ABSTRACT
During October, a stiff battle had been fought behind the scenes to liberate from the theological commission the document on religious liberty which Cardinal Bea of the Secretariat for Christian Unity had sponsored, and Pope John XXIII had favored mightily with his encyclical Pacem in Terris. The theological commission, whose competence extends to all things which touch on faith or morals, had rightfully insisted on examining the document before it was presented to the Council. On November 8, the coordinating commission of the Council decided to append Cardinal Bea's statement on Christians and Jews as chapter 4 in the document on ecumenism. There was world-wide jubilation–except, it must be confessed, in Arab countries and among some partisans of non-historical orthodoxy. This latter opposition was difficult to fathom. Perhaps it was opposition to change, above all, opposition toward recognition of the rights of other religious groups.
