Grump about the Cardinal

The radio news kept repeating the 'story' that Cardinal Cormac McWhatshisface is going to give a lecture in which he will warn about the increasing hostility faced by 'the church' -- though he's kinda vague on what church, or what hostility. He is apparently going to talk about the threat this poses to freedom of religion. Forgive me, but when did the Catholic Church start supporting the freedom of religion? When did it become a Good Thing for them? When it did, was their any acknowledgment that this was a change in the official position, and any apology for previous endorsement of the opposite view.

I must have missed that bit...obviously it's happened after they stopped burning heretics and making non-attendance in church a crime. Or maybe it's only a good thing in certain places, where catholicism is not the established religion. I think we should be told.