\n\tSince Vatican II (1962-1965), the Roman Catholic Church has experienced internal theological controversies regarding how to interpret and implement many of
\n\tthe reforms adopted at that time. Now Pope Francis I, formerly Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, will have to address this as well as the many other
\n\tchallenges.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tA minority within the Roman Catholic Church argue that Vatican II was a liberal takeover and that the Holy Spirit was not present. They argue that many of
\n\tthe reforms, such as no longer performing the Mass in Latin and no longer insisting on a Catholic establishment in Catholic dominated countries, are so
\n\tforeign to the centuries-long practices prior to Vatican II that certainly the council erred.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tHowever, for most Catholics Vatican II is still seen as a valid church council. Catholic theologians, as well as now-retired Benedict XVI,1<\/sup> contend that it \n\tSuch differences of viewpoint within the Catholic Church regarding how to correctly interpret and apply the declaration underscore the vital importance of \n\tAs the first Jesuit ever elected as pope, Francis I demonstrated diplomacy and respect for non-Catholics, as well as unbelievers, when he met with the \n\tOf course, respecting the conscience of those who are not believers does not mean that the church is taking a passive stance toward secularism. The speech \n\tOn December 12, 2000, in \u201cThe New Evangelization: Building the Civilization of Love,\u201d6<\/sup> then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, wrote that the New Evangelization \n\tThus Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in outlining the new evangelization has laid out the path whereby Pope Francis I will find the solution for the dilemmas \n\tCardinal Odilo Scherer was appointed to the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization by then-Pope Benedict XVI in 2011.7<\/sup> \n\tCardinal Angelo Scola recognizes religious pluralism as a current reality, as well as the worldwide influence of democracy. He argues that the modern state \n\tOn September 13, 2012, Cardinal Timothy Dolan spoke about religious freedom at the John Carroll Society lecture at the Newseum, in which he referred to \n\tIn essence, from Dolan\u2019s perspective, religious freedom exercised by the church means that the church does not take a direct role in influencing politics, \n\tWithout doubt, current viewpoints of leading Roman Catholic cardinals on the subject of religious liberty reveal a concept that highly favors the liberty \n\tUnder Pope Francis I, one can expect to see the promotion of religious freedom defined as an active, governmental support, or at least favor, of religion \n\tIn the American context, a Catholic-Evangelical alliance translates into a removal of the concept of church-state separation by the implementation of \n\tIn light of European history, a religious commonwealth (Roman Catholicism, and in some locales, magisterial Protestantism) naturally resulted in the Since Vatican II (1962-1965), the Roman Catholic Church has experienced internal theological controversies regarding how to interpret and implement many of the reforms adopted at that time. Now Pope Francis I, formerly Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, will have to address this as well as the many other challenges. A minority within the Roman Catholic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[294],"tags":[126],"class_list":["post-6221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-july-august-2013","tag-july-august-2013"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\tpromoted reforms in continuity with previous church teachings. (Benedict had become wary of some Vatican II changes and did lead a move to a pre-Vatican II
\n\tconservatism, but as a participant in the council he supported it.) In the area of religious freedom, Vatican Council II promulgated the Declaration on
\n\tReligious Freedom (in Latin, Dignitatis Humanae<\/em>, \u201cDignity of Humanity\u201d) on December 7, 1965, after much heated and lengthy debate. The principal
\n\tauthor, an American Jesuit named John Courtney Murray, attempted to harmonize Roman Catholic concepts of the juridical and political order of society with
\n\tmodern democratic political ideas of religious pluralism and religious freedom. In fairness, one must acknowledge that the final document does reflect the
\n\tlanguage of civil rights, limitations upon government, and \u201cimmunity from coercion\u201d in the pursuit of truth. However, some have questioned other portions
\n\tof the document that appear vague. Some have discredited claims by Murray, who attempted to synthesize philosophical concepts of the American founding era
\n\twith Catholic natural law theory.2<\/sup>\n<\/p>\n
\n\tthe conclave that chose Pope Francis I. It is helpful to analyze not only Francis\u2019 religious liberty views, but also those of three cardinals who were
\n\tcandidates under consideration to become the next pope.\n<\/p>\nPope Francis I on Religious Freedom<\/h2>\n
\n\tpress corps on Saturday, March 16, and offered a silent prayer: \u201c\u2018Given that many of you do not belong to the Catholic Church, and others are not
\n\tbelievers, I give this blessing from my heart, in silence, to each one of you, respecting the conscience of each one of you, but knowing that each one of
\n\tyou is a child of God,\u2019 Pope Francis said. \u2018May God bless you.\u2019\u201d3<\/sup>\n<\/p>\n
\n\tthat garnered Cardinal Bergoglio acceptance as the next pope placed great emphasis upon the need for the church to evangelize.4<\/sup> As Francis I, then, he
\n\tseems to be following in the footsteps of his predecessor, who lauded the curial efforts to stem the loss of adherents through the establishment of the
\n\tPontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.5<\/sup>\n<\/p>\n
\n\tincludes both the humbleness of the grain of mustard seed, and the extensiveness of the mature, Christian tree, the Catholic Church. The method of the new
\n\tevangelization depends upon the law of expropriation, or the law of \u201cgiving of one\u2019s self,\u201d as Christ gave up Himself for humanity, and the Holy Spirit
\n\tgives of Himself to draw people unto the Father. Ratzinger went on to explain that the necessary elements include conversion, or rethinking our worldview
\n\tto include God\u2019s view of the human condition, and community with like believers. Another element, added Ratzinger, is to understand the kingdom of God as
\n\tcommunion with God on a daily basis through prayer and the practice of the liturgy, which enable the practitioner to enter into the \u201cmystery\u201d of the
\n\tgospel. Believers in communion with God transmit a living faith to the world. By entering into the \u201cmystery\u201d of the gospel, Ratzinger explained, a
\n\tChristian rejects deism, and any view of Christ as a mere historical figure, because a Christian now experiences the sequela of Christ\u2014being assimilated
\n\tinto the life of Jesus\u2014through the Paschal mystery, that is, through the observance of the Lord\u2019s Supper. At the end of this journey one attains unto
\n\teternal life.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tfacing the church. The logic is that if all professed Catholics were to experience the new evangelization, not only they, but many others outside of the
\n\tchurch, would begin to live new lives reflecting the principles of Christ as believed and taught by the Catholic Church. In short, Catholic religious
\n\tfreedom means the right of the church to aggressively implement the new evangelization. The long-range impact of such a transformation would be to directly
\n\tinfluence public policy through religious liberty as understood by the church, and as reflected by the views of the following three cardinals who were
\n\tcandidates during the recent conclave.\n<\/p>\nCardinal Odilo Scherer (Brazil)<\/h2>\n
\n\tAs archbishop of Sao Paulo, and having nearly 6 million members in his diocese, he was considered among the contenders at the opening of the conclave.
\n\tBeing from South America was another favorable factor, since approximately 40 percent of the world\u2019s Catholics are from there. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
\n\treferred to it as the \u201ccontinent of hope,\u201d although the church has suffered heavy attrition rates there in recent decades because of thousands of members,
\n\tespecially the younger generation, leaving the church for pentecostal and evangelical churches. From this perspective, one may expect the Catholic Church
\n\tto present a public face of support for religious freedom and plurality, but may also see aggressive efforts to stem its losses to other Christian groups.
\n\tIn fact, one of the factors weighing against Cardinal Scherer was the high attrition rate in his country of Brazil, going from 84 percent Catholic to 68
\n\tpercent from 1995 to 2010. This indicates the conclave\u2019s desire for Pope Francis I to curb membership losses through specific efforts at implementing the
\n\tnew evangelization and winning back many of the church\u2019s former members.\n<\/p>\nCardinal Angelo Scola (Italy) <\/h2>\n
\n\tcannot be \u201cneutral\u201d toward religion, because by default, this means the state allows the culture of secularism to dominate the public square. The result is
\n\ta conflict between secular organizations and religious ones, as they vie for control of public space. Cardinal Scola posits the solution as what he terms
\n\t\u201cthe nondenominational state,\u201d meaning a plurality of religious groups that should have their proper place in the public square. Religious liberty is truly
\n\trealized, he argues, when the state recognizes the liberty of religious groups to have their voice and to influence public policy for the good of the
\n\tcommonwealth.8<\/sup>\n<\/p>\nCardinal Timothy Dolan (America)<\/h2>\n
\n\treligious liberty as the right to exercise a \u201cfaith-formed\u201d conscience, and at times referred to a \u201cproperly formed\u201d conscience. He argued that such
\n\treligious liberty has always formed the foundation of American history and that American \u201cCatholics do not \u2018want privileges from the state,\u2019 but simply
\n\twant to be left alone in order to \u2018practice their faith, and follow their properly formed consciences in the public square.\u2019\u201d9<\/sup> Although various parts of
\n\tDolan\u2019s account of American history are factually inaccurate, he does accurately define modern Roman Catholicism\u2019s stance toward religious freedom. For the
\n\tRoman Catholic Church, religious freedom means the right to practice their faith, even if this should mean obligating society to accept it. This is evident
\nnot only from Dolan\u2019s statement cited previously (\u201c[to] follow their properly formed consciences in the public square\u201d), but also from the document,\tDignitatis Humanae<\/em>, itself. In article 6, paragraph 3, the church declares that \u201cgovernment is also to help create conditions favorable to the
\n\tfostering of religious life, in order that the people may be truly enabled to exercise their religious rights and to fulfill their religious duties, and
\n\talso in order that society itself may profit by the moral qualities of justice and peace which have their origin in men\u2019s faithfulness to God and to His
\n\tholy will.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\tbut it does affect public policy by insisting that Catholic members have the right to exercise their faith convictions through dissemination of the
\n\tchurch\u2019s teachings, as well as through the electoral process. When Dolan speaks of the \u201cfaith-formed\u201d conscience, or the \u201cproperly formed\u201d conscience, he
\n\tis referring to the individual whose conscientious convictions are based on the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.10<\/sup>\n<\/p>\nCatholicism and Religious Freedom<\/h2>\n
\n\tof the church to fulfill its mission in society. While the Catholic Church seeks to follow Gaudium et Spes<\/em> (Latin, \u201cJoy and Hope,\u201d or \u201cPastoral
\n\tConstitution of the Church in the Modern World\u201d) by removing itself from direct involvement with politics, the church by no means has relinquished her
\n\tinfluence over public policy. Although Dignitatis Humanae<\/em> is only a declaration promulgated by Vatican II, it may best be understood as a
\n\tcorollary to Gaudium et Spes<\/em> because of its emphasis on the rights of the church to accomplish its salvific mission, not through politics, but
\n\tthrough the actions of enlightened citizens who have accepted the church\u2019s teachings and who have sought to use legislative means to enact them in society.
\n\tIn a democratic, religiously plural society, the Catholic Church seeks to enlist to her aid citizens who can operate within an electoral system to
\n\timplement church teachings through law.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tin public policy. The current goal of modern Roman Catholicism is to eradicate, or at least contain, secularism through establishing a \u201cnondenominational\u201d
\n\tstate. In order to accomplish this, the church continues to seek alliances with other religious groups built upon a common social agenda that includes a
\n\tpro-life platform and heterosexual marriage. While seeking allies among other Christian groups, the Catholic Church also seeks to maintain its own
\n\tmembership and in those countries where conditions allow, it will implement the new evangelization to curtail losses in membership.\n<\/p>\n
\n\taccommodation of religion in public policy. The past two decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence tends to reflect this shift, especially with regard to
\n\teducational policy (vouchers). Additionally, the executive branch of government has followed this trend through the formation of the faith-based
\n\tinitiatives under President George W. Bush. The most recent demonstration of seeking to establish a \u201cnondenominational\u201d state is the effort of the United
\n\tStates Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), along with some other Christian groups, who have united in opposition to the Affordable Care Act. Rather
\n\tthan comply with governmental policies, they wish to receive governmental financial support and implement their moral norms for society.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tpersecution of all dissenters. In the modern context, with religious pluralism so predominantly manifest, one may be led to believe that religious
\n\tdiversity is a foolproof safeguard against religious tyranny. Such is true, unless religious groups no longer focus on their differences, and instead unite
\n\tupon those points of doctrine that they hold in common, producing a \u201cnondenominational state\u201d (or, a re-Christianization of society). If such a condition
\n\tshould prevail in the future, the real question will be. How much liberta <\/em>(liberty) will exist for dissenting non-Christians while the church
\n\texercises its libertas ecclesiastica <\/em>(liberties of the church)?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"