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For you well know, venerable brethren, that at this time men are found not a few who, applying to civil society the impious and absurd principle of "naturalism," as they call it, dare to teach that "the best constitution of public society and (also) civil progress altogether require that human society be conducted and governed without regard being had to religion any more than if it did not exist; or, at least, without any distinction being made between the true religion and false ones." And, against the doctrine of Scripture, of the Church, and of the Holy Fathers, they do not hesitate to assert that "that is the best condition of civil society, in which no duty is recognized, as attached to the civil power, of restraining by enacted penalties, offenders against the Catholic religion, except so far as public peace may require." From which totally false idea of social government they do not fear to foster that erroneous opinion, most fatal in its effects on the Catholic Church and the salvation of souls, called by Our Predecessor, Gregory XVI, an "insanity,"2 viz., that "liberty of conscience and worship is each man's personal right, which ought to be legally proclaimed and asserted in every rightly constituted society; and that a right resides in the citizens to an absolute liberty, which should be restrained by no authority whether ecclesiastical or civil, whereby they may be able openly and publicly to manifest and declare any of their ideas whatever, either by word of mouth, by the press, or in any other way." But, while they rashly affirm this, they do not think and consider that they are preaching "liberty of perdition;"3 and that "if human arguments are always allowed free room for discussion, there will never be wanting men who will dare to resist truth, and to trust in the flowing speech of human wisdom; whereas we know, from the very teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, how carefully Christian faith and wisdom should avoid this most injurious babbling

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0255e.htm

"that a right resides in the citizens to an absolute liberty, which should be restrained by no authority whether ecclesiastical or civil, whereby they may be able openly and publicly to manifest and declare any of their ideas whatever,";

That's a quote from Quanta Cura, an Encyclical published by Pope Pius IX in 1864. Funny, I was just reading that the other day. Some people have trouble with that paragraph if they don't read the whole sentence you highlighted. The idea is one that our own society supports as well, as has already been discussed in post 127.

Did you have a specific question regarding Quanta Cura? I'd be very interested in discussing it. One interested thing, that encyclical was part of a document that was censored at the time. The government of France prohibited priests from reading it to or discussing it with their parishioners, and the French press was banned from discussing it in any religious sense. Members of the government for the British Empire (which included Catholic Ireland, at the time,) used it as an occasion to attack Catholics. William Gladstone, for example, attacked the integrity and loyalty of Catholics, and insinuated they could not be loyal citizens.