E/CN.4/2000/65 page 39 country by a commission for dialogue), at regional level (in the form of institutional dialogue at least once a year) and at international level (especially with the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Council of Methodists and the World Council of Baptists, amongst others, with further openings to the Mennonites and the Seventh-Day Adventists). It is hoped that this dialogue will lead to some areas of agreement (e.g. regarding the above-mentioned difficulties with Orthodox believers and Evangelists, or a reminder of the right to public worship excluding illicit means) and will achieve progress, with the year 2000 Jubilee offering the hope for greater unity and love beyond tolerance. 2. Evangelization 149. Evangelization also constitutes a meeting point between the Catholic Church and other religious communities. In 1991, the Secretariat for Non-Christians published the document “Dialogue and Mission - The Attitude of the Church Towards the Followers of Other Religions: Reflections and Orientations on Dialogue and Mission”. This document examines the relations between dialogue and mission and in particular the relation between mission and conversion. The aim of the missionary proclamation, for Vatican II, is conversion “so that non-Christians, their heart opened by the Holy Spirit, believe and freely convert to the Lord and loyally cling to him”. The Catholic Church is constantly inviting all people to be converted in this way. The process of conversion, however, is governed by the supreme law of conscience. People must never be obliged to act against their conscience, nor should they be prevented from acting in accordance with their conscience, especially in religious matters. In the document “Dialogue and Proclamation - Reflection and Orientations on Inter-Religious Dialogue and the Proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ”, published on 20 June 1991 by the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, it is made clear that inter-religious dialogue and proclamation are linked, but not interchangeable: “Inter-religious dialogue and proclamation, though not on the same level, are both authentic elements of the Church’s evangelizing mission. Both are legitimate and necessary. They are intimately related, but not interchangeable: true inter-religious dialogue on the part of the Christian supposes the desire to make Jesus Christ better known, recognized and loved; proclaiming Jesus Christ is to be carried out in the Gospel spirit of dialogue. The two activities remain distinct but, as experience shows, one and the same local Church, one and the same person, can be diversely engaged in both.” 150. The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which was set up in 1659, expressed the view that these principles held by the Vatican, inspired by religion but not constituting a strategic position, were in line with United Nations principles concerning religious freedom, its manifestations and its limitations. While excesses might have been committed in the past by missionaries in their work of conversion, such excesses were contrary to the Vatican’s own principles and instructions, as in the case of other religions. Emphasis was placed on the obstacles hampering the evangelizing activities of the Catholic Church, such as those created by totalitarian regimes, whose ideology is atheistic and whose leaders are hostile to religion, by theocratic States which do not respect the rights of religious minorities, by democratic States which are not respectful of religious feelings, by legislations opposed to religious freedom and by fanatics not prepared to accept difference. The need for dialogue was stressed, particularly in view of the spread of atheism.