Afghan convert
The recent uproar over the situation in Afghanistan regarding the Christian convert from Islam and his potential execution reminded me of a Vatican II document, Dignitatis Humanae, the Declaration on Religious Freedom. The authentic interpretation proceeds from this statement in paragraph 2:
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 parts 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.
Some progressives after the council tried to hijack the authentic interpretation and substitute a false hermeneutic that the individual conscience was superior to the Magisterium. They failed to read the whole document. Back in paragraph 1 we read:
We believe that this one true religion subsists in the Catholic and Apostolic Church...
On their part all then are to seek the truth, especially in what concerns God and His Church, and to embrace the truth they come to know, and hold fast to it.
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.
In the Catechism, paragraph 1792, the text lists a number of sources for error in moral conduct including assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience and rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching. People should properly inform their consciences so that they are not held culpable for their ignorance:
Personal conscience and reason should not be set in opposition to the moral law or the Magisterium of the Church.
Catechism of the Catholic Church para 2039.
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 parts 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.
Some progressives after the council tried to hijack the authentic interpretation and substitute a false hermeneutic that the individual conscience was superior to the Magisterium. They failed to read the whole document. Back in paragraph 1 we read:
We believe that this one true religion subsists in the Catholic and Apostolic Church...
On their part all then are to seek the truth, especially in what concerns God and His Church, and to embrace the truth they come to know, and hold fast to it.
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.
In the Catechism, paragraph 1792, the text lists a number of sources for error in moral conduct including assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience and rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching. People should properly inform their consciences so that they are not held culpable for their ignorance:
Personal conscience and reason should not be set in opposition to the moral law or the Magisterium of the Church.
Catechism of the Catholic Church para 2039.
posted by flybynight | 7:45 AM
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