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The Catholic Church in Contemporary Europe

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The Catholic Church in Contemporary Europe ISSN 2029–2236 (print) ISSN 2029–2244 (online) SOCIALINIŲ MOKSLŲ STUDIJOS SOCIETAL STUDIES 2015, 7(1), p. 60–70. FACING A SECULAR STATE AND A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN CONTEMPORARY EUROPE Dr. Felix Resch Catholic University of Paris Faculty of Philosophy 26 rue d‘Assas, F-75006 Paris, France E-mail: [email protected] Received 03 September, 2015; accepted for publication 20 October, 2015 DOI:10.13165/SMS-15-7-1-05 Abstract. Composed of diff erent worldviews, contemporary European societies, including Lithuania, are profoundly pluralistic. Moreover, the European secular state is neutral, per se, in matters of worldviews. Considered as a single denomination among others, the Catholic Church can no longer count on the state as its secular arm, but has to accept the condition of freedom of religion.1 In my article, I want to point out the specifi c role the Catholic Church ought to play in contemporary Europe under these circumstances. First, I focus on the meaning of freedom of religion as a human right. Th en, I point out the Catholic magisterium’s attitude toward the freedom of religion, which has evolved throughout the 20th century. Finally, I develop some future prospects holding that the Catholic Church has to 1 On the importance of freedom of religion for the Catholic Church in general, see the excellent overlook in Böckenförde, E.-W. Religionsfreiheit: Die Kirche in der modernen Welt, Schrift en zu Staat-Gesellschaft -Kirche, 3. Freiburg: Herder, 1990. Socialinių mokslų studijos / Societal Studies ISSN 2029–2236 (print), ISSN 2029–2244 (online) Mykolo Romerio universitetas, 2015 http://www.mruni.eu/lt/mokslo_darbai/SMS/ Mykolas Romeris University, 2015 http://www.mruni.eu/en/mokslo_darbai/SMS/ Socialinių mokslų studijos. 2015, 7(1): 60–70. 61 contribute to the common good in the temporal order and to proclaim the supernatural Gospel to naturally free persons in the spiritual order without surrendering to individualism, which is in fact incompatible with Catholic anthropology. Keywords: freedom of religion, secular state, pluralistic society, Europe, Catholic Church, individualism Freedom of Religion as a Human Right Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in Paris in 1948, states that: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in a community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.2 This article is assumed by article 9 of theEuropean Convention of Human Rights, signed in Rome in 1950, which adds to it: Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are defined by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interest of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.3 While the Universal Declaration places much emphasis on the expression of religion, the European Convention also mentions possible limitations of religious practice in order to guarantee a democratically legitimated public order and the individual rights of others. In both cases, freedom of religion is referred to as the rational dimension of human beings. This is in perfect concordance with the first article of the Universal Declaration holding that all human beings “are endowed with reason and conscience”4. If religious affiliation is an expression of internal conscience, it can never be subject to external coercion. Consequently, freedom of religion does not only entail the 2 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [interactive] [accessed 01 April, 2015] < http:// www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml>. Philosophical considerations on the Universal Declaration are found in Jacques Maritain, “Autour de la nouvelle déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme,” in Les droits de l’homme, pres. René Mougel (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1989), 125-37. 3 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Protocol. [interactive] [accessed 01 April, 2015] http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Collection_ Convention_1950_ENG.pdf 4 Supra note, 2. 62 Felix Resch. Facing a Secular State and a Pluralistic Society: the Catholic Church in Contemporary… freedom of joining a specific denomination, but also of leaving it – a human right which is nowadays ignored by a few Islamic countries and Indian states.5 However, this right is of great significance for the Catholic Church, too. Though it has the right to gain members, it also has the obligation to let them go, if they prefer to. No one can be obliged by physical force to attend religious services or to profess a particular religious belief. This right is not as normal or accepted as one might think. Conceding the freedom to join the Catholic Church, considered the true religion, Thomas Aquinas insists on the necessity to remain in the Church. That is why, according to him, heretics and apostates should be persecuted by the political power serving as the secular, i.e., physical arm of the Church, which was definitely the case in medieval Europe.6 Modern times split up the medieval concept of a unified Christianity. Being Catholic, Christian, or even religious, is no longer synonymous with being a citizen of a European state. European societies are irreversibly pluralistic.7 The religious landscape has become as complex as people are diverse. Thus, religious affiliation is less a question of belonging to a particular tradition than of personal choice.8 Given that the influence of Christian institutions, including the Catholic Church, is still decreasing in Europe9, no state law can stop this social process – at least, within the boundaries of human rights. In the following, I examine what this means for the Church itself. Instead of being condemned to a fatalistic vision of European history, it should embrace the present challenges. 5 According to the Pew Research Center, 21 countries (all with a predominantly Muslim majority) had laws penalizing apostasy in 2012 Theodorou, A. E. Which countries still outlaw apostasy and blasphemy? In PewResearchCenter, 28 May, 2014.[intercative] [accessed 01 April 2015] <http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/05/28/which-countries-still-outlaw- apostasy-and-blasphemy/ > On anti-conversion laws in several Indian states, see Dudley Jenkins, L. Legal Limits on Religious Conversion in India, Law and Contemporary Problems 71 (2008): 109-127 [interactive] ,[accessed 01 April, 2015] <http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/ cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1469&context=lcp> 6 Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II q. 10 a. 8. On the status of religious freedom in Medieval Europe, see Sesboüé, B. Le magistère à l’épreuve: Autorité, vérité et liberté dans l’Église. Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 2001,p. 115-18. 7 A brief, but differentiated interpretation of the religious situation of Europe is given in Casanova, J. Erkundungen des Postsäkularen: Rolle und Bedeutung der Religion in Europa. WestEnd: Neue Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung 8/2. 2011,p. 68-79. For further information, see, for instance, Davie, G., Hervieu-Léger, D. Identités religieuses en Europe, Recherches. Paris: La Découverte, 1996. 8 Berger L.P., Heretical Imperative: Contemporary Possibilities of Religious Affirmation.New York City: Doubleday, 1980. 9 Detailed surveys are presented by the EUREL project carried out by the DRES – Droit, religion, entreprise et société, research unit of the CNRS and Université de Strasbourg , in collaboration with GSRL – Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités (CNRS / Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes): Actualités Eurel [interactive] [last accessed 01 April, 2015]<http://www.eurel.info/ > Socialinių mokslų studijos. 2015, 7(1): 60–70. 63 The Catholic Church on Freedom of Religion Embracing challenges is not only a pastoral task, though I do not ignore the spiritual revival of many Catholic communities, especially in countries with long secularist traditions, for instance, France.10 It is above all a theological task of reflecting on the crucial role of human freedom for Christian faith. The magisterium has already assumed this task in the Second Vatican Council, particularly in the document Dignitatis humanae, treating the issue of freedom of religion.11 The Council declares that each human person has the right of freedom of religion (ius habere ad libertatem religiosam), which is defined as freedom of conscience and from coercion.12 The right of freedom of religion is not considered merely a positive right, but a natural right, deeply rooted in the natural dignity of the human being. It thus serves, as a meta-norm of current state norms.13 Furthermore, the Council makes clear that this right must not be misunderstood as a dispensation from the moral duty to seek the truth, especially religious truth, and to act according to it. But since a real human act14 implies its free affirmation, it demands freedom from external coercion (a coërcitione externa), necessarily so.15 Hence, people who do not comply with their moral duty to seek and to hold the truth, do not lose their right of freedom of religion.16 That is perhaps one of the most striking conclusions of Dignitatis humanae. It was so striking that a few Catholics under the leadership of Marcel Lefebvre17 left the Church after the Second Vatican Council because Dignitatis humanae was contradictory to former magisterial declarations, such as the Syllabus Errorum, promulgated by Pius IX in 1864, particularly the condemned statements 15, 77, 78 and 79 which deal with freedom of religion in the proper sense, as well as with the secular character of the state, freedom of conscience and cult.18 10 On this issue, see the detailed book of Albert, M. Die katholische Kirche in Frankreich in der Vierten und Fünften Republik, Römische Quartalschrift für christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte: Supplementhefte 52.
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