Pope warns that selfish individuals are deliberately abusing the Human Rights Act to get what they want

Benedict XVI claims a false culture of human rights has gripped the West



He argues the rights to freedom of conscience and religion are being eroded

Pope made the remarks in his annual address to foreign ambassadors to the Holy See – including Nigel Baker, the British Ambassador



Comes after revelations that nearly 4,000 foreign criminals in the UK are using the Human Rights Act to avoid deportation

Warning: Pope Benedict XVI today warned that the Human Rights Act is being abused by selfish individuals to serve their own ends

The Pope has warned that human rights have become a vehicle for individuals to pursue selfish demands.

His attack was combined with a fresh appeal for tolerance of Christianity and of Christians who object to equality laws.

In a speech in the Vatican to foreign ambassadors, Pope Benedict XVI suggested human rights laws can lead to ‘intolerance or even violence towards individuals, symbols of religious identity and religious institutions’.

The Pope’s intervention comes at a time of deepening concern over the misuse of human rights laws in Britain, and as the European Court of Human Rights comes close to verdicts on four British test cases on Christian rights.

The cases include Nadia Eweida, a British Airways check-in clerk who was refused the right to wear a cross with her uniform, and Lillian Ladele, who was sacked as a registrar because she declined to conduct civil partnership ceremonies.

The Pope has been heavily critical of gay rights in Britain and denounced David Cameron’s plans for gay marriage in his New Year message.

In his latest speech, the Pope said he was concerned that human rights laws were being used by selfish individuals to trample on those with opposing views.

He said: ‘Sadly, especially in the West, one frequently encounters ambiguities about the meaning of human rights and their corresponding duties.

‘Rights are often confused with exaggerated manifestations of the autonomy of the individual, who becomes self-referential and absorbed only in seeking to satisfy his or her own needs.

‘To be authentic, the defence of rights must instead consider human beings integrally, in their personal and communitarian dimensions.’

In an apparent reference to the British Catholic adoption agencies that closed rather than follow equality laws that meant placing children with same-sex couples, the Pope added: ‘Believers, and Christians in particular, are prevented from contributing to the common good.

The Pope, pictured attending an audience with the foreign ambassadors to the Holy See at the Vatican today, argued that the freedom of conscience and religion is being eroded by the Human Rights Act

Controversy: The popes words come just a week after it emerged that nearly 4,000 foreign criminals are using the European Court of Human Rights, pictured, to avoid deportation from the UK

‘Outlawing individual and institutional conscientious objection in the name of liberty and pluralism opens the door to intolerance and forced uniformity.’

The Pope’s remarks will inevitably be seen as another attack on the emergence of so-called ‘sexual and reproductive rights’ – including gay rights – at a time when some countries, including Britain, are seeking to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples.



The Pope said Christians are being prevented from contributing to the 'common good' because of human rights legislation

But they will please critics of the way the Human Rights Act is being implemented following revelations last week that nearly 4,000 foreign criminals, including rapists and murderers, are using its provisions to avoid deportation.

Such abuses have added to the pressure on David Cameron to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights, enshrined into British law by the Human Rights Act, but the Prime Minister’s Liberal Democrat partners are keen supporters of the Act.



In his address, the Pope observed that such major existing, recognised rights as the right to life and the right to freedom of conscience and religion were being eroded as human rights were being redefined.



He criticised the use of the false concept of human rights to ‘expand legislation which decriminalises abortion’ and to marginalise religion in social life, sometimes resulting in ‘intolerance or even of violence towards individuals, symbols of religious identity and religious institutions’.



He said: ‘In order effectively to safeguard the exercise of religious liberty it is essential to respect the right of conscientious objection.



‘This “frontier” of liberty touches upon principles of great importance of an ethical and religious character, rooted in the very dignity of the human person.



‘They are, as it were, the “bearing walls” of any society that wishes to be truly free and democratic.

Benedict XVI used his address to also call for a halt to the ‘endless slaughter’ and ‘dreadful suffering’ in Syria, warning governments that without a ceasefire in the civil war the country would soon be reduced to ‘nothing but a field of ruins’.

The Pope’s remarks came in his annual address to foreign ambassadors to the Holy See – including Nigel Baker, the British Ambassador.

Official meeting: Pope Benedict XVI poses with foreign ambassadors to the Holy See after giving his speech on human rights at the Vatican



