11, The Church not only must never pass judgment on philosophy but must tolerate its errors and leave it to correct them itself. The decrees of the Apostolic See and the Roman Congregations are an impediment to the free advance of science. The methods and principle which the older Scholastic doctors used in studying theology are not in the least in harmony with the needs of our time and the progress of the sciences. Philosophy must be studied without regard to supernatural revelation. 15, Every man is free to adopt and profess any religion which, under the guidance of reason, he believes to be true.
Men can find the way to eternal salvation and attain it in any religion.
At least we have good ground to hope for the eternal salvation of men who do not belong to the true Church of Christ. Protestantism is only another form of the one true Christian religion, and God is just as pleased for men to join it as to join the Catholic Church. The Church is not a true, perfect, and entirely free body, and it cannot decide in virtue of the rights conferred upon it by its divire founder what are the limited times within which it can exercise its rights, but must leave this decision to the civil power. Ecclesiastical authority must not use its powers without the permission and consent of the civil government. The Church has no power to lay down dogmatically that the relegion of the Catholic Church is the one true religion.