The Second Vatican Council made it possible for the Catholic Church to participate meaningfully in ecumenical discussions with other Churches. The Syllabus of Errors, issued by Pius IX in 1864, stated that where Catholics are in the minority, they have the right to public worship, but where others faiths are in the minority, they have no right to public worship because only the true faith has the right to public worship. The Syllabusdeclared as false statements that religious freedom was a right. As long as this was Catholic doctrine, it would only be hypocrisy for the Catholic Church to claim to recognise the rights of others to religious freedom. The Syllabus was considered by Catholic theologians as having binding force, although opinion was divided as to whether each and every statement defined in it as false was infallibly false.

The Second Vatican Council's most important outcome, the Declaration on Religious Freedom passed by the Council in December 1965, signified a complete reversal of the Catholic Church's former attitude to toleration and announced its adherence to religious freedom as a universal principle, contemporary obligation and necessity. Fiercely debated and meeting with considerable resistance from some Vatican officials and a number of bishops, it states, "the human person has a right to religious freedom." It asserts that all men are to be immune from coercion by individuals, social groups, or any human power, so that "In matters religious no one is forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs. Nor is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits." Furthermore, "the right of parents are violated, if their children are forced to attend lessons or instructions which are not in agreement with their religious beliefs."

The Declaration also acknowledged that the Church had acted at times in ways "which were less in accord with the gospel and even opposed to it," but does not express any contrition or apology for the Church's record of religious persecution.

AnswerI would have to say that the Dignitatis Humanae, Declaration on Religious Liberty,) a very minor document issued near the end of the Second Vatican Council, did not address ecumenism at all. That document was aimed at establishing the rights of the Church as opposed to the numerous governments throughout the twentieth century that had tried in various ways to suppress it, notably Nazi Germany and Communist Russia and China. You may read it at the link below.

The Council did, however, address Ecumenism in a very important document it issued at the beginning of its second year. The Council addressed issues in order of importance, beginning with the Sacred Liturgy, issuing a decree on the means of social communication the first year, then beginning with the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, the decree on the Catholic Eastern Churches, and Ecumenism the first half of the second year.

In Unitatis redintegratio (Decree on Ecumenism) The Council was concerned above all with the restoration of unity among all Christians and began their Decree by noting that this restoration of Christian unity was one of the primary concerns of the Second Vatican Council. It then establishes basic principles which need to be kept in mind. Then it goes into history a little to point out that certain rifts (Cf. 1 Cor. 11:18-19; Gal. 1:6-9; 7 Jn 2:18-19) appeared which the Apostle strongly censures as damnable. (Cf. 1 Cor. 1:11 ff; 11:22). The document points out that the current generation is not to blame for this state of affairs, but that every Christian is called by our vocation to set about making a remedy. The Council calls for several different actions which should be put in place while warning about false ecumenism including communicatio in sacris (worship in common), which should not be considered as a means to be used indiscriminately for the restoration of unity among Christians. It calls for careful education of both the future pastors and priest in sacred theology and other branches of knowledge, especially of an historical nature, from an ecumenical point of view without being polemic.

There is then a beautiful section on the Orthodox Churches which, while separated, maintain the sacraments. Finally, they discuss the ecclesial communities of the West that have resulted from the protestant revolt, that calls for us to strengthen our bonds that exist, for instance Sacred Scripture and baptism; and urges the faithful to look confidently to the future while abstain from any frivolous or imprudent zeal, which cannot but harm true progress toward unity.

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