Vatican City - Pope Benedict said on Sunday that religious freedom was not universally respected, even in some countries that officially recognised it as a human right.
"Religious freedom is far from being effectively guaranteed everywhere," the Pope told a large crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square to hear his weekly Angelus blessing.
"In some places it is denied for religious and ideological reasons. Other times, even if it is recognised on paper, it is hindered by political powers or else, in a more subtle fashion, by the predominant culture of agnosticism or relativism."
Benedict did not mention any specific countries on Sunday but his speech echoed previous warnings from the Roman Catholic Church that "Christianophobia" was spreading around the world.
The Pope's warning also echoed a speech he made shortly before he was elevated to the papacy in April, when he told fellow prelates that the Church had to reject "a dictatorship of relativism" that denied the existence of absolute truths.