III. The Characteristics of Faith

From The Catechism of the Catholic Church

160
To be human, “man’s response to God by faith must be free, and…
therefore nobody is to be forced to embrace the faith against his will. the act
of faith is of its very nature a free act.”³⁹ “God calls men
to serve him in spirit and in truth. Consequently they are bound to him in
conscience, but not coerced. . . This fact received its fullest manifestation
in Christ Jesus.”⁴⁰ Indeed, Christ invited people to faith and
conversion, but never coerced them. “For he bore witness to the truth but
refused to use force to impose it on those who spoke against it. His kingdom…
grows by the love with which Christ, lifted up on the cross, draws men to
himself.”⁴¹