Addressing bishops from England and Wales at the Vatican this morning, the Pope touched on a subject that has been of concern to people of faith for quite some time: the extent to which the so-called equality agenda is limiting the right to religious freedom.

It’s become commonplace in some countries, Britain in particular, to limit the rights of religious believers based on some skewed notion of equality.

Speaking to the prelates the Pope said “your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet…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.

“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?” the Pope asked.

Chief among his concern must be the push to disallow religious believers to legitimately dissent from things that they find objectionable. Catholic adoption agencies, for example, were forced to close down because they refused to place children with gay couples. In effect, people who believe in traditional sexual morality were given a “need not apply” card.

It’s quite bizarre that a misguided notion of equality is, in fact, being used to limit freedom of expression.