Encyclical Letter of Pope Leo XIII.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
THE letter from Pope Leo XIII., "Concerning the Christian Constitution of States," addressed "To All the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World," has been the subject of considerable comment by both the secular and the religious press. So far as we have seen, it has met with quite general commendation. The New York Observer is an honorable exception to those who, like the Independent, think it is "an excellent and sensible pastoral." We have delayed making any comments upon it until we could read it as published by authority. We now propose to notice a few points in it, simply to show that the Catholic Church is the same in every particular that it was four hundred years ago, and that people may see with what insidiousness it is making its way in the world. The first thing that attracts the attention is the following statement in the introduction:— "The Church 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 this world 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 worked out upon earth. In truth, wherever the Church has set her foot, she has at once changed the aspect of affairs, colored the manners of the people as with new virtues and a refinement unknown before—as many people as have accepted this have been distinguished for their gentleness, their justice, and the glory of their deeds." The above sentences seem a little involved, but the idea is very clearly expressed, compared with the greater portion of the letter. If we have been correctly informed, Leo XIII. is a close student of the Fathers; and it would seem that he has been an apt student, for his composition very closely resembles the dry platitudes and circumlocution which abound in the "Fathers" of the Catholic Church. The above paragraph, however, is clear enough to convince any who will think, that it is groundless assumption. In proof of its falsity, one has only to think of the natives of Mexico, Central America, Spain, and Italy. These countries have been under Catholic rule for centuries, and may be taken as representative instances of the refining and civilizing influence of the Roman Catholic Church. If the statement of the pope be true, those countries ought to lead the world in everything. On the contrary, however, they are at the bottom of the list. Of some of them it may be said that they have even deteriorated under papal influence. The Italian Government, since Victor Emmanuel rescued it from papal oppression, has taken a leading position, although not much can yet be said for the great mass of poor, deluded Italians themselves. But this only makes more prominent the evils of Catholic rule. It is true that many Catholics have been distinguished, but not as a consequence of their Catholicism. The truth is, as appears further on in the letter, the Catholic Church adapts itself to the people. Among civilized people it has all the learning known to the schools; but it is content to leave savage races where it finds them, provided they will acknowledge its power. The following paragraph sounds very well, and, taken by itself, would not be very objectionable:— "As it is not lawful for anybody to neglect his duties towards God, and as it is the first duty to embrace, in mind and in conduct, religion—not such as each may choose, but such as God commands—in the same manner States cannot, without a 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 the rulers the name of God must be holy; but it must be reckoned among the first of their duties to favor religion, protect it, and cover it with the authority of the laws, and not7to institute or decree anything which is incompatible with its security." Whether there is anything wrong in this statement or not depends upon the source from whence it proceeds, as will hereafter be seen. When the pope speaks of religion, he means the Catholic Church alone. The following paragraph explains the above, and shows what he desires when he says that rulers must cover religion with the authority of the laws. It is entitled, "What the Church has Done for Civilization":— "There was once a time when the philosophy of the gospel governed States; then it was that the power and divine virtue of Christian wisdom had penetrated into the laws, institutions, and manners of the people—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 favor of rulers and under the due protection of magistrates; when the priesthood and the Government were united by concord and a friendly interchange of offices. And the State composed in that fashion produced, in the opinion 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 civilized state, from superstition to the truth; if she victoriously repelled the invasions of the Mohammedans; if civilization 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 established many institutions for the solace of wretchedness, beyond controversy it is greatly due to religion, under whose auspices such great undertakings were commenced and with whose aid they were perfected. Truly 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 there had been obedience to the authority, the sway, the counsels of the church, characterized by greater faithfulness and perseverance," etc. Who cannot see that this is a longing look backward to the time when the pope ruled kings, and when with a word he released subjects from their allegiance to their rightful rulers? The time when the pope forced an emperor of Germany to stand for three days in the snow, awaiting the papal pleasure; when a legate of the pope used as a foot-ball the crown of a king of England; when designing men waxed rich off from the superstitions and vices of the ignorant, by selling them pretended indulgences; when the pope had such control of the people's consciences that he could keep them in so great a state of degradation that even the ignorant rabble whom he made to be priests, were far above them; the time when thousands of priests had never seen a copy of the Bible, and when, as a consequence, the pure principles of the gospel had almost ceased to be recognized in the world, so that the very name of priest was almost a synonym for libertine; when the few who dared refuse obedience to the vile men who presumed to stand in the place of Christ, were proscribed and hunted from the earth with the most diabolical tortures which demons in human shape could invent; and when the pope publicly gave thanks to God for the massacre of sixty thousand Huguenots, whose only offense was that they believed the Bible:—these are the times for which Leo XIII. longs. These are some of the "excellent fruits" of the union of the Church and the State. And the pope truly says that "greater things might rightfully have been expected," "if the agreement of the two powers had continued." Let the so-called "National Reform Party" make a note of this. That the above state of things is what the pope desires, is shown by his reference to the Reformation as "that dreadful and deplorable zeal for revolution which was aroused in the sixteenth century, after the Christian religion had been thrown into confusion." And in spite of all this, there are professed Protestants who think that the letter is "an excellent and sensible pastoral." Sensible it may be, from the Catholic standpoint, but we deny its excellence from any standpoint whatever. Following up the above statements, the pope says of the Reformation and its results:— "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 [by the State] which of many is alone true; nor ought one to be preferred to the rest; nor ought one to be specially favored [by the State], but to each equal rights ought to be assigned with the sole end that the social order incurs no injury from them." The above needs no special comment here. We merely ask the reader to compare it with some of the extracts which follow, and which show that the Roman Catholic Church holds that no other form of religion ought to be tolerated in the State. In the following, the pope shows still more plainly the design of the Roman Church:— "These foundations of the State being admitted, which at this time are in such general favor, it easily appears into how unfavorable 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 instructions of the people." The "Church" finds itself forbidden "to interfere" in the instructions of the people. That is, the Catholic Church has to be content with the same privileges that are granted to other religious bodies. This is truly an "unfavorable position" for a church that has been accustomed to enforce its dogmas by the sword, the rack, and the stake. "Concerning the reasons for the separation of Church and State, the same pontiff [Gregory XVI.] speaks thus: 'Nor can we hope happier results either for religion or the 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 like effect Pius IX., an 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 conflict of errors, Catholics might have something which, without stumbling, they might follow." To a careless reader the above statement might seem to be very innocent; but it can easily be shown that it indorses all the intolerance which ever disgraced the papacy in the Dark Ages. Read again the reference to Pius IX., and the "false opinions" which he noted and caused to be collected. This refers to the "Syllabus of Errors" which was put forth by Pius IX. This "Syllabus" is a collection of about eighty statements, all of which are declared to be grievous errors. We have space for only a few of these "errors." Number 21 is as follows:— "The Church has not the power of defining dogmatically that the religion of the Catholic Church is the only true religion." Remember that the Catholic Church holds just the opposite of this "error." According to this, none but Roman Catholics have any religion at all. The 23d "error" which the pope unqualifiedly condemns, is that,— "The Roman pontiffs and ecumenical councils have exceeded the limits of their power, have usurped the rights of princes, and have even committed errors in defining matters of faith and morals." On no ground can it be held that Roman pontiffs have not usurped the rights of princes, except on the ground that princes have no rights which popes are bound to recognize; and this is just what the Roman Church holds. And right here we might note that the papacy finds a parallel in the self-styled "National Reform Association," which, according to its organ, the Christian Statesman, holds that "the State and its sphere exists for the sake of, and to serve the interests of, the Church." Human nature has not changed a particle in the last three or four hundred years, and every principle of reasoning justifies the statement that such sentiments as the above, whether held by popes or by professed Protestants, will work out the same results in the nineteenth century that they did in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. "Errors" number 24 and 27 are as follows:— "The Church has not the power of availing herself of force, or any direct or indirect temporal power."
"The ministers of the Church and the Roman pontiff, ought to be absolutely excluded from all charge and dominion over temporal affairs." Of course these are errors, if it is true that Roman pontiffs have never exceeded their jurisdiction, nor usurped the rights of princes; and this is what Leo XIII. reiterates in his "excellent and sensible pastoral." And the "National Reform Association," and all who favor it, cannot consistently deny the pope's claim. One more quotation from the "Syllabus of Errors" must suffice to show that Leo XIII. holds exactly the same views that were held by his predecessor, Pius IX., and by the amiable Leo X., who placed Luther under ban, and caused the Christians of his time to be slaughtered. Numbers 77 and 78 of the "errors" noted by Pius IX. are the following:— "In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion shall be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other modes of worship."
"Whence it has been wisely provided by law, in some countries called Catholic, that persons coming to reside therein shall enjoy the public exercise of their own worship." Which means that Leo XIII., in common with Pius IX. and all the popes who ever reigned, holds that the Roman Catholic religion ought to be held as the only religion of the State, "to the exclusion of all other modes of worship," and that persons coming to reside in countries called Catholic, ought not to be allowed to enjoy the public exercise of their own worship. Let those who will, applaud such sentiments; we will not. E. J. W.
(Concluded next week.)