Some Catholics, including myself, have argued that this passage from Vatican 2’s Declaration on Religious Liberty calls for the State to recognize God: Religious freedom…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. (Dignitatis Humanae 1) In this passage, the Council makes it clear that it is not promoting secularism by declaring that it “leaves untouched the traditional Catholic doctrine” on the matter. Specifically, the Council says that it recognizes that societies have “[a] moral duty…toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ.” Secularism says that society does not have any religious duty at all. Thus, secularism is opposed by the proclamation of its opposite.
But the Council goes further than saying that societies have a moral duty to God. It declares that they have a moral duty toward “the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ.” This can be seen as a call for an established Church. This is corroborated by a later section of the declaration in which the Council’s words can be used to defend the constitutional establishment of religion against the claim that it violates the right to religious liberty: If, in view of peculiar circumstances obtaining among peoples, special civil recognition is given to one religious community in the constitutional order of society, it is at the same time imperative that the right of all citizens and religious communities to religious freedom should be recognized and made effective in practice. (Dignitatis Humanae 6) Therefore, instead of promoting secularism, the Council says that societies have a moral duty toward God and the Catholic Church, and helps us defend the constitutional recognition of religion against the idea that it violates the right to religious liberty.
The Catechism also mentions the State’s duty toward religion and says that it includes the worship of God:
The duty of offering God genuine worship concerns man both individually and socially. This is the traditional Catholic teaching on the moral duty of individuals and societies toward the true religion and the one Church of Christ. By constantly evangelizing men, the Church works toward enabling them to infuse the Christian spirit into the mentality and mores, laws and structures of the communities in which [they] live. The social duty of Christians is to respect and awaken in each man the love of the true and the good. It requires them to make known the worship of the one true religion which subsists in the Catholic and apostolic Church. Christians are called to be the light of the world. Thus, the Church shows forth the kingship of Christ over all creation and in particular over human societies. (CCC 2105, internal quote marks omitted) The Catechism also says: Every institution is inspired, at least implicitly, by a vision of man and his destiny, from which it derives the point of reference for its judgment, its hierarchy of values, its line of conduct. … The Church invites political authorities to measure their judgments and decisions against [the] inspired truth about God and man. (CCC 2244) And: The initiative of lay Christians is necessary…for permeating social, political, and economic realities with the demands of Christian doctrine and life. This initiative is a normal element of the life of the Church. (CCC 899) And: By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will. … It pertains to them in a special way so to illuminate and order all temporal things…to Christ… (CCC 898) I hope this helps. Please let me know.
