|
A sense of the dignity of the human person has been impressing
itself more and more deeply on the consciousness of contemporary
man,[1] and the demand is increasingly made that men should act on
their own judgment, enjoying and making use of a responsible freedom,
not driven by coercion but motivated by a sense of duty. The demand is
likewise made that constitutional limits should be set to the powers of
government, in order that there may be no encroachment on the rightful
freedom of the person and of associations. This demand for freedom in
human society chiefly regards the quest for the values proper to the
human spirit. It regards, in the first place, the free exercise of
religion in society. This Vatican Council takes careful note of
these desires in the minds of men. It proposes to declare them to be
greatly in accord with truth and justice. To this end, it searches
into the sacred tradition and doctrine of the Church-the treasury out
of which the Church continually brings forth new things that are in
harmony with the things that are old.
First, the council professes its belief that God Himself has made
known to mankind the way in which men are to serve Him, and thus be
saved in Christ and come to blessedness. We believe that this one
true religion subsists in the Catholic and Apostolic Church, to
which the Lord Jesus committed the duty of spreading it abroad among
all men. Thus He spoke to the Apostles: "Go, therefore, and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined upon you" (Matt.
28: 19-20). On their part, all men are bound to seek the
truth, especially in what concerns God and His Church, and to
embrace the truth they come to know, and to hold fast to it.
This Vatican Council likewise professes its belief that it is upon
the human conscience that these obligations fall and exert their binding
force. The truth cannot impose itself except by virtue of its own
truth, as it makes its entrance into the mind at once quietly and with
power.
Religious freedom, in turn, which men demand as necessary to fulfill
their duty to worship God, has to do with immunity from coercion in
civil society. Therefore it leaves untouched traditional Catholic
doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion
and toward the one Church of Christ.
Over and above all this, the council intends to develop the doctrine
of recent popes on the inviolable rights of the human person and the
constitutional order of society.
|
|