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Leo pp. XIII.

To All the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World, in the Grace and Communion of the Apostolic See,

Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction:

That imperishable work of a merciful God, the Church, though she looks essentially, and from the very nature of her being, to the salvation of souls and the winning for them of happiness in heaven, nevertheless she also secures even in the mere order of perishable things advantages so many and so great that she could not do more even if she had been founded primarily and specially to secure prosperity in this life which is spent upon earth.

In truth wherever the Church has set her foot she has at once changed the aspect of affairs, coloured the manners of the people as with new virtues so also with a refinement unknown before: and all nations who have received her have been distinguished for their gentleness, their justice, and the glory of their deeds. But it is an old and time-worn accusation that the Church is incompatible with the welfare of the commonwealth, and incapable of contributing to those things, whether useful or ornamental, which every well constituted State rightly and naturally desires. We know that on this ground, in the very beginnings of the Church, Christians, from the same perversity of view, were persecuted and constantly held up to hatred and contempt, so that they were styled the enemies of the Empire. And at that time it was generally popular to attribute to Christianity the responsibility for the evils with which the State was stricken, when in reality God, the avenger of crimes, was requiring a just punishment from the guilty. The wickedness of this calumny, not without cause, armed the genius and sharpened the pen of Augustine, who, especially in his Civitate Det, set forth so clearly the efficacy of Christian wisdom and the way in which it is bound up with the well-being of States, that he seems not only to have pleaded the cause of the Christians of his own time, but to have triumphantly refuted these false charges for ever.

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But this unhappy inclination to charges and false accusations was not laid to rest, and many have thought well to seek a system of civil life apart from the doctrines which the Church approves. And now in these last times "The new Law" as they call it, has begun to prevail, which they describe as the outcome of a world now fully developed, and born of a growing liberty. But although many hazardous schemes have been propounded by many, it is clear that never has any better method been found for establishing and ruling the State than that which is the natural result of the teaching of the Gospel. We deem it therefore of the greatest moment, and especially suitable to Our apostolic office, to compare the new opinions concerning the State with Christian doctrine, by which method We trust that, truth being thus presented, the causes of error and doubt will be removed, so that every man may easily discern those supreme commandments of conduct which he ought to follow and obey.

It is not a very difficult matter to set forth what form and appearance the State would have if Christian philosophy governed the commonwealth. Man has a natural instinct for civil society, for since he cannot attain in solitude the necessary means of civilised life, it is a Divine provision that he comes into existence adapted for taking part in that union and assembling of men, both in the Family and in the State, which alone can supply adequate facilities for the perfecting of life. But since no society can hold together unless some person is over all, impelling individuals by effectual and similar motives to pursue the common end, it results that an authority to rule is indispensable to a civilised community, which authority, no less than society itself, is based upon nature, and therefore has God Himself for its author.

And thence it follows that by its very nature there can be no public power except from God alone. For God alone is the most true and supreme Lord of the world to Whom all things whatsoever must necessarily be subservient and obey, so that whoever possesses the right of governing, can receive it from no other source than from that Supreme Governor of all, God. "There is no power except from God" (Rom. xiii., I). But the right of ruling is not necessarily conjoined with any special form of commonwealth, but may rightly assume this or that form, provided that it really promotes utility and the common good. But whatever be the kind of commonwealth, rulers ought to keep in view God, the Supreme Governor of the world, and to set Him before themselves as an example and a law in the administration of the page 5 State. For as God, in things which are and which are seen, has produced secondary causes, wherein the Divine nature and course of action can be perceived, and which conduce to that end to which the universe is directed, so He has willed that in civil society there should be a governing power, and that they who hold it should bear a certain resemblance to the power and providence of God over the human race. The rule of the government, therefore, should be just, and not that of a master but rather that of a father, because the power of God over men is most just and allied with a father's good-ness. Moreover, it is to be carried on with a view to the advantage of the citizens, because they who are over others are over them for this cause alone, that they may see to the interests of the State. And in no way is it to be allowed that the civil authority should be subservient merely to the advantage of one or of a few, since it was established for the common good of all. But if they who are over the State should lapse into unjust rule; if they should err through arrogance or pride; if their measures should be injurious to the people, let them know that hereafter an account must be rendered to God, and that with a strictness proportioned to the sacredness of their office or the eminence of their dignity, "The mighty shall be mightily tormented" (Wisd. vi., 7).

Thus truly the majesty of rule will be attended with an honourable and willing regard on the part of the citizens; for when once they are assured that they who rule are strong only with the authority given by God, they will feel that it is their just and proper duty to be be obedient to their rulers, and pay to them respect and fidelity with somewhat of the same affection as that of children to their parents. "Let every soul be subject to higher powers" (Rom. xiii., I).

For to contemn lawful authority, in whatever person it is vested, is as unlawful as it is to resist the Divine will; and whoever resists that, rushes voluntarily to his destruction. "He who resists the power, resists the ordinance of God; and they who resist purchase to themselves damnation" (Rom. xiii., 2). Wherefore to cast away obedience, and by popular violence to incite to sedition, is treason, not only against man, but against God.

It is clear that a State constituted on this basis is altogether bound to satisfy, by the public profession of religion, the very many and great duties which bring it into relation with God. Nature, and reason which commands every man individually to serve God holily and religiously, because we belong to Him and coming from Him must return to Him, binds by the same law page 6 the civil community. For men living together in society are no less under the power of God than are individuals; and society owes as much gratitude as individuals do to God, Who is its author, its preserver, and the beneficent source of the innumerable blessings which it has received. And therefore as it is not lawful for anybody to neglect his duties towards God, and as it is the first duty to embrace Religion in mind and in conduct—and that not the one that each may prefer, but that which God has enjoined, which He has proved to be the only true one by certain and indubitable evidence—in the same manner States cannot, without crime, act as though God did not exist, or cast off the care of religion as alien to them or useless, or out of several kinds of religion adopt indifferently which they please; but they are absolutely bound, in the worship of the Deity, to adopt that use and manner in which God Himself has shown that He wills to be adored. Therefore among rulers the name of God must be holy, and it must be reckoned among the first of their duties to favour religion, protect it, and cover it with the authority of the laws, and not to institute or decree anything which is incompatible with its security. They owe this also to the citizens over whom they rule. For all of us men are born and brought up for a certain supreme and final good in heaven, beyond this frail and short life, and to this end every aim is to be referred. And because upon it depends the full and perfect happiness of men, therefore, to attain this end which has been mentioned, is of as much interest as is conceivable to every individual man. Civil society, therefore, which came into existence only for the common good, must, in its defence of the State's well-being, so consult the good of its citizens as not only to offer no hindrance but to afford every possible assistance to them in the winning and gaining of that chief good which they naturally desire, and for which nothing can be taken in exchange. The chief assistance is, that attention should be paid to the holy and inviolate preservation of religion, by the duties of which man is united to God.

Now which is the true religion may be easily discovered by any one who will view the matter with a careful and unbiassed judgment; for there are proofs of great number and splendour, as, for example, the truth of prophecy, the abundance of miracles, the extremely rapid spread of the faith, even in the midst of its enemies and in spite of the greatest hindrances, the testimony of the martyrs, and the like, from which it is evident that that is the only true religion which Jesus Christ instituted Himself and then entrusted to His Church to defend and to spread.

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For the only-begotten Son of God set up a society on earth which is called the Church, and to it He transferred that most glorious and divine office, which He had received from His Father, to be perpetuated for ever. "As the Father hath sent Me, even so I send you" (John xx., 21). "Behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world" (Matt, xxviii., 20). Therefore as Jesus Christ came into the world "that men might have life and have it more abundantly" (John x., 10), so also the Church has for its aim and end the eternal salvation of souls: and for this cause it is so constituted as to embrace the whole human race without any limit or circumscription either of time or place. "Preach ye the Gospel to every creature" (Mark xvi.. 15). Over this immense multitude of men God Himself has set rulers with power to govern them; and He has willed that one should be head of them all, and the chief and unerring teacher of truth, and to him He has given the keys of the kingdom of heaven. "To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt, xvi., 19). "Feed My lambs, feed My sheep " (John xxi., 16, 17). "I have prayed for thee that thy faith may not fail" (Luke xxii., 32). This society, though it be composed of men just as civil society is, yet because of the end that it has in view, and the means by which it tends to it, is supernatural and spiritual; and, therefore, is distinguished from civil society and differs from it; and—a fact of the highest moment—is a society perfect in its kind and in its rights, possessing in and by itself, by the will and beneficence of its Founder, all the appliances that are necessary for its preservation and action. Just as the end at which the Church aims is by far the noblest of ends, so its power is the most exalted of all powers, and cannot be held to be either inferior to the civil power or in any way subject to it. In truth Jesus Christ gave His Apostles unfettered commissions over all sacred things, with the power of establishing laws properly so-called, and the double right of judging and punishing which follows from it: "All power has been given to Me in heaven and on earth; going therefore teach ail nations . . . . . teaching them to keep whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matt, xxviii., 18, 19, 20). And in another place He says: "If he will not hear, tell it to the Church" (Matt, xviii., 17); and again: "Ready to punish all disobedience" (2 Cor. x., 6); and once more: "I shall act with more severity, according to the powers which our Lord has given me unto edification and not unto destruction" (2 Cor. xiii., 10). So then it is not the State but the Church that ought to be men's guide to heaven; and it is to her that God has assigned the page 8 office of watching and legislating for all that concerns religion, of teaching all nations; of extending, as far as may be, the borders of Christianity; and, in a word, of administering its affairs without let or hindrance according to her own judgment. Now this authority, which pertains absolutely to the Church herself, and is part of her manifest rights, and which has long been opposed by a philosophy subservient to princes, she has never ceased to claim for herself and to exercise publicly; the Apostles themselves being the first of all to maintain it, when, being forbidden by the readers of the Synagogue to preach the Gospel, they boldly answered, "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts v., 29). This same authority the holy Fathers of the Church have been careful to maintain by weighty reasonings as occasions have arisen; and the Roman Pontiffs have never ceased to defend it with inflexible constancy. Nay, more, princes and civil governors themselves have approved it in theory and in fact; for in the making of compacts, in the transaction of business, in sending and receiving embassies, and in the interchange of other offices, it has been their custom to act with the Church as with a supreme and legitimate power. And we may be sure that it is not without the singular providence of God that this power of the Church was defended by the civil power as the best defence of its own liberty.

God, then, has divided the charge of the human race between two powers, viz., the ecclesiastical and the civil, the one being set over divine, and the other over human things. Each is supreme in its own kind: each has certain limits within which it is restricted, and those limits defined by the nature and proximate cause of each: so that there is, as we may say, a world marked off as a field for the proper action of each. But forasmuch as each has dominion over the same subjects, since it might come to pass that one and the same thing, though in different ways, still one and the same, might pertain to the right and the tribunal of both, therefore God, Who foreseeth all things, and Who has established both powers, must needs have arranged the course of each in right relation to one another, and in due order, "For the powers that are are ordained by God" (Rom. xiii., I). And if this were not so, causes of rivalries and dangerous disputes would be constantly arising; and man would often have to stop in anxiety and doubt, like a traveller with two roads before him, not knowing what he ought to do, with two powers commanding contrary things, whose authority, however, he cannot refuse without neglect of duty. But it would be most repugnant so to think of the wisdom and goodness of page 9 God, Who, even in physical things, though they are of a far lower order, has yet so attempered and combined together the forces and causes of nature in an orderly manner and with a sort of wonderful harmony, that none of them is a hindrance to the rest, and all of them most fitly and aptly combine for the great end of the universe. So then there must needs be a certain orderly connection between these two powers, which may not unfairly be compared to the union with which soul and body are united in man. What the nature of that union is, and what its extent, cannot otherwise be determined than, as We have said, by having regard to the nature of each power, and by taking account of the relative excellence and nobility of their ends; for one of them has for its proximate and chief aim the care of the goods of this world, the other the attainment of the goods of heaven that are eternal. Whatsoever, therefore, in human affairs is in any manner sacred; whatsoever pertains to the salvation of souls or the worship of God, whether it be so in its own nature, or on the other hand is held to be so for the sake of the end to which it is referred, all this is in the power and subject to the free disposition of the Church; but all other things which are embraced in the civil and political order are rightly subject to the civil authority, since Jesus Christ has commanded that what is Caesar's is to be paid to Caesar, and what is God's to God. Sometimes, however, circumstances arise when another method of concord is available for peace and liberty; we mean when princes and the Roman Pontiff come to an understanding concerning any particular matter. In such circumstances the Church gives singular proof of her maternal goodwill, and is accustomed to exhibit the highest possible degree of generosity and indulgence.

Such then, as we have indicated in brief, is the Christian order of civil society; no rash or merely fanciful fiction, but deduced from principles of the highest truth and moment, which are confirmed by the natural reason itself.

Now such a constitution of the State contains nothing that can be thought either unworthy of the majesty of princes or unbecoming; and so far is it from lessening the imperial rights that it rather adds stability and grandeur to them. For, if it be more deeply considered, such a constitution has a great perfection which all others lack, and from it various excellent fruits would accrue if each party would only keep its own place and discharge with integrity that office and work to which it was appointed. For in truth in this constitution of the State, which we have above described, divine and human affairs are properly divided; the rights of citizens are completely defended page 10 by divine, natural, and human law; and the limitations of the several offices are at once wisely laid down, and the keeping of them most opportunely secured. All men know that in their doubtful and laborious journey to the everlasting city they have at hand guides to teach them how to set forth helpers whom they may safely follow to show them how to reach their journey's end; and at the same time they know that they have others whose business it is to take care of their security and their fortunes, to obtain for them, or to secure to them, all those other goods which are essential to the life of a community. Domestic society obtains that firmness and solidity which it requires in the sanctity of marriage, one and indissoluble; the rights and duties of husband and wife are ordered with wise justice and equity; the due honour is secured to the woman; the authority of the man is conformed to the example of the authority of God; the authority of the father is tempered as becomes the dignity of the wife and offspring, and the best possible provision is made for the guardianship, the true good, and the education of the children.

In the domain of political and civil affairs the laws aim at the common good, and are not guided by the deceptive wishes and judgments of the multitude, but by truth and justice. The authority of the rulers puts on a certain garb of sanctity greater than what pertains to man, and it is restrained from declining from justice, and passing over just limits in the exercise of power. The obedience of citizens is accompanied by honour and dignity because it is not the servitude of men to men, but obedience to the will of God exercising His sovereignty by means of men. And this being recognised and admitted, it is understood that it is a matter of justice to respect the majesty of rulers, to obey public authority constantly and faithfully, to do nothing seditiously, and to keep the civil order of the State intact. In the same way mutual charity and kindness and liberality become public duties. The man who is at once a citizen and a Christian is no longer the victim of contending parties and incompatible obligations; and, finally, those very abundant good things with which the Christian religion of its own accord fills up even the mortal life of men, are all acquired for the community and civil society, so that it appears to be said with the fullest truth: "The state of the commonwealth depends on the religion with which God is worshipped, and between the one and the other there is a close relation and connection." (Sacr. Imp. ad Cyrillum Alexandr. ct Episcopos metrop.—Crf. Labbeum Collect Cone., T. iii.) Admirably, according to his wont, did Augustine in many places page 11 dilate on the power of those good things, but especially when he addresses the Catholic Church in these' words: "Thou trainest and teachest children in childlike wise, the young with vigour, the old with gentleness, according as is not only the age of the body, but also of the mind of each. Women thou subjectest to their husbands in chaste and faithful obedience, not for the satisfaction of lust, but for the propagation of offspring and the formation of the family. Thou settest husbands over their spouses, not that they may trifle with the weaker sex, but in accordance with the laws of true affection. Thou subjectest sons to their parents in a kind of free servitude, and settest parents over their sons in a benignant rule. . . . . . Thou joinest together, not merely in society, but in a kind of fraternity, citizens with citizens, peoples with peoples, and in fact the whole race of men by a remembrance of their parentage. Thou teachest kings to look for the interests of their peoples. Thou admonishest peoples to submit themselves to their kings. With all care thou teachest to whom honour is due, to whom affection, to whom reverence, to whom fear, to whom consolation, to whom admonition, to whom exhortation, to whom discipline, to whom reproach, to whom punishment, showing how all things are not due to all, yet charity is, and wrong to none." (De Moribus Eccl. Cath., cap. xxx., n. 63). And in another place, speaking in blame of certain political pseudo-philosophers, he observes: "Let those who say that the doctrine of Christ is hurtful to the State produce an army of soldiers such as the doctrine of Christ has commanded them to be, such governors of provinces, such husbands, such wives, such parents, such sons, such masters, such slaves, such kings, such judges, and such payers and collectors of taxes due, as the Christian doctrine would have them. And then let them dare to say that such a state of things is hurtful to the State. Nay, they could not hesitate to confess that this doctrine, if it be obeyed, is a great safety to the State" (Epist. cxxxviii., al. 5, ad Marcellinum, cap. ii., 15).

There was once a time when the philosophy of the Gospel governed States; when the power and divine virtue of Christian wisdom had penetrated into the laws, institutions, and manners of peoples—indeed into all the ranks and relations of the State; when the religion instituted by Jesus Christ, firmly established in that degree of dignity which was befitting, flourished everywhere, in the favour of rulers and under the due protection of magistrates; when the priesthood and the government were happily united by concord and a friendly interchange of offices. And the State composed in that fashion produced, in the opinion page 12 of all, more excellent fruits, the memory of which still flourishes, and will flourish, attested by innumerable monuments which can neither be destroyed nor obscured by any art of the adversary. If Christian Europe subdued barbarous peoples, and transferred them from a savage to a civilised state, from superstition to the truth; if she victoriously repelled the invasions of the Mohammedans; if civilisation retained the chief power, and accustomed herself to afford others a leader and mistress in everything that adorns humanity; if she has granted to the peoples true and manifold liberty; if she has most wisely established many institutions for the solace of wretchedness, beyond controversy is it very greatly due to religion, under whose auspices such great undertakings were commenced, and with whose aid they were perfected? No doubt the same excellent state of things would have continued, if the agreement of the two powers had continued, and greater things might rightfully have been expected, if men had obeyed the authority, the teaching office, and the counsels of the Church with more fidelity and perseverance. For that is to be regarded as a perpetual law which Ivo of Chartres wrote to Pope Paschal II.: "When kingship and priesthood are agreed, the world is well ruled, the Church flourishes and bears fruit. But when they are at variance, not only do little things not grow, but even great things fall into miserable ruin and decay" (Ep. ccxxxviii.)

But that dreadful and deplorable zeal for revolution which was aroused in the sixteenth century, after throwing the Christian religion into confusion, by a certain natural course proceeded to philosophy, and from philosophy pervaded all ranks of the community. From this spring, as it were, came those more recent propositions of unbridled liberty which were first thought out and then openly proclaimed in the terrible disturbances in the present century as the principles and foundations of the new law, which was unknown before, and is out of harmony, not only with Christian, but, in more than one respect, with natural law. Of those principles this is the chief: that as all men are understood to be alike in birth and nature, so they are in reality equal throughout the whole course of their lives: that each is so completely his own master as not to be subject in any way to the authority of another; that he is free to think what he likes on every subject, and to do what he pleases; and that the right of ruling over others exists in no one. In a society founded upon these principles, the ruling power is only the will of the people, which as it is under its own power alone, so it is alone its own proper sovereign, but chooses to whom it may entrust itself, only in such a way that it transfers, not so much the right, as the function page 13 of government, and that to be exercised in its name. God is passed over in silence, as if either there were no God, or as if He cared nothing for human society, or as if men, whether as individuals or in society, owed nothing to God, or as if there could be any government whose whole cause and power and authority did not reside in God Himself. In this way, as it is clear, a State is nothing else but a mob which is mistress and directress of itself. And since the people is said to contain in itself the fountain of all rights and of all power, it will follow that the State deems itself bound by no kind of duty towards God; that no religion should be publicly professed; nor ought there to be any inquiry which of many is alone true; nor ought one to be preferred to the rest; nor ought one to be specially favoured, but to each alike equal rights ought to be assigned, provided only that the social order incurs no injury from them. It is a part of this theory that all questions concerning religion are to be referred to private judgment; that every one is allowed to follow which he prefers, or none at all, if he approves of none. Hence these consequences naturally arise; the judgment of every man's conscience is above law; opinions are as free as possible concerning worshipping or not worshipping God; and there is unbounded licence of thinking and publishing the results of thought.

These foundations of the State being admitted, which at this time are in such general favour, it easily appears into how unfavourable a position the Church is driven. For when the conduct of affairs is in accordance with the doctrines of this kind, to the Catholic name is assigned an equal position with, or even an inferior position to, that of alien societies in the State; no regard is paid to ecclesiastical laws; and the Church, which by the command and mandate of Jesus Christ ought to teach all nations, finds itself forbidden in any way to interfere in the instruction of the people. Concerning those things which are of mixed jurisdiction, the rulers of the civil power lay down the law at their own pleasure, and in this manner haughtily set aside the most sacred laws of the Church. Wherefore they bring under their own jurisdiction the marriages of Christians, deciding even concerning the marriage bond, concerning the unity, and the stability of marriage. They take possession of the goods of the clergy because they deny that the Church can hold property. To sum up, they so deal with the Church, that having stripped her in their own opinion both of the nature and the rights of a perfect society, they clearly hold her to be like other associations which the State contains, and on that account, if she possesses any legitimate means of acting, page 14 she is said to possess it by the concession and gift of the rulers of the State. But if in any State the Church retains her own right with the approval of the civil laws themselves, and any agreement has been publicly made between the two powers, they begin by crying out that the interests of the Church must be severed from those of the State, and they do this with the intent that it may be possible to act against their pledged faith with impunity, and have the disposal of everything without anything to stand in their way. But when the Church cannot bear that patiently, nor indeed is able to desert its greatest and most sacred duties, and, above all, requires that faith be wholly and entirely observed with it, contests often arise between the sacred and the civil power, of which the result is commonly that the one which is the weaker in human resources yields to the stronger. So it is the custom and the wish in constitutions of this kind, which are now admired by many, either to expel the Church altogether, or to keep it bound and restricted as to its rule. Public acts in a great measure are framed with this design. Laws, the administration of states, the teaching of youth unaccompanied by religion, the spoliation and destruction of religious orders, the overturning of the civil principality of the Roman Pontiffs, all have regard to this end; to emasculate Christian institutes, to narrow the liberty of the Catholic Church, and to diminish her other rights.

Natural reason itself convinces us that such opinions about the ruling of a State are very widely removed from the truth. Nature herself bears witness that all power of whatever kind ultimately emanates from God as its greatest and most august fountain. Popular rule, however, which is said to be naturally in the multitude, without any regard to God, though it may excellently avail to supply fire and attractiveness to many forms of covetousness, yet rests on no probable reason, nor can have sufficient strength to ensure public security and the quiet permanence of order. Verily, things under the auspices of these doctrines have come to such a pass that many sanction this as a law in civil jurisprudence, that sedition may be raised lawfully. For the idea prevails that princes are really nothing but delegates to carry out the popular will; from which it follows of necessity that all things are equally liable to change at the people's will, and a certain fear of public disturbance is for ever hanging over our heads.

But to think with regard to religion that there is no difference between unlike and contrary forms, clearly will have this issue—an unwillingness to test any one form in theory and practice. This, if it differs from atheism in name, is in fact the same page 15 thing. Men who really believe in the existence of God, if they are to be consistent and not supremely ridiculous, will of necessity understand that different methods of divine worship involving dissimilarity and conflict, even on the most important points, cannot be all equally probable, equally good, and equally accepted by God. And thus that faculty of thinking whatever you like and expressing whatever you like to think in writing, without any thought of moderation, is not of its own nature a good in which human society can rightly rejoice, but on the contrary a fount and origin of many ills.

Liberty, as being a virtue perfecting man, must have for its sphere the good and the true; but the true and the good cannot be changed at the pleasure of man, but remains ever the same, and is not less unchangeable than nature herself. If the mind assent to false opinions, if the will choose for itself evil, and apply itself thereto, neither attains its perfection, but both fall from their natural dignity, and both lapse by degrees into corruption. Whatever things, therefore, are contrary to virtue and truth, these it is not right to place in the light before the eyes of men, far less to defend by the favour and protection of the laws. A well spent life is the only path to that heaven whither we all direct our steps; and on this account the State departs from the law and the ruling of nature if it allows licence of opinion and of evil doing to run riot to such a degree as to lead minds astray with impunity from the truth, and hearts from the practice of virtue.

But to exclude the Church which God Himself has constituted from the business of life, from the laws, from the teaching of youth, from domestic society, is a great and pernicious error. A State cannot be well regulated when religion is taken away; and by this time more perhaps is known than need be of that philosophy of life and morals which men call civil—what its nature is, and what its results arc. The Church of Christ is the true teacher of virtue and guardian of morals; it is she who keeps in safety the principles of duty, and by proposing most efficacious reasons for an honest life, bids us not only fly from wicked deeds, but rule the motions of the mind which are contrary to reason even though no act should follow. To wish the Church in the discharge of her offices to be subject to the civil power is great rashness, great injustice. If this were done order would be disturbed, since things natural would thus he put before those which are above nature; a multitude of benefits, with which, if there were nothing to hinder her, the Church would enrich the life of the community, either disappears or at page 16 all events is considerably diminished, and besides, a way is opened to enmities and conflicts—and how great the evils are that they have brought on both governments (the ecclesiastical and the civil), the course of history has too frequently shown,

Such doctrines, which are not approved by human reason, and are of the greatest gravity as regards civil discipline, the Roman Pontiffs, our predecessors—well understanding what the apostolic office required of them—by no means suffered to go without condemnation. Thus Gregory XVI., by Encyclical Letter beginning Mirari vos, of August 15th, 1832, inveighed with weighty words against those doctrines which were already being preached, namely, that in divine worship no preference should be made; and that it was left to individuals to judge of religion according to their personal preferences, that each man's conscience was to himself his sole sufficient guide, and that it was lawful to promulgate whatsoever each man might think, and to make a revolution in the State. Concerning the reasons for the separation of Church and State, the same Pontiff speaks thus: "Nor can we hope happier results either for religion or government from the wishes of those who are eagerly desirous that the Church should be separated from the State, and the mutual good understanding of the sovereign secular power and the sacerdotal authority be broken up. It is evident that these lovers of most shameless liberty dread that concord which has always been fortunate and wholesome, both for sacred and civil interests." To the like effect Pius IX., as opportunity offered, noted many false opinions which had begun to be of great strength, and afterwards ordered them to be collected together in order that in so great a conflux of errors Catholics might have something which they might follow without stumbling.

From these decisions of the Popes it is clearly to be understood that the origin of public power is to be sought from God Himself and not from the multitude; that free play for sedition is repugnant to reason; that it is a crime for private individuals and a crime for States to make no account of the duties of religion, or to treat different kinds of religion in the same way; that the uncontrolled power of thinking and publicly proclaiming one's thoughts has no place amongst the rights of citizens, and cannot in any way be reckoned among those things which are worthy of favour or defence. Similarly it ought to be understood that the Church is a society, no less than the State itself, perfect in kind and right, and that those who exercise sovereignty ought not to act so as to compel the Church to be their slave or subject, or suffer her to have less than liberty to transact her own affairs, or detract aught from the other rights which have been conferred page 17 upon her by Jesus Christ; that in matters, however, of mixed jurisdiction, it is in the highest degree in accordance with nature and also with the counsels of God—not that one power should secede from the other, still less come into conflict, but that that harmony and concord should be preserved which is most akin to the proximate cause and end of both societies.

These, then, are the things taught by the Catholic Church concerning the constitution and government of States. Concerning these sayings and decrees, if a man will only judge dispassionately, no form of Government is, per se, condemned so long as it has nothing repugnant to Catholic doctrine, and is able, if wisely and justly administered, to preserve the State in the best condition. Nor is it, per se, to be condemned whether the people have a greater or less share in the government; for at certain times and with the guarantee of certain laws, such participation may appertain, not only to the usefulness, but even to the duty of the citizens. Moreover, there is no just cause why any one should condemn the Church as being too restricted in gentleness, or inimical to that liberty which is natural and legitimate. In truth, though the Church judges it not lawful that the various kinds of divine worship should have the same right as the true religion, still it does not therefore condemn those governors of States, who, for the sake of acquiring some great good, or preventing some great ill, patiently bear with manners and customs so that each kind of religion has its place in the State. Indeed the Church is wont diligently to take heed that no one be compelled against his will to embrace the Catholic Faith, for as Augustine wisely observes: "Credere non potest homo nisi volens," no one can believe if he is not willing." (Tract xxvi., in Joan., n. 2).

For a similar reason the Church cannot approve of that liberty which generates a contempt of the most sacred laws of God and puts away the obedience due to legitimate power. For this is licence rather than liberty, and is most correctly called by Augustine "libertas perdition is" "the liberty of perdition," (Ep. cv., ad Donatistas. ii., n. 9); by the Apostle Peter, "a cloak for malice" (1 Peter ii., 16), indeed, since it is contrary to reason, it is a true servitude, for "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin" (John viii., 34). On the other hand, that is the genuine and desirable liberty which, if it be considered in relation to the individual, suffers not men to be the slaves of errors and evil desires, the worst of masters; and in relation to the State, presides wisely over the citizens, greatly facilitates the increase of public advantges, and defends the public interest from alien rule. This blameless liberty, worthy of man, the Church page 18 approves above all, and has never ceased striving and contending to keep sound and whole among the people.

In very truth whatever things in the State chiefly avail for the common safety; whatever have been usefully instituted against the licence of princes who have not their people's good at heart; whatever forbid the intervention of the supreme authority in municipal or domestic affairs; whatever avail to preserve the dignity of man and his personal rights, or to maintain the equality of rights in individual citizens, of all these things the monuments of former ages declare the Catholic Church to have been either the author, the promoter, or the perpetual guardian. Ever therefore consistent with herself, if on the one hand she rejects immoderate liberty, which both in the case of individuals and peoples results in licence or in servitude; on the other she willingly and with pleasure embraces those happier circumstances which the age brings if they truly contain the prosperity of this life, which is, as it were, a stage in the journey to that other which is to endure everlastingly.

Therefore when men say that the Church views with disfavour all modern state-craft, and repudiates without distinction all modern progress, it is an empty and contemptible calumny. She does indeed repudiate the madness of opinion; she reprobates the wicked plans of sedition, and especially that habit of mind in which the beginnings of a voluntary departing from God are visible; but since every true thing must necessarily proceed from God, whatever of truth is by search attained, the Church acknowledges as a certain token of the divine mind. And since there is no truth in the world which can take away belief in the doctrines divinely handed down and many things which confirm it, and since every finding of truth may impel man to the knowledge or praise of God Himself, therefore whatever may happen to extend the range of knowledge, the Church will always willingly and joyfully accept ? and she will, as is her wont in the case of other studies, steadily encourage and promote those also which are concerned with the investigation of nature. If the mind finds anything new in them, the Church offers no opposition; she fights, no: against the search after more things for the grace and convenience of life—nay, a very foe to inertness and sloth, she earnestly wishes that the talents of men should, by being cultivated and exercised, bear still richer fruits; she offers inducements to every sort of art and craft, and directing by her own innate worth all the pursuits of these things to virtue and salvation, she strives to save man's own intelligence and industry from turning him away from God and the good things of heaven.

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But these things, although full of reasonableness and fore-sight, are not so well approved of in these clays, when States not only refuse to defer to the laws of Christian wisdom, but seem even to wish to depart each day farther from them. Nevertheless, because truth brought to light is wont of its own accord to spread widely, and by degrees to pervade the minds of men, We, therefore, moved by the consciousness of Our exalted and most Sacred Office, that is Our Apostolic Commission to all nations, speak the truth freely as We ought to speak: not that We have no perception of the spirit of the times, or that We think the honest and useful improvements of our age are to be repudiated, but because We would wish the highways of public affairs to be safer from attacks, and their foundations more stable, and that without detriment to the true freedom of the peoples; for amongst men the mother and best guardian of liberty is truth: "The truth shall make you free" (John viii., 32).

Therefore at so critical a juncture of events, Catholic men, if, as it behoves them, they will listen to Us, will easily see what are their own and each other's duties in matters of opinion as well as of action. And as regards opinion, it is necessary both to hold all things whatsoever the Roman Pontiffs have delivered, or shall hereafter deliver, with firm grasp and clear apprehension, and also as often as occasion demands openly to profess the same. And, to give an instance, concerning those things which are called recently-acquired liberties, it is proper to stand by the judgment of the Apostolic See, and for every one to hold what she holds. Take care lest any man be deceived by the honest outward appearance of these things; and think of the beginnings from which they are sprung; and by what desires they are sustained and fed in divers places, it is now sufficiently known by experience what they produce in the State; for in many a place they have borne fruit, over which wise and good men justly grieve. If there were in any place a State, either actual or hypothetical, that wantonly and tyrannically waged war upon the Christian name, and if such a modern kind of State as We are speaking of were compared with it, it is possible that this might be considered more tolerable; yet the principles upon which it rests are absolutely such that, of themselves, they ought to be approved by no man.

Now the field of human conduct may lie either in private and domestic or in public affairs. In private life the first duty is to conform one's life and manners to the precepts of the Gospel, and not to refuse if Christian virtue requires of us to bear something more difficult than usual. More page 20 over, individuals are bound to love the Church as their common mother; to keep her laws obediently; to give her the service of due honour, and wish her rights respected, and endeavour to have her fostered and beloved with like piety by those over whom they may exercise authority. It is also of great importance to the public welfare diligently and wisely to give attention to education and culture; to bestow careful attention upon them, and to take effectual care that public provision be made for the training of youth in religion and morality, as Christians are bound to provide; for upon these things depend very much the welfare of every State.

And further, to speak generally, it is useful and honourable for the attention of Catholic men to pass beyond this narrower field, and to embrace every branch of public administration. Generally, we say, because these Our precepts reach unto all the nations. But it may happen in some particular place, for the most urgent and just reasons, that it is by no means expedient to engage in public affairs, or to take an active part in political functions. But generally, as We have said, to wish to take no part in public affairs would be wrong in proportion as it contributed neither thought nor work to the common weal; and the more so on this account, because Catholic men are bound by the admonitions of the doctrine which they profess, to do what has to be done with integrity and with faith. If, on the contrary, they are idle, those whose opinions assuredly do not give any great hope of safety, will easily get possession of the reins of government. This would be attended with danger to the Christian name, because they who are badly disposed towards the Church would become most powerful; and those least powerful who are well disposed. Wherefore it is evident there is just cause for Catholics to undertake the conduct of public affairs; for they do not asume these responsibilities in order to approve of what is not lawful in the methods of government at this time; but in order that they may turn these very methods, as far as may be, to the unmixed and true public good, holding this purpose in their minds, to infuse into all the veins of the commonwealth the most healthy sap and blood as it were—the wisdom and virtue of the Catholic religion. Such was the course adopted in the first ages of the Church. For the ways and aspirations of the heathen were as widely divergent as possible from the ways and aspirations of the Gospel; yet Christians were to be seen incorrupt in the midst of superstition, and always true to themselves, entering with spirit every walk in life which was open to them. Models of fidelity to their page 21 princes, obedient, where lawful, to the sovereign power, they exhibited the wonderful splendour of holiness everywhere; they sought the good of their neighbour, and to call others to the wisdom of Christ; bravely prepared to renounce public life, and even to die, if it was impossible for them to retain their offices, or magistracies, or commands with unsullied virtue. And thus Christian customs soon found their way, not only into private houses, but into the camp, the senate, and even the imperial palace, "We are of yesterday and we have filled all that you have, cities, great tenements, military stations, municipalities, councils, the very camps, the rank and file of the army, the officerships, the palace, the senate, the forum" (Tertullian, Apol., n. 37), so that the Christian faith, as soon as it was lawful to profess the Gospel publicly, was manifest at once in a great part of the Empire, no longer as a babe crying in its cradle, but grown up to robust manhood.

Now in these times it is desirable to renew these examples of our forefathers. Catholics indeed, as many as are worthy of the name, must before all things be, and be willing to be seen to be, most loving sons of the Church; whatsoever is inconsistent with this good report, they must without hesitation reject; they must use popular institutions as far as honestly can be to the advantage of truth and justice; they must take care that liberty of action shall not transgress the bounds ordained by the law of nature and of God; and so work that the whole of public life shall be transformed into what We have called a Christian image and likeness. The means to these ends can scarcely be laid down upon one uniform plan, since they must suit places and times very different from each other. Nevertheless, in the first place, let concord of wills be preserved and unity of aim be maintained. And each will be best attained if all consider the admonitions of the Apostolic See a law of conduct, and obey the Bishops whom "the Spirit of God has placed to rule the Church of God" (Acts xx., 28).

The defence of the Catholic name indeed, of necessity demands that in the profession of doctrines which are handed down by the Church the opinion of all shall be one, and their constancy perfect, and under this head care must be taken that no one connives in any degree at false opinions or resists with less vigour than truth requires. Concerning those things which are matters of opinion, it will be lawful to hold different views with moderation and with a desire of investigating the truth, without injurious suspicions and mutual incriminations. For which purpose, lest unity of spirit be broken by temerity of accusation, let all understand that page 22 integrity of the Catholic profession can by no means be reconciled with any opinions approaching naturalism or rationalism, whose sum total is the uprooting of Christian institutions altogether, and the establishment of the supremacy of man upon the dethronement of God. Likewise it is unlawful to follow one line of duty in private and another in public, so that the authority of the Church shall be observed in private, and spurned in public. For this would be to join together things honest and disgraceful, and to make a man play a game of fence with himself, when on the contrary he ought always to be consistent, and never in any the least thing or any rank of life decline from Christian virtue.

But if it be a question of principles merely political, concerning the best form of government, of civil regulations of one kind or another, concerning these things of course there is room for disagreement without harm. Those whose piety therefore is known on other accounts, and whose minds are ready to accept the decrees of the Apostolic See, justice will not allow to be reproached because they differ on these subjects; and much greater is the injury if they are charged with having violated the Catholic faith, or being of doubtful orthodoxy—a thing we have had to deplore more than once. And let all hold this precept absolutely who are went to commit their thoughts to writing, especially journalists and writers for the press. In this contention for the highest things no room should be left for intestine conflicts or the greed of parties, but let all, uniting together, seek the common object of all, the preservation of religion and the commonwealth. If therefore there have been dissensions let them be obliterated in willing forgetfulness; if there has been anything rash, anything injurious, to whomsoever this fault belongs let reparation be made by mutual charity, and especially by obedience to the Apostolic See. In this way Catholics will obtain two things that are most excellent: one that they will make themselves helps to the Church in preserving and propagating Christian knowledge; the other that they will benefit civil society; whose safety is gravely compromised by evil doctrines and inordinate cupidity.

These then, Venerable Brethren, are the teachings that We have have had to transmit to all nations of the Catholic world concerning the Christian Constitution of States and the duties of individual citizens.

But it behoves Us to implore with most earnest prayers the protection of heaven, and to beseech Almighty God, Whose alone it is to enlighten the minds of men and move then wills, Himself to bring these our longings and efforts for His page 23 glory and for man's salvation to the issue that We hope for. As a pledge of the Divine favours, and in witness of Our paternal benevolence to you, Venerable Brethren, to the Clergy, and to all the people committed to your faith and vigilance, We lovingly bestow in the Lord the Apostolic Benediction.

Given in Rome, at St. Peter's, on the first day of November, in the year of Our Lord MDCCCLXXXV., of Our Pontificate the Eighth.

Leo pp. XIII.