CSDC 426

The Church has the right to the legal recognition of her proper identity. Precisely because her mission embraces all of human reality, the Church, sensing that she is “truly and intimately linked with mankind and its history”,⁸⁷⁰ Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 1: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1026. claims the freedom to express her moral judgment on this reality, whenever it may be required to defend the fundamental rights of the person or for the salvation of souls.⁸⁷¹ Cf. Code of Canon Law, canon 747, § 2; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2246. The Church therefore seeks: freedom of expression, teaching and evangelization; freedom of public worship; freedom of organization and of her own internal government; freedom of selecting, educating, naming and transferring her ministers; freedom for constructing religious buildings; freedom to acquire and possess sufficient goods for her activity; and freedom to form associations not only for religious purposes but also for educational, cultural, health care and charitable purposes.⁸⁷² Cf. John Paul II, Letter to the Heads of State Signing the Final Helsinki Act (1 September 1980), 4: AAS 72AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 72 (1980) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1980), 1256-1258.