Vatican City, December 2013. Mr Anthony Bailey was received by His Holiness Pope Francis during an audience held in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican City.
The hour-long audience was held to mark the 5th anniversary of Dignitatis Humanae Institute which Mr Bailey is Fellow of.
The Dignitatis Humanae Institute is an international response to the rising militant anti-Christian secularism seen throughout the West today. It exists to promote the Gospel in the political sphere, through upholding and strengthening the Judaeo-Christian tenets of Western culture, always with respect and tolerance for those of different faith. It is inspired by Catholic Social Teaching and is ecumenical in composition.
The Dignitatis Humanae Institute has three main objectives. The first is to promote recognition of the reality that Man is made in the image and likeness of God. The second is to insist that this image and likeness is present in every single human person from conception until natural death. The third is to suggest with humility that the best means of authentically promoting this recognition is through the active participation of engaged Christians on the public stage.
The Holy Father highlighted to the audience what is at stake if we fail in our mission, warning of a modern-day “throwaway culture” that threatens to become the dominant mentality:
“The victims of such a culture are precisely the weakest and most fragile human beings – the unborn, the poorest people, sick elderly people, gravely disabled people… who are in danger of being “thrown out,” expelled from a machine that must be efficient at all costs. This false model of man and society embodies a practical atheism, de facto negating the Word of God that says: ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.”
Among the others present at the audience were: HRH Prince Charles of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro; HRH Princess Camilla of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Duchess of Castro; HE Renato Raffaele Cardinal Martino, Honorary President of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute; Mrs Eduarda Crociani Vesel; HE Ambassador Nobile Giuseppe Balboni Acqua, Secretary General of the Royal House and former Italian Ambassador to the Holy See; Professor Roberto de Mattei, Cyril and Lorna Woods of Slane, Mr Nirj Deva DL, MEP, the Rev Fr Michael Seed, SA, Prof David Khalili, and Mr John Kennedy CBE DL.
In recognition of Mr Bailey’s Interfaith and charitable activities he was appointed Knight Commander of the Pontifical Order of Pope St Sylvester by decree of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, and promoted Knight Grand Cross of the Pontifical Order of Pope St Sylvester by decree of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.
For more information on the Institute please click here.
To download a copy of the Holy Father’s speech click here.
