True religious freedom includes allowing believers to contribute to their countries' political discussions and to allow their beliefs and morals to impact the way they engage in public life, said the Vatican's foreign minister.

"No one should confuse or compare the marginalization of religion with the true persecution and killing of Christians in some parts of the world," said Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican secretary for relations with states.

But efforts to ban religious expressions from public life are still an attack on religious freedom, Mamberti said.

The archbishop was one of several speakers at a Rome meeting Sept. 12 on "preventing and responding to hate crime incidents and crimes against Christians."