ROME (CNS) — The traditional U.S. model of church-state relations has been praised by Pope Benedict XVI as a form of “healthy secularism,” but it risks being eroded by those who want to limit religion’s influence in public life, speakers at a Rome conference said. The conference Jan. 13 marked the 25th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations between the United States and the Holy See. It was the last of a series of five encounters sponsored over the past year by the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican on the theme of religious liberty. The U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Mary Ann Glendon, introduced the program by pointing out that there are competing models of religious freedom in the United States, and that the future direction of church-state relations is a subject of intense debate. Speakers agreed that there are persistent efforts in the United States to restrict religion to the private sphere — something not intended by the framers of the Constitution.