Firm in faith, open in charity.

Summary

Catholic social teaching starts from the person. Every human being has a right to religious freedom, which means that “all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power”⁠,¹ and the right holds “even in those who do not live up to their obligation of seeking the truth and adhering to it”⁠.¹ The Church asks Catholics “to treat with love, prudence and patience those who are in error or ignorance with regard to the faith”⁠.²

The take: work together with everyone, pray with other Christians, share the sacraments only within strict limits, and never confuse friendship with agreement. The Council’s order is plain: “all men without exception are called to work together, with much greater reason all those who believe in God, but most of all, all Christians”⁠.³ Pope Leo XIV put the condition in one line: “we walk this journey not by abandoning our own faith, but by standing firmly within it”⁠.⁴

What every neighbor is owed

“Nobody may be forced to act against his convictions, nor is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience in religious matters in private or in public”⁠.² Religious communities have the same right: they may not be “hindered in their public teaching and witness to their faith, whether by the spoken or by the written word”⁠.¹ Where one religion enjoys special recognition, “Such recognition must in no way create discrimination within the civil or social order for other religious groups”⁠.⁵

This is a civil right, not a theory that all religions are equal: “The right to religious liberty is neither a moral license to adhere to error, nor a supposed right to error”⁠.² The duty to seek the truth “does not contradict” a sincere respect for different religions⁠.² The Church reproves “any discrimination against men or harassment of them because of their race, color, condition of life, or religion”⁠,⁶ and for Jesus “the good done to every human being, regardless of the ties of blood or religion, is the single criterion of judgment”⁠.⁷

Sharing the faith without pressure

Catholics may invite: “to lead a person’s intelligence and freedom in honesty to the encounter with Christ and his Gospel is not an inappropriate encroachment, but rather a legitimate endeavour”⁠.⁸ They may not pressure: “the Church severely prohibits forcing people to embrace the faith or leading or enticing them by improper techniques”⁠.⁸ Proselytism in the bad sense is “the promotion of a religion by using means, and for motives, contrary to the spirit of the Gospel”⁠.⁸ When another Christian freely asks to become Catholic, “this is to be respected as the work of the Holy Spirit and as an expression of freedom of conscience and of religion”⁠.⁸

With other Christians

Cooperation “vividly expresses the relationship which in fact already unites them”⁠.³ John Paul II asked for “every possible form of practical cooperation at all levels: pastoral, cultural and social, as well as that of witnessing to the Gospel message”⁠,⁹ and called it “a true school of ecumenism”⁠.⁹ Christians “will want to do everything together that is allowed by their faith”⁠,¹⁰ and “it is for the diocesan Bishop” to judge local ecumenical action⁠.¹⁰

• Prayer. “Catholics should be encouraged, in accordance with the Church’s norms, to join in prayer with Christians of other Churches and ecclesial Communities”⁠.¹⁰
• Their services. As guests, “Catholics are encouraged to take part in the psalms, responses, hymns and common actions of the Church in which they are guests”⁠.¹⁰
• Communion. “Eucharistic communion is inseparably linked to full ecclesial communion and its visible expression”⁠.¹⁰ Catholics “receive them licitly from Catholic ministers alone”⁠.¹¹ In need, when a Catholic minister cannot be reached, they may ask “only from a minister in whose Church these sacraments are valid or from one who is known to be validly ordained according to the Catholic teaching on ordination”⁠:¹⁰ the Orthodox and the other Churches of the East, never Protestant communities.
• Funerals. In the prudent judgment of the local Ordinary, “the funeral rites of the Catholic Church may be granted to members of a non-Catholic Church or ecclesial Community, unless it is evidently contrary to their will,” “provided that their own minister is unavailable” and that “the general provisions of Canon Law do not forbid it”⁠.¹⁰

With other religions

The Church names four kinds of dialogue, and two of them belong to every Catholic: “The dialogue of life, where people strive to live in an open and neighbourly spirit, sharing their joys and sorrows,” and the dialogue of action, “in which Christians and others collaborate for the integral development and liberation of people”⁠.¹² “we believers need to find occasions to speak with one another and to act together for the common good and the promotion of the poor”⁠,¹³ and “This has nothing to do with watering down or concealing our deepest convictions”⁠.¹³

Christians ask freedom where they are few and give it where they are many: “We Christians ask that, in those countries where we are a minority, we be guaranteed freedom, even as we ourselves promote that freedom for non-Christians in places where they are a minority”⁠.¹³

Praying in the presence of other religions keeps each prayer its own. At Assisi in 1986 John Paul II said the prayers differ and “there can be no question of reducing them to a kind of common denominator”⁠:¹⁴ “We have prayed, each in his own way, we have fasted, we have marched together”⁠.¹⁴ He told the Curia it was done “senza nessuna ombra di confusione e sincretismo,” without any shadow of confusion or syncretism⁠.¹⁵ Benedict XVI at Assisi in 2011 called violence in religion’s name “the antithesis of religion”⁠.¹⁶

Marriage

A Catholic may marry another baptized Christian with “the express permission of the competent authority”⁠,¹⁷ and “Difference of confession between the spouses does not constitute an insurmountable obstacle for marriage”⁠.¹⁸ The Catholic party promises “to do all in his or her power so that all offspring are baptized and brought up in the Catholic Church,” and the other party “is to be informed” of that promise⁠.¹⁷ The Catholic parent does so “with respect for the religious freedom and conscience of the other parent”⁠.¹⁰

Marriage with someone not baptized is different: such a marriage “is invalid” without a dispensation⁠,¹⁷ and “In case of disparity of cult an express dispensation from this impediment is required for the validity of the marriage”⁠.¹⁸ It “requires even greater circumspection”⁠.¹⁸

The Latter-day Saints

Because the Holy See judged Latter-day Saint baptism invalid (“Response: Negative”)⁠,¹⁹ canon law treats a Latter-day Saint as unbaptized. A commentary by the canonist Urbano Navarrete, published by the Congregation with the response, is direct: “although the Mormons can perhaps be considered Christians socially, in the ecclesiastical forum they are to be considered non baptized”⁠.²⁰ A pastor must take care “not to apply the norms for mixed marriages” but “the norms that govern marriages which are impeded because of the impediment of disparity of cult”⁠,²⁰ and without that dispensation the marriage “is invalid, not just illicit”⁠.²⁰ For the same reason the norms on sharing penance, the Eucharist and anointing with other Christians do not apply⁠.²⁰

None of this is a judgment on persons: the ruling “obviously does not indicate a judgment on those who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” and “Catholics and Mormons often find themselves working together on a range of problems regarding the common good of the entire human race”⁠.²¹ Pope Francis received President Russell M. Nelson on March 9, 2019⁠,²² which the Latter-day Saints called “the first meeting between a Latter-day Saint president and a pope”⁠.²³ Their leaders told him of “projects with Catholic Relief Services all over the world in over 43 countries”⁠.²³ In 1879, in St. George, Utah, “Mormon leaders in the town offered the use of their tabernacle for the Catholic Mass”⁠.²⁴

Children and schools

“Parents, moreover, have the right to determine, in accordance with their own religious beliefs, the kind of religious education that their children are to receive”⁠.¹ Catholic parents have “the duty and right of choosing those means and institutions through which they can provide more suitably for the Catholic education of their children”⁠;²⁵ where a Catholic school is not possible, “they are obliged to take care that suitable Catholic education is provided for their children outside the schools”⁠.²⁵

What Pope Leo XIV asks

“Now is the time for dialogue and building bridges”⁠,²⁶ yet Christian “unity can only be unity in faith”⁠.²⁶ Dialogue “is not a tactic or a tool, but a way of life”⁠,⁴ and “authentic dialogue begins not in compromise, but in conviction”⁠.⁴ Catholics are to meet other believers “not as outsiders, but as travelling companions on the path of truth”⁠,²⁷ and “the Church does not tolerate anti-Semitism and fights against it, on the basis of the Gospel itself”⁠.²⁷ Faith does not stay indoors: religion “cannot be limited to the private sphere, as if believers had no business making their voice heard with regard to problems affecting civil society”⁠.²⁸

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