The Pope on Church and State
WHILE Protestants generally see in the movement for the separation of church and state in France a praiseworthy step toward religious liberty, and a promise of better things for both the church and the state, the pope in an encyclical officially condemns this action in severe terms. “A Christian state always does wrong,” he says, “in separating from the church.” The true doctrine, both Scriptural and American, was expressed by James Madison in these words: “Religion is essentially distinct from civil government, and exempt from its cognizance; . . . a connection between them is injurious to both.” The real Roman Catholic position on the question of the separation of church and state may be seen from the following extract from the pope’s encyclical:— Wherefore, remembering our apostolic commission, and conscious of our imperative obligation to defend against all attack and to maintain in absolute integrity the sacred and inviolable rights of the church, in virtue of the supreme authority conferred upon it by God, we for reasons above stated, do hereby convict and condemn the law passed in France for the separation of church and state. We do denounce it as deeply revolting in the sight of God, whom it officially denies by taking the position that the republic recognizes no religion. We convict and condemn it as violating the rights of man, and the public principle of fidelity to treaties; as contrary to the divine constitution of the church and the rights essential to its liberty; as subversive of justice and as trampling in the dust the rights of property acquired by the church through many titles and in virtue of the Concordat. We convict and condemn it as highly insulting to the dignity of the Apostolic See, to our person, to the whole episcopate, to the clergy and Catholic people of France.