The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 265a form of religion most .in accordance with his dutiesto God. Every act infringing on his freedom ofconscience is justly styled religious intolerance.This religious liberty is the true right of every man,because itcorresponds with a most certain dutywhich God has put upon him.A man enjoys civil liberty vrtien he isexemptfrom the arbitrary will of others, and when he isgoverned by equitable laws established for thegeneral welfare of society. So long as, in commonwith his fellow-citizens, he observes the laws of thestate, any exceptional restraint imposed upon him,in the exercise of his rights as a citizen, is so faran infringement on his civil liberty.I here assert the proposition, which I hope toconfirm by historical evidence, that the CatholicChurch has always been the zealous promoter ofreligious and civil liberty and that whenever ; anyencroachments on these sacred rights of man wereperpetrated by professing members of the Catholicfaith, these wrongs, far from being sanctioned bythe Church, were committed in palpable violationof her authority.Her doctrine is, that as man by his own free willfell from grace, so of his own free will must he return to grace. Conversion and coercion are twoterms that can never be reconciled. It has everbeen a cardinal maxim, inculcated by sovereignPontiffs and other Prelates, that no violence orundue influence should be exercised by Christian23