Syllabus of Errors Vs. Dignitatis Humanae

  • Thread starter Thread starter ThomasAugustine
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
One may object, well let me say first, that Paul VI cites John XXIII’s “Pacem In Terris” a few times, and Pacem In Terris" cites Leo XIII’s “Libertas” at least once, and in “Libertas”, it is stated:
  1. Another liberty is widely advocated, namely, liberty of conscience. If by this is meant that everyone may, as he chooses, worship God or not, it is sufficiently refuted by the arguments already adduced.
So, one may object that Leo XIII is not talking about Paul VI’s brand of religious freedom. Well now, tell me, is Paul VI denying that all men have the freedom to decide to worship God or not? Certainly not, when he says that “It is in accordance with their dignity as persons-that is, beings endowed with reason and free will and therefore privileged to bear personal responsibility-that all men should be at once impelled by nature and also bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the truth, once it is known, and to order their whole lives in accord with the demands of truth”, there in Dignitatis Humanae paragraph 2, or even more clearly in paragraph 1,"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.

Ok, here Leo XIII goes on in the same paragraph, paragraph 30,regarding “liberty of conscience”:

But it (liberty of conscience) may also be taken to mean that every man in the State may follow the will of God and, from a consciousness of duty and free from every obstacle, obey His commands. This, indeed, is true liberty, a liberty worthy of the sons of God, which nobly maintains the dignity of man and is stronger than all violence or wrong-a liberty which the Church has always desired and held most dear. This is the kind of liberty the Apostles claimed for themselves with intrepid constancy, which the apologists of Christianity confirmed by their writings, and which the martyrs in vast numbers consecrated by their blood. And deservedly so; for this Christian liberty bears witness to the absolute and most just dominion of God over man, and to the chief and supreme duty of man toward God.

So, in closing, I could certainly say at least a couple more pertinent things, but let me close with a quote from the “light in the heavens” Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical “Libertas” paragraph 33:
  1. Yet, with the discernment of a true mother, the Church weighs the great burden of human weakness, and well knows the course down which the minds and actions of men are in this our age being borne. For this reason, while not conceding any right to anything save what is true and honest, she does not forbid public authority to tolerate what is at variance with truth and justice, for the sake of avoiding some greater evil, or of obtaining or preserving some greater good
The Supreme Law of the Church (you know, Love), seems to come in to play here, and Paul VI, in His wisdom, laid out the Church’s desire for it’s freedom to worship God worldwide (the greater good), and perhaps the cost for that in the “present day” is to lay out a blanket of “religious freedom” which, I suppose the Church has called for for many millenia. I’m thinking of God’s sending Moses to bring His people out of Egypt. All Moses wanted at first was for Pharoah to let the Israelites go and worship God (ie. religious freedom). But oppressive “Egyptian” governments are not usually so kind as to allow freedom of Christian worship.

Ok, any discussion? Was that enough of a reply to Thomas Augustine??
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top