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''Dignitatis humanae'' (''Of the Dignity of the Human Person'') is the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...
's Declaration on Religious Freedom. In the context of the council's stated intention "to develop the doctrine of recent popes on the inviolable rights of the human person and the constitutional order of society", ''Dignitatis humanae'' spells out the church's support for the protection of religious liberty. It set the ground rules by which the church would relate to secular states. The passage of this measure by a vote of 2,308 to 70 is considered by many to be one of the most significant events of the council. This declaration was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on December 7, 1965. ''Dignitatis humanae'' became one of the key points of dispute between the Vatican and
traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions, and presentations of Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church before the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council ( ...
such as Archbishop
Marcel Lefebvre Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (; 29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a French Catholic archbishop who greatly influenced modern traditional Catholicism. In 1970, he founded the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a community to tra ...
who argued that the council document was incompatible with previous authoritatively stated Catholic teaching.


Background


Earlier Catholic view

Historically, the ideal of Catholic political organization was a tightly interwoven structure of the Catholic Church and secular rulers generally known as
Christendom Christendom historically refers to the Christian states, Christian-majority countries and the countries in which Christianity dominates, prevails,SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christendom"/ref> or is culturally or historically intertwine ...
, with the Catholic Church having a favoured place in the political structure. In 1520,
Pope Leo X Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political an ...
in the papal bull ''
Exsurge Domine () is a papal bull promulgated on 15 June 1520 by Pope Leo X. It was written in response to the teachings of Martin Luther which opposed the views of the Church. It censured forty-one propositions extracted from Luther's ''Ninety-five Theses'' ...
'' had condemned the proposition "That heretics be burned is against the will of the Spirit" as one of a number of errors that were "either heretical, scandalous, false, offensive to pious ears, or seductive of simple minds and against Catholic truth."


Vatican II and religious freedom


Third session (1964)

The debate on a separate Declaration on Religious Liberty was held on September 23 – September 25, as promised by Pope Paul the year before. However, in October an attempt was made by the Curial party to return this declaration to review by a special commission, which contained many hostile members and was outside the jurisdiction of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity The Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, previously named the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), is a dicastery whose origins are associated with the Second Vatican Council which met intermittently from 1962 to 1965. Po ...
. Protest by bishops to Pope Paul resulted in the declaration staying under Unity with a different working commission which reviewed and amended it.


Fourth session (1965)

This re-revised text was approved by the council on October 25, with only minor amendments allowed afterward (including some disliked by Murray). The final vote was taken and the declaration was promulgated at the end of council on December 7, 1965. The claim by some that this overwhelming majority was due to intense lobbying by the reformist wing of Council Fathers among those
prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...
s who initially had reservations or even objections.


Society of St. Pius X critique

Archbishop
Marcel Lefebvre Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (; 29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a French Catholic archbishop who greatly influenced modern traditional Catholicism. In 1970, he founded the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a community to tra ...
cited this document as one of the fundamental reasons for his difficulties with the Second Vatican Council. It remains a focus for attacks from Traditionalists in the 21st century. The Vatican's position that the SSPX must acknowledge ''Dignitatis humanae'' and '' Nostra aetate'' as authoritative remained a key point of difference between the two. The Society of St. Pius X criticized how ''Dignitatis humanae'' approached religious freedom with an argument from history: On the contradictions some see between ''Dignitatis humanae'' and Pope Pius IX's ''
Syllabus of Errors The ''Syllabus of Errors'' ( la, Syllabus Errorum) is a document issued by the Holy See under Pope Pius IX on 8 December 1864, as an appendix to the encyclical. It condemns a total of 80 errors or heresies, articulating Catholic Church teach ...
'', Brian Mullady has argued that:


International Theological Commission, 2019

On 21 March 2019,
Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
approved the publication of a document produced by the
International Theological Commission The International Theological Commission (ITC) is a body of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church; it advises the magisterium of the church, particularly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), a dicastery of the Roman Curia. Its mem ...
called "Religious freedom for the good of all: Theological approach to contemporary challenges". It attempts to update ''Dignitatis humanae'' in the light of the increasing diversity and secularization seen since the Council: "the cultural complexity of today's civil order". The official text is available only in Italian.


See also

*
Relations between the Catholic Church and the state The relations between the Catholic Church and the state have been constantly evolving with various forms of government, some of them controversial in retrospect. In its history, the Church has had to deal with various concepts and systems of gov ...
*
Christian state A Christian state is a country that recognizes a form of Christianity as its official religion and often has a state church (also called an established church), which is a Christian denomination that supports the government and is supported by ...
* ''
Res publica Christiana In medieval and early modern Western political thought, the ''respublica'' or ''res publica Christiana'' refers to the international community of Christian peoples and states. As a Latin phrase, ''res publica Christiana'' combines Christianity wi ...
'' * '' Quanta cura'' * '' Mirari vos''


Notes


References


Further reading

*Stüssi, Marcel (2012). ''Models of Religious Freedom: Switzerland, the United States, and Syria by Analytical, Methodological, and Eclectic Representation'', 375 ff.


External links


Holy See: Archive: Documents of the II Vatican Council: ''Dignitatis humanae''
(full text in English) {{Second Vatican Council Documents of the Second Vatican Council Documents of the Catholic Social Teaching tradition 1965 documents 1965 in Christianity