Vatican City - The Pope has made an unprecedented attack on the human rights policies of Gordon Brown’s Government, claiming that they threaten religious freedom and urging Catholic bishops to fight back with “missionary zeal”.
Pope Benedict XVI said that new equality legislation was unjust and violated natural law.
He urged the 35 Catholic bishops from England and Wales, in Rome on a five-yearly "ad limina" visit, to make a united stand against the Equality Bill currently going through Parliament.
He claimed the proposed new laws threatened “long-standing British traditions” of freedom of speech.
In a speech in which he confirmed that he will be coming to Britain on a four-day visit in September, the Pope said: “Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet, as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs.
“In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed.”
Church of England bishops were among those who successfully amended the Bill in the House of Lords last week. Under the draft proposals, the exemptions from equality law enjoyed by religious organisations would have been altered.
Churches feared they could face prosecution if they refused to go against their beliefs and employ gays and transsexuals and Catholics warned that they could be forced to admit women to the priesthood.
The Church of England and Catholic bishops of England and Wales will now join forces to fight any intervention by the European Commission to win back the ground lost by the Government.
It is highly unusual for a foreign head of state or church leader to intervene directly in the legislative process of a Protestant state, and the Pope was condemned by gay rights and secular campaigners who threatened protest marches and campaigns against the visit, which will begin in Scotland in mid-September.
Pope Benedict XVI said: "Even amid the pressures of a secular age, there are many signs of living faith and devotion among the Catholics of England and Wales. I am thinking, for example, of the enthusiasm generated by the visit of the relics of Saint Thérèse, the interest aroused by the prospect of Cardinal Newman’s beatification and the eagerness of young people to take part in pilgrimages and World Youth Days.
"On the occasion of my forthcoming Apostolic Visit to Great Britain, I shall be able to witness that faith for myself and, as Successor of Peter, to strengthen and confirm it.
"During the months of preparation that lie ahead, be sure to encourage the Catholics of England and Wales in their devotion and assure them that the Pope constantly remembers them in his prayers and holds them in his heart."
After criticising equal rights legislation he continued: "I urge you as Pastors to ensure that the Church’s moral teaching be always presented in its entirety and convincingly defended. Fidelity to the Gospel in no way restricts the freedom of others – on the contrary, it serves their freedom by offering them the truth.
"Continue to insist upon your right to participate in national debate through respectful dialogue with other elements in society.
“In doing so, you are not only maintaining long-standing British traditions of freedom of expression and honest exchange of opinion, but you are actually giving voice to the convictions of many people who lack the means to express them: when so many of the population claim to be Christian, how could anyone dispute the Gospel’s right to be heard?
"If the full saving message of Christ is to be presented effectively and convincingly to the world, the Catholic community in your country needs to speak with a united voice. This requires not only you, the Bishops, but also priests, teachers, catechists, writers – in short all who are engaged in the task of communicating the Gospel – to be attentive to the promptings of the Spirit, who guides the whole Church into the truth, gathers her into unity and inspires her with missionary zeal."
The speech signals the more confident US-style of mission that the Catholic Church is embracing in the UK, as witnessed by the Pope’s recent offer of a special Anglican Ordinariate for disaffected members of the Church of England who wish to convert.
In the next few days the Catholic bishops of England and Wales will issue their own challenge to Mr Brown and the other political parties in a pre-election document that will build on traditional Catholic social thought to argue for religious freedom as well as care for the poor and deprived.
The latest controversy comes amid growing speculation in Rome that the Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, regarded as the spiritual leader of five million Roman Catholics in England and Wales, is to be made a cardinal this year.
This would be unprecedented because normal practice is to have just one cardinal with voting rights in the College of Cardinals from England and Wales. The former Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, will retain his voting rights of the college, the body that will elect the next Pope, until his 80th birthday in 2012.
However, there is no formal rule stipulating that there can only be one cardinal in England and Wales. There are also moves for the new Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, to be made a cardinal along with Archbishop Nichols.