'Dignitatis humanae personae' and the fathers

Abstract

The late John Counney Murray, S.J., who, as it is said, took a very active part in the compiling of Vatican IT's declaration on religious freedom, and who was the best contemporary authority on the subject , said that: 'In any event, the document is a significant event in the history of the Church. It was, of course, the most controversial document of the whole Council, largely because it raised with sharp emphasis the issue that lay continually below the surface of the conciliar debates - the issue of the development of doctrine. The notion of development, not the notion of religious freedom, was the real striking-point for many of those who opposed the declaration even to the end. The course of the development between the "Syllabus of Errors' (1864) and "Dignitatis Humanae Personae" (1965) still remains to be explained by theologians.