CSDC 136

Freedom is not contrary to man's dependence as a creature on God²⁵⁷ Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1706.. Revelation teaches that the power to decide good and evil does not belong to man but to God alone (cf. Gen 2:16-17). “Man is certainly free, inasmuch as he can understand and accept God's commands. And he possesses an extremely far-reaching freedom, since he can eat ‘of every tree of the garden'. But his freedom is not unlimited: it must halt before the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil', for it is called to accept the moral law given by God. In fact, human freedom finds its authentic and complete fulfilment precisely in the acceptance of that law”²⁵⁸ John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, 35: AAS 85AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 85 (1993) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1993), 1161-1162..