ABSTRACT
In the dogmatic constitution, Lumen Gentium, the council developed a broad Catholic understanding of the Church which was in keeping with new perspectives that Catholic scholarship had built up mainly through Biblical science and patristic studies. In the reflection on freedom of religion in the light of revelation, there is a Church-critical potential. The Church's task is to bring the world closer to the goal of history: the unity of all people in Christ. To reach that goal, one must also search for those "signs of the times" which indirectly can point to the goal and open the way forward. In several council texts, reference is made to "signs of the times" which point to solidarity between the people as well as to ecumenical fellowship between believers from different churches. The predominant political and ideological consideration for the contemporary Western world was that the human person has a dignity which gives it the right to freedom and secures its integrity.
