Abstract
This paper elaborates upon the Catholic Church’s teachings on religiousfreedom in the period from The French Revolution to The Second VaticanCouncil. Based on quotations from the original documents, the author presentsthe evolution of the Church’s position that switched from the initialrejection to the final acceptance of the religious freedom over past two centuries.The fact of this dramatic change begs the question about the continuityof tradition and credibility of the contemporary stance of the Church. Basedon the document by the International Theological Commission, “Memoryand Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past”, as well as theteaching of Pope Benedict XVI, the author demonstrates that – in contrastto some contemporary interpretations – the hermeneutics of continuity ispossible regarding Church’s teaching on religious freedom.