Abstract
Catholic teaching supports a right not to be coerced religiously based on the metaphysical dignity and freedom of the human person. But how to understand this right? In person-centred terms, as fixed and determined just by the dignity of the person, and as a right not to be coerced religiously by any authority? Or in jurisdiction-centred terms, reflecting the dignity of the person, but qualified and limited depending on the coercive jurisdiction under which a person falls? Does the Church have an authority to coerce religiously that the state lacks — to use punishment to pressure those subject to her jurisdiction, the baptized, into fidelity of belief and practice? This chapter compares the teaching of Trent and Vatican II. It shows that Vatican II does not support the person-centred model, which is anyway inconsistent with dogmatic teaching of Trent and Catholic canon law, which assumes the jurisdiction-centred model.
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