Religious Freedom? John Courtney Murray and Dignitatis Humanae
Channel: Ritorno a Itaca
Date: 2021-10-08

The Vatican II’s Declaration Dignitatis Humanae promulgated by Pope Paul VI on December 7, 1965, among other things, affirmed: “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.
This Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.” But what is religious freedom? What was the role of the american jesuit John Courtney Murray during Vatican II?