A Blow for Liberty

"This," said Boston's Dr. Dana Mc Lean Greeley, a Unitarian observer at Vatican II, "is perhaps the greatest day of the council." By an overwhelming vote of 1,997 to 224, Catholic bishops last week approved in principle the text of their declaration on religious liberty. Two days later, the bishops also voted to accept in principle the text of Schema 13, "The Church in the Modern World" -- although it, unlike the religious liberty declaration, still faces the prospect of drastic revision.

What made the vote on the liberty statement especially significant was that the progressive majority thwarted a last-minute conservative maneuver to shelve the document entirely -- and it won with the help of Pope Paul.

The declaration affirms that man's right to religious liberty is based on both divine revelation and the "very dignity of human nature," and that in religious affairs no one can be forced to act against his conscience. It states further that the state must protect this human right, and that governments can neither impose any religion on an individual nor prevent him from joining or leaving any religious group.

Concession to Atheism. The first item for debate on the fourth session's agenda, the declaration had been sharply attacked by prelates from Spain, Italy and the Roman Curia, who charged that it was a concession to atheism and a denial of the Catholic Church's claim to speak God's truth exclusively. Shortly before the vote, more than 100 conservative bishops petitioned the Pope to take the declaration away from the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity and give it to a new commission of theologians for rewriting. A majority of the council presidents, moderators and members of the Coordinating Commission,* solicitous about the depth of this conservative feeling, then decided it would be better to postpone the vote on the text altogether.

That gambit dismayed the progressives. Dutch Bishop Jan Willebrands, the secretariat's second-in-command, got an audience with the Pope, warned him of the adverse worldwide reaction if the declaration were sidetracked. Paul agreed. He summoned Gregory Peter Agagianian, a Curia cardinal and one of the moderators, and suggested that the bishops should be allowed to decide whether they wanted the text. Agagianian informed the council leaders of Paul's views, and they reversed their stand.

Suffering for Sins. Contributing to the near-unanimity of the vote--apart from the Pope's own intervention--was the impact of two particularly strong defenses that were delivered before the council. Speaking from 14 years' experience as a prisoner of Communism, Czechoslovakia's Josef Cardinal Beran suggested that the church is suffering today in expiation for its past sins against religious liberty--such as the burning of the 15th century heretic, Jan Hus. And Belgian Bishop Emile De Smedt helped calm conservative fears by arguing that just as other council actions had gone well beyond earlier church teachings, the statement on liberty was a necessary way for the church to advance with the times.

Last session, De Smedt was greeted with wave after wave of applause when he spoke up for the declaration. This time the response was more significant. As he passed through the rows of bishops to his seat, Spanish prelates leaned forward to whisper "Muy bien!"

* In the Council's complex administrative setup, the twelve presidents provide advice on procedural matters, while the four moderators chair the daily debates. The 16-man Coordinating Commission supervises the revision of schemata and prepares the agenda.

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