In recent years, Catholic bishops in the United States have adopted religious liberty as one of their signature issues, largely in response to objections to contraception provisions in the Affordable Care Act that, they say, require Catholic institutions to violate their religious beliefs.
After publicly supporting this cause at the White House Wednesday, Francis gave another — although more implicit — vote of confidence for their efforts during his speech at Independence Hall Saturday. But he looked at religious freedom through a lens of tolerance and diversity, not neuralgic social issues.
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