The theology of freedom

Abstract

The declaration on religious freedom from the Second Vatican Council, Dignitatis Humanae (DH), represents a significant event in the Catholic Church’s history. It firmly establishes freedom as the principal value of every person’s existence, a freedom which cannot be restricted externally, even if it is for the sake of an objective religious truth. This document was one of the most controversial of the council, and further theological thinking as well as developments in the Church’s teaching, highlight the difficulties encountered in order to assume such a doctrine with total coherence. This article reviews the process which led to the creation of DH, studies its reception after the council, especially in the teaching of John Paul II, and concludes with an invitation to go back to the DH’s doctrine, readalong with Gaudium et Spes, fully integrated in the Catholic Tradition.