Is Free Speech Catholic?

September 24, 2025

The debate around free speech vs the banning of hate speech is again at the fore in public spheres. What is the Catholic answer?

Catholic understanding and terms differ greatly from that of society. Why? As Catholics, we have Christ's full revelation of Truth (Love, Justice, and Mercy), and this differs greatly from fallen society. From a Catholic perspective, freedom is the ability to choose God. For speech to be free, therefore, it must reject Satan's lies and boldly, humbly seek Christ's Truth (Love, Justice, and Mercy). As Catholics, we are called to challenge people to free their speech of Satan's lies and elevate it toward Christ's Truth.

To understand society's take on free speech, we need to reach back to the 18th century (dis)Enlightenment's proposal—that if ideas were allowed to fight it out, as in the Roman Colosseum, truth will win. This is the foundation for the “right” to free speech.

The Catholic Church is against free speech. Beginning in the mid 1800s, Popes decried the elevation of Satan's lies to being on an equal plane as Christ's Truth. Woven between the lines of these encyclicals is the lament for the faded humble deference once given to the Church as the guardian of Truth, and the decline of Catholic monarchies, which once stood as state and co-shepherds of public discourse. Though ideas might be explored and debated in universities, under the caring shepherding of the Church, in broader public discourse, people humbly stuck with proclaimed Church teaching, entrusting their souls to the care of Holy Mother Mary, the Church.

In short, the Church is against free speech because Jesus extols us to never entertain or give voice to demons, and by extension, sin. There is a hierarchy of ideas, with Truth (Love, Justice, and Mercy) on top and Satan and his lies on the bottom. We ought not give voice to Satan's lies.

Society's free speech, however, says we should allow those giving voice to Satan's lies to speak, turning all of society into what used to be the university setting for the exploration of ideas, but absent the shepherding. No. This has resulted in society's embrace of demonic attitudes, policies, and laws: abortion, gender dysphoria and body mutilation, euthanasia, the degradation of marriage and family, and loss of Judeo-Christian morals that once underpinned society—among many other evils.

Yet, as we see in Great Britain, allowing the State to regulate “hate” speech leads to tyrannical suppression of the truth, as people praying silently on the sidewalk or quoting scripture about the evils of transgender, abortion, and other evils are fined and jailed. After all, to Satan, the Truth is “hate” speech.

Now, after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, calls are emerging from both the left and the right for controls on “hate” speech, ignoring the reality that Satan's lies hate Christ's Truth and Christ's Truth hates Satan's lies. What a mess.

What is the Catholic answer? If laissez-faire free speech is abhorrent, how do we Catholics believe speech ought to be elevated to be truly free? Simple (and thus, hard): shepherding.

Ask any good, manful, Catholic father (for whom, Holy Papa Joseph is the model) if he allows free speech in his house and the instant response is, “Of course not!”

Press further and ask, “What if someone brings up one of Satan's lies (abortion, gender dysphoria, et al)? What do you do?”

Here, every good, manful, Catholic father's answer will differ in wording but not in meaning, all responding: “We have a conversation, starting with the Truth that Jesus is the answer. Then we ask the question, how do we get to His Truth (Love, Justice, Mercy) from where we are?”

A good, manful, Catholic father is a good shepherd. He knows in the depths of his soul, led by his intellect, that the error of the disenlightenment's free speech proposal is that it denies the existence of original sin and concupiscence, which makes Satan's lies alluring. To voice Satan's lies as truth is to sin and put others in the near occasion of sin—every lie rooted in the singular lie that we do not need God.

As a result, the good, manful, Catholic father at the dinner table cultivates and defends innocence and strives to turn the eyes of those in his care away from sin and toward the Gospel.

Shepherding is the Church's answer to elevating public discourse out of the violent melee of competing ideas, as if fighting to the death in the Roman Colosseum, and guiding it to a higher plane of humility and obedience to Christ's full revealed Truth (Love, Justice, and Mercy). This invites all to enter the conversation by choosing to silence lies and never entertain Satan's notions, which all reject God.

The good shepherd meets his sheep on the road to Emmaus—where they are dismayed, distraught, and on the brink of Nietzsche's abyss of Satan's despair—and through loving conversation and grace of God, invites them to see Him and return to the fold and boldly, humbly be His disciples.

We have Catholic shepherds throughout society: Fathers. Mothers. Deacons. Priests. Bishops. Business owners. Politicians. Neighbors. Every shepherd is called to elevate the conversation: “Christ is the answer. Now, let's talk about how to get there.”

Absent a faithful Catholic monarchy, no state has shepherding authority to elevate free speech, including laws against “hate” speech. Instead, the Catholic answer to not allowing speech that gives voice to Satan's lies is the leaven of shepherds infused throughout society.

Shepherding is the Catholic answer to elevating speech to be free. Which begs two questions. What does it mean to shepherd? Who is a shepherd? A shepherd is one to whom God grants authority of pastoral care over others. A good shepherd answers Jesus' call to “Love one another as I have loved you.” (ref Jn 13:34-35) Where to begin? Shepherding Quick Guide

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