The Declaration "Dignitatis Humanae" (1965-2025)

Legal and Political Ethical Perspectives

Abstract

To mark the 60th anniversary of this conciliar declaration, the study highlights the importance of religious freedom and the dangers that threaten it. It traces the development of this right in the wake of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention. There is a certain “concordance” between the aforementioned conciliar declaration and the iura nativa of the Church and these two legal instruments. The author proposes a renewed emphasis on human dignity as the foundation of all human rights. This “civil” right of every citizen in no way erases the moral duty incumbent on everyone to seek moral truth and to conform to it. Freedom of religion implies a responsibility to transmit the faith and true human values. However, the context of secularisation demands that we renounce arguments from authority and prepare ourselves as best we can for the dialogical discourse of our time.