Each year, the Holy Father issues a statement on Jan. 1 to commemorate the World Day of Peace. This year, in the message written by Pope Francis, he said this: “In many parts of the world, there seems to be no end to grave offences against fundamental human rights, especially the right to life and the right to religious freedom.” (N.1).

This month, in the United States we will mark the tragic anniversary on Jan. 22 of Roe v. Wade, the terrible Supreme Court decision that somehow found a right to abortion in our Constitution. However, it is the pope’s reference to the right to religious freedom that I would especially like to draw our attention to.

Last week our country saw a crystal clear illustration of the struggle to defend our religious freedom, our right to practice our Catholic faith without coercion or permission from the government.

The Little Sisters of the Poor, yes those same selfless and committed Catholic women who care for the poor and the sick and the elderly, petitioned the Supreme Court to respect their right of conscience not just to worship but to practice the Catholic faith.

At issue was the government mandate that the sisters should provide their employees with insurance coverage for services prohibited by our Catholic faith, including those involving abortion, or else pay ruinous and unsustainable fines.

As you may have seen, the Obama Administration formally responded, asking the Supreme Court not to provide any relief to the sisters. How sad and embarrassing for us as Americans that government efforts to restrict the fundamental human right of religious freedom have come to this.

But the Holy Father’s comment needs to be placed in a wider context. Religious freedom is now under siege globally. On Christmas Day, for example, 37 Christians were reportedly killed by bombings perpetrated against them in Iraq, one of which targeted Christmas Mass.

Earlier in December, a group of 12 nuns were abducted by Islamists from their convent in the Christian town of Maaloula in Syria and taken to a non-Christian area.

Since 2010, a Pakistani Christian woman, Asia Bibi, has been held in prison and condemned to death by hanging under a charge of speaking disrespectfully of the Prophet Mohammad. She is now awaiting decision on appeal of her conviction.

The Pope’s plea for respect for religious liberty, the appeal of the Little Sisters of the Poor, and a sampling of religious oppression throughout the world — they all have a common thread. They all center on the growing trend to disrespect and even dismiss the fundamental importance of religious freedom.

Every man and woman is made in God’s image and likeness. Built into our human nature is the urge to search for God and to follow our rightly formed consciences as we respond to God’s call. Religious freedom, the right to seek God, and in doing so to live our religious convictions, is fundamental to our human nature.

As Pope Francis points out, respect for religious freedom is also a fundamental element for true peace. Even where adherents of different religions live side by side, it is mutual respect for faith that is a foundation for peace among them. And most importantly, it is not the power of government that grants religious freedom. Government must respect that right that is given by God.

Elements of our increasingly secular age and society would like to relegate religion to private gatherings on Sunday morning, or make it disappear entirely. The infringements on our freedom against which the Church has argued so strenuously, especially as they relate to the new health care regulations, are profound and they are dangerous. The oppression of our fellow Christians throughout the world is a logical extension of the same principle.

Please, think and pray about our freedom of religion. It is not too late to speak up and to let friends and neighbors, family members and coworkers and even our political leaders know that we stand with Pope Francis in respecting this God-given right. Let’s hope that 2014 turns out to be the year when governments and individuals truly began to respect this fundamental human right.