Libertas ecclesiae

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The libertas ecclesiae (Latin for church freedom) is the freedom and independence of the Catholic Church, which sees itself as one and instituted by Jesus Christ .

Church freedom in the Middle Ages

Church freedom was the central slogan of the reform of Pope Gregory VII and thus a "key concept" of the investiture dispute . Church freedom, the freedom of the Church from oppression, for Gregory VII specifically meant:

  • that the church can make decisions free of interference by laypeople and, in particular, appoint its bishops ( investiture ),
  • that the entire Church is under the actual and, where necessary, direct leadership of the Pope
  • and that the Pope has supreme power in all of Christianity ( christianitas ).

In the further development up to the thirteenth century the concept of church freedom became the epitome of all rights conferred by God or by humans, in the formula of Innocent IV : ecclesiastica libertas consistit in privilegiis - "Church freedom consists in privileges".

Second Vatican Council

In the Declaration on Religious Freedom Dignitatis Humanae of the Second Vatican Council , the Catholic Church claims freedom not only on the basis of the right of religious freedom to which all people and communities are entitled , but also on the basis of its (in its understanding) mission and authority conferred by Christ:

“The freedom of the church is the fundamental principle in the relationship between the church and the public authorities and the entire civil order. In human society and in the face of every public power, the church lays claim to freedom as a spiritual authority given by Christ the Lord, which by virtue of a divine mandate has the duty to go into the whole world to preach the Gospel to all creatures. "

literature

  • Brigitte Szabó-Bechstein, Libertas ecclesiae, in: Lexikon des Mittelalters , Volume 5, Munich 1991, Sp. 1950 f.
  • Brigitte Szabó-Bechstein: Libertas ecclesiae: A key concept of the investiture dispute and its prehistory. Rome 1985
  • Johannes Laudage , Libertas ecclesiae, LThK³, Freiburg 1997, Sp. 895 f.
  • Andreas Rudiger, The question of leadership and power in the Catholic Church: dogmatic considerations on official church leadership (munus regendi) and holy power (sacra potestas) in the mirror of Klaus Mörsdorf's concept of violence, Freiburg (Breisgau), dissertation 2002, ISBN 3-934225- 28-4 . urn : nbn: de: bsz: 25-opus-3194 .
  • Gerd Tellenbach : Libertas: Church and world order in the age of the investiture dispute. Stuttgart 1936

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dignitatis humanae 13.