To the Bishops of the United States of America on their ad Limina visit

6In rejecting both ethical relativism and agnosticism about the moral good the Church is not being "dogmatic" or "sectarian". The truth which the Church is defending affirms the transcendent dignity of the person and the inviolable obligation to respect each individual’s conscience. In fact, this truth offers the surest guarantee of human freedom, for – as I wrote in "Centesimus Annus", when "there is no ultimate truth to guide and direct political activity, then ideas and convictions can easily be manipulated for reasons of power" (John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 46), leaving the individual no appeal against the domination of a particular opinion or ideological system. It can be said that in indicating the necessary relationship between truth and freedom, the Encyclical exposes the primeval untruth that has brought untold suffering, evil and violence to the human family from its very origins, and which today appears to know no bounds, deceiving even the elect (Cf. Mt. 24: 24). As Saint Paul puts it so simply in the Letter to the Romans, the falsehood is this: that so many have "exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator" (Rom. 1: 24). The end result on the practical level is the enthronement of self-centredness, and the demise of solidarity and self-giving love.