Dignitatis Humanae

PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS

POPE PAUL VI
ON DECEMBER 7, 1965
 DECLARATION ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
ON THE RIGHT OF THE PERSON AND OF
COMMUNITIES
TO SOCIAL AND CIVIL FREEDOM IN MATTERS
RELIGIOUS
Pope Paul VI
• Giovanni Battista Montini
• born September 26, 1897, Concesio,
near Brescia, Italy
• died August6, 1978
• canonized October 14, 2018
• was appointed papal undersecretary of
state and later acting secretary for ordinary
affairs
• Pope Pius XII appointed
him archbishop of Milan
• Pope John XXIII named him a cardinal in
1958
• He was elected pope on June 21, 1963,
choosing to be known as Paul VI.
Vatican II And Paul VI’s Pontificate
• Paul VI guided the three remaining sessions of the Second Vatican Council,
often developing points he had first espoused as cardinal archbishop of
Milan.
• His chief concern was that the Roman Catholic Church in the 20th century
should be a faithful witness to the tradition of the past, except when
tradition was obviously anachronistic.
• In July 1968 he published his encyclical Humanae vitae (“Of Human Life”),
which reaffirmed the stand of several of his predecessors on the long-
smoldering controversy over artificial means of birth control, which he
opposed.
• In many sectors this encyclical provoked adverse reactions that may be
described as the most violent attacks on the authority of papal teaching in
modern times.
Dignitatis Humanae, Vatican II taught something that appears quite
opposite—that we have a right not to be coerced in our religious
activities by the state, except where the state needs to protect just
public order, because the state lacks the authority to coerce
religiously.
The dignity of the human person presses itself on the conscience of
man. This Vatican Council proposes to declare it to be greatly in accord
with truth and justice. God has made known to man the way in which
He is to be worshiped, thus saved by Christ, and these teachings subsist
in the Catholic and Apostolic Church. Religious freedom is necessary to
worship God and has to do with immunity from coercion in civil
society.
According to Leo XIII, the state should indeed protect Catholicism through
law—but only as the Church's agent, acting on her authority.
Dignitatis Humanae declares that
“the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of
the human person”

The document goes on to state that

“the social nature of man and the very nature of religion afford the
foundation of the right of men freely to hold meetings and to establish
educational, cultural, charitable and social organizations, under the
impulse of their own religious sense”
Dignitatis Humanae strongly advocates for the freedom to serve
communities via schools, charities and other organizations — in
accordance with religious convictions.
Dignitatis Humanae warns against this kind of governmental restriction
on the work of the Church. The document states 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”
Chapter 1: General Principles of Religious
Freedom
• The human person has a right to religious freedom and no one is to
be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether
privately or publicly.
• The highest norm of human life is the divine law, where every man
has the duty and the right to seek truth in religious matters in order
that he may form right and true judgments of conscience. Man is to
follow his conscience in order that he may not be forced to act in a
manner contrary to that, nor should he be restrained from acting in
accordance with his conscience.
• Religious communities rightfully claim freedom to govern themselves
according to their own norms, should not be hindered by legal
measures, or to teach publicly and witness to their faith.
• The family has a right to live its own domestic religious life under the
guidance of parents, who have the right to determine the kind of
religious education that their children are to receive.
The care of the right to religious freedom to devolves upon the whole
citizenry, upon social groups, government, the Church, and other
religious communities. The protection of these rights is essential to
government, who is to see the quality of citizens before the law.
Religious freedom is exercised in human society, hence its exercise is
subject to certain regulatory norms. However the government is not to
act in an arbitrary fashion or in an unfair spirit of partisanship.
This Council urges everyone to do their utmost to form men who will
respect the moral order and obedience to lawful authority, and who will
be lovers of true freedom.
Chapter 2 – Religious Freedom in the Light of
Revelation
• The rights of man to religious freedom has in its foundation in the
dignity of the person and its roots in divine revelation.
It is one of the major tenants of Catholic doctrine that a man’s
response to God must be free: no one therefore is to be forced to
embrace the Christian faith against his own will.
God calls man to serve him in spirit and truth, hence they are bound in
conscience but this day and under no compulsion. We see an example
of this when Jesus sent His apostles into the world saying that those
who are baptize will be saved, and those who are not will be
condemned. But He was speaking of God at harvest time, which is the
end of the world, refusing to be a political messiah who rules by force.
God calls man to serve him in spirit and truth, hence they are bound in
conscience but this day and under no compulsion. We see an example
of this when Jesus sent His apostles into the world saying that those
who are baptize will be saved, and those who are not will be
condemned. But He was speaking of God at harvest time, which is the
end of the world, refusing to be a political messiah who rules by force.
• Throughout the ages the Church has kept safe and handed on the
doctrine received from the Master and from the apostles. Thus the
leaven of the Gospel has long been about its quite work in the minds
of men.
Among the things that concern the good of the church and indeed the
welfare of society here on earth is preeminent that the church should
enjoy that full measure of freedom which her care for the salvation of
men requires
In order to be faithful to the divine command, “teach all nations,” the
Christian faithful should carefully attend to the sacred and certain
doctrine of the Church.
The fact remains that men in the present day one to be able to freely
profess their religion in private and in public. Many countries have this
freedom, but many countries don’t. May God grant all of the human
family religious freedom.