions established to preserve these ideas and hand them on to future generations, are shaped by her Christian inheritance," Benedict

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