"America,” proclaimed Pope St. John Paul II in 1995, “has always wanted to be a land of the free. Today, the challenge facing America is to find freedom’s fulfillment in the truth.”
This question of freedom in truth and what to do with one's freedom had long been a special challenge for Catholic Americans. The United States was a country born in revolution during the Enli
ghtenment, often speaking the languages of liberalism and Protestant Christianity at the same time. While popes condemned liberalism, American Protestants argued that Catholics were unable to participate in a democratic polity because their faith was inimi
cal to civil and religious liberty.
Saint John Paul was aware of this history but he did not condemn Americans; he challenged them.
“We must guard the truth that is the condition of authentic freedom, the truth that allows freedom to be fulfilled in goodness.” What sort of truth? “The truth that is intrinsic to human life created in God’s image and likeness, the truth that is written on the human heart….” John Paul boiled it down to truths about God and truths about the human person.
“Sometimes, witnessing to Christ will mean drawing out of a culture the full meaning of its noblest intentions, a fullness that is revealed in Christ. At other times, witnessing to Christ means challenging that culture, especially when the truth about the human person is under assault.”
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