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The Pope tonight urged Catholics to speak out in defence of their faith amid a 'dictatorship of relativism' which 'threatens to obscure the unchanging truth about man's nature, his destiny and his ultimate good'.
Speaking to a crowd of 65,000 in Glasgow's Bellahouston Park, Benedict XVI argued that the 'evangelisation of culture is all the more important in our times'.
Just hours earlier he had controversially likened the rise of atheism in Britain to Nazi Germany and warned against 'aggressive forms of secularism' as he began his historic state visit.
Risking sparking a new row after one of his aides likened the UK to the 'Third World', the former member of the Hitler Youth invoked Nazi Germany in an attack on 'atheist extremism'.
Tonight he addressed the crowd from almost exactly the same spot in Bellahouston Park as Pope John Paul II in 1982 - albeit to a much smaller crowd of 65,000, compared to 250,000 then.
The 1982 gathering was the largest crowd in Scottish history.
Pope Benedict said: 'The evangelisation of culture is all the more important in our times, when a "dictatorship of relativism" threatens to obscure the unchanging truth about man's nature, his destiny and his ultimate good.
'There are some who now seek to exclude religious belief from public discourse, to privatise it or even to paint it as a threat to equality and liberty.
'Yet religion is in fact a guarantee of authentic liberty and respect, leading us to look upon every person as a brother or sister.
'For this reason I appeal in particular to you, the lay faithful, in accordance with your baptismal calling and mission, not only to be examples of faith in public, but also to put the case for the promotion of faith's wisdom and vision in the public forum.
'Society today needs clear voices which propose our right to live, not in a jungle of self-destructive and arbitrary freedoms, but in a society which works for the true welfare of its citizens and offers them guidance and protection in the face of their weakness and fragility. Read on and comment >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Thursday, September 16, 2010
