Dignitatis Humanae and Benedict

A reader writes:

Fr. Neuhaus is not at a loss for words on any subject concerning the Roman Catholic Church. However, he chooses to ignore Benedict XVI's constant overtures to the Lefebvrists since he became pope in April 2005. The reason is not far to seek. Fr. Neuhaus regards Dignitatis Humanae as the charter document of First Things. The Lefebvrists are adamantly opposed to Dignitatis Humanae:

"There remains the focal point of the conciliar heresy: the declaration on religious freedom, Dignitatis Humanae. Since his accession, Benedict XVI has not ceased to affirm that this declaration claims nothing more than the libertas Ecclesiae, the freedom of the Church in her relations with civil society. It is nothing more than that, it is a principle that could not be more traditional, and our opposition is no longer founded. But the letter of the conciliar text and forty years of practice show that it is a question of something quite different: before the Council, the principle was the man who holds the truth has the right to freedom. And yet, the Council declared that the right to freedom is born of the human being, of his dignity: Dignitatis Humanae. The Abbé de Nantes synthesized this heresy that is setting the planet on fire today, from Rabat to Djakarta: 'Liberty in religious matters is an imprescriptible and sacred right, based on the dignity of the human person, which is equal in all and universal, authorizing the public practice and open propaganda of any religion, independently of its objective character of truth or falsehood in the eyes of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Anathema sit.'" (Brother Bruno of Jesus, "The Unity of the Church," He is Risen, November 2006)

Benedict XVI's new emphasis on the 'freedom of the Church' is surely anathema to Fr. Neuhaus. Benedict XVI even dared to suggest in his December 22nd address to the Roman Curia that the martyrs are the true exemplars of human freedom.

[with minor editing by Pertinacious Papist]