Title: |
Quod Apostolici Muneris
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Descr.: |
On Socialism
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Pope: |
Pope Leo XIII
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Date: |
December 28, 1878
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To
the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic
World in Grace and Communion with the Apostolic See.
1.
At the very beginning of Our pontificate, as the nature of Our
apostolic office demanded, we hastened to point out in an
encyclical letter addressed to you, venerable brethren, the deadly
plague that is creeping into the very fibers of human society and
leading it on to the verge of destruction; at the same time We
pointed out also the most effectual remedies by which society
might be restored and might escape from the very serious dangers
which threaten it. But the evils which We then deplored have so
rapidly increased that We are again compelled to address you, as
though we heard the voice of the prophet ringing in Our ears:
"Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet."(1)
You understand, venerable brethren, that We speak of that sect of
men who, under various and almost barbarous names, are called
socialists, communists, or nihilists, and who, spread over all the
world, and bound together by the closest ties in a wicked
confederacy, no longer seek the shelter of secret meetings, but,
openly and boldly marching forth in the light of day, strive to
bring to a head what they have long been planning - the overthrow of
all civil society whatsoever.
Surely
these are they who, as the sacred Scriptures testify, "Defile
the flesh, despise dominion and blaspheme majesty."(2) They
leave nothing untouched or whole which by both human and divine
laws has been wisely decreed for the health and beauty of life.
They refuse obedience to the higher powers, to whom, according to
the admonition of the Apostle, every soul ought to be subject, and
who derive the right of governing from God; and they proclaim the
absolute equality of all men in rights and duties. They debase the
natural union of man and woman, which is held sacred even among
barbarous peoples; and its bond, by which the family is chiefly
held together, they weaken, or even deliver up to lust. Lured, in
fine, by the greed of present goods, which is "the root of
all evils, which some coveting have erred from the faith,"(3)
they assail the right of property sanctioned by natural law; and
by a scheme of horrible wickedness, while they seem desirous of
caring for the needs and satisfying the desires of all men, they
strive to seize and hold in common whatever has been acquired
either by title of lawful inheritance, or by labor of brain and
hands, or by thrift in one's mode of life. These are the startling
theories they utter in their meetings, set forth in their
pamphlets, and scatter abroad in a cloud of journals and tracts.
Wherefore, the revered majesty and power of kings has won such
fierce hatred from their seditious people that disloyal traitors,
impatient of all restraint, have more than once within a short
period raised their arms in impious attempt against the lives of
their own sovereigns.
2.
But the boldness of these bad men, which day by day more and more
threatens civil society with destruction, and strikes the souls of
all with anxiety and fear, finds its cause and origin in those
poisonous doctrines which, spread abroad in former times among the
people, like evil seed bore in due time such fatal fruit. For you
know, venerable brethren, that that most deadly war which from the
sixteenth century down has been waged by innovators against the
Catholic faith, and which has grown in intensity up to today, had
for its object to subvert all revelation, and overthrow the
supernatural order, that thus the way might be opened for the
discoveries, or rather the hallucinations, of reason alone. This
kind of error, which falsely usurps to itself the name of reason,
as it lures and whets the natural appetite that is in man of
excelling, and gives loose rein to unlawful desires of every kind,
has easily penetrated not only the minds of a great multitude of
men but to a wide extent civil society, also. Hence, by a new
species of impiety, unheard of even among the heathen nations,
states have been constituted without any count at all of God or of
the order established by him; it has been given out that public
authority neither derives its principles, nor its majesty, nor its
power of governing from God, but rather from the multitude, which,
thinking itself absolved from all divine sanction, bows only to
such laws as it shall have made at its own will. The supernatural
truths of faith having been assailed and cast out as though
hostile to reason, the very Author and Redeemer of the human race
has been slowly and little by little banished from the
universities, the lyceums and gymnasia - in a word, from every
public institution. In fine, the rewards and punishments of a
future and eternal life having been handed over to oblivion, the
ardent desire of happiness has been limited to the bounds of the
present. Such doctrines as these having been scattered far and
wide, so great a license of thought and action having sprung up on
all sides, it is no matter for surprise that men of the lowest
class, weary of their wretched home or workshop, are eager to
attack the homes and fortunes of the rich; it is no matter for
surprise that already there exists no sense of security either in
public or private life, and that the human race should have
advanced to the very verge of final dissolution.
3.
But the supreme pastors of the Church, on whom the duty falls of
guarding the Lord's flock from the snares of the enemy, have
striven in time to ward off the danger and provide for the safety
of the faithful. For, as soon as the secret societies began to be
formed, in whose bosom the seeds of the errors which we have
already mentioned were even then being nourished, the Roman
Pontiffs Clement XII and Benedict XIV did not fail to unmask the
evil counsels of the sects, and to warn the faithful of the whole
globe against the ruin which would be wrought. Later on again,
when a licentious sort of liberty was attributed to man by a set
of men who gloried in the name of philosophers,(4) and a new
right, as they call it, against the natural and divine law began
to be framed and sanctioned, Pope Pius VI, of happy memory, at
once exposed in public documents the guile and falsehood of their
doctrines, and at the same time foretold with apostolic foresight
the ruin into which the people so miserably deceived would be
dragged. But, as no adequate precaution was taken to prevent their
evil teachings from leading the people more and more astray, and
lest they should be allowed to escape in the public statutes of
States, Popes Pius VII and Leo XII condemned by anathema the
secret sects,(5) and again warned society of the danger which
threatened them. Finally, all have witnessed with what solemn
words and great firmness and constancy of soul our glorious
predecessor, Pius IX, of happy memory, both in his allocutions and
in his encyclical letters addressed to the bishops of all the
world, fought now against the wicked attempts of the sects, now
openly by name against the pest of socialism, which was already
making headway.
4.
But it is to be lamented that those to whom has been committed the
guardianship of the public weal, deceived by the wiles of wicked
men and terrified by their threats, have looked upon the Church
with a suspicious and even hostile eye, not perceiving that the
attempts of the sects would be vain if the doctrine of the
Catholic Church and the authority of the Roman Pontiffs had always
survived, with the honor that belongs to them, among princes and
peoples. For, "the church of the living God, which is the
pillar and ground of truth,"(6) hands down those doctrines
and precepts whose special object is the safety and peace of
society and the uprooting of the evil growth of socialism.
5.
For, indeed, although the socialists, stealing the very Gospel
itself with a view to deceive more easily the unwary, have been
accustomed to distort it so as to suit their own purposes,
nevertheless so great is the difference between their depraved
teachings and the most pure doctrine of Christ that none greater
could exist: "for what participation hath justice with
injustice or what fellowship hath light with darkness?"(7)
Their habit, as we have intimated, is always to maintain that
nature has made all men equal, and that, therefore, neither honor
nor respect is due to majesty, nor obedience to laws, unless,
perhaps, to those sanctioned by their own good pleasure. But, on
the contrary, in accordance with the teachings of the Gospel, the
equality of men consists in this: that all, having inherited the
same nature, are called to the same most high dignity of the sons
of God, and that, as one and the same end is set before all, each
one is to be judged by the same law and will receive punishment or
reward according to his deserts. The inequality of rights and of
power proceeds from the very Author of nature, "from whom all
paternity in heaven and earth is named."(8) But the minds of
princes and their subjects are, according to Catholic doctrine and
precepts, bound up one with the other in such a manner, by mutual
duties and rights, that the thirst for power is restrained and the
rational ground of obedience made easy, firm, and noble.
6.
Assuredly, the Church wisely inculcates the apostolic precept on
the mass of men: "There is no power but from God; and those
that are, are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the
power resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist
purchase to themselves damnation." And again she admonishes
those "subject by necessity" to be so "not only for
wrath but also for conscience's sake," and to render "to
all men their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom
custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor."(9) For, He
who created and governs all things has, in His wise providence,
appointed that the things which are lowest should attain their
ends by those which are intermediate, and these again by the
highest. Thus, as even in the kingdom of heaven He hath willed
that the choirs of angels be distinct and some subject to others,
and also in the Church has instituted various orders and a
diversity of offices, so that all are not apostles or doctors or
pastors,(10) so also has He appointed that there should be various
orders in civil society, differing indignity, rights, and power,
whereby the State, like the Church, should be one body, consisting
of many members, some nobler than others, but all necessary to
each other and solicitous for the common good.
7.
But that rulers may use the power conceded to them to save and not
to destroy, the Church of Christ seasonably warns even princes
that the sentence of the Supreme Judge overhangs them, and,
adopting the words of divine wisdom, calls upon all in the name of
God: "Give ear, you that rule the people, and that please
yourselves in multitudes of nations; for power is given you by the
Lord, and strength by the Most High, who will examine your works,
and search out your thoughts...For a most severe judgment shall be
for them that bear rule...For God will not except any man's
person, neither will he stand in awe of any man's greatness, for
he hath made the little and the great; and he hath equally care of
all. But a greater punishment is ready for the more
mighty."(11) And if at any time it happen that the power of
the State is rashly and tyrannically wielded by princes, the
teaching of the Catholic Church does not allow an insurrection on
private authority against them, lest public order be only the more
disturbed, and lest society take greater hurt therefrom. And when
affairs come to such a pass that there is no other hope of safety,
she teaches that relief may be hastened by the merits of Christian
patience and by earnest prayers to God. But, if the will of
legislators and princes shall have sanctioned or commanded
anything repugnant to the divine or natural law, the dignity and
duty of the Christian name, as well as the judgment of the
Apostle, urge that "God is to be obeyed rather than
man."(12)
8.
Even family life itself, which is the cornerstone of all society
and government, necessarily feels and experiences the salutary
power of the Church, which redounds to the right ordering and
preservation of every State and kingdom. For you know, venerable
brethren, that the foundation of this society rests first of all
in the indissoluble union of man and wife according to the
necessity of natural law, and is completed in the mutual rights
and duties of parents and children, masters and servants. You know
also that the doctrines of socialism strive almost completely to
dissolve this union; since, that stability which is imparted to it
by religious wedlock being lost, it follows that the power of the
father over his own children, and the duties of the children
toward their parents, must be greatly weakened. But the Church, on
the contrary, teaches that "marriage, honorable in
all,"(13) which God himself instituted in the very beginning
of the world, and made indissoluble for the propagation and
preservation of the human species, has become still more binding
and more holy through Christ, who raised it to the dignity of a
sacrament, and chose to use it as the figure of His own union with
the Church.
Wherefore,
as the Apostle has it,(14) as Christ is the head of the Church, so
is the man the head of the woman; and as the Church is subject to
Christ, who embraces her with a most chaste and undying love, so
also should wives be subject to their husbands, and be loved by
them in turn with a faithful and constant affection. In like
manner does the Church temper the use of parental and domestic
authority, that it may tend to hold children and servants to their
duty, without going beyond bounds. For, according to Catholic
teaching, the authority of our heavenly Father and Lord is
imparted to parents and masters, whose authority, therefore, not
only takes its origin and force from Him, but also borrows its
nature and character. Hence, the Apostle exhorts children to
"obey their parents in the Lord, and honor their father and
mother, which is the first commandment with promise";(15) and
he admonishes parents: "And you, fathers, provoke not your
children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and
correction of the Lord."(16) Again, the apostle enjoins the
divine precept on servants and masters, exhorting the former to be
"obedient to their lords according to the flesh of
Christ...with a good will serving, as to the Lord"; and the
latter, to "forbear threatenings, knowing that the Lord of
all is in heaven, and there is no respect of persons with
God."(17) If only all these matters were faithfully observed
according to the divine will by all on whom they are enjoined,
most assuredly every family would be a figure of the heavenly
home, and the wonderful blessings there begotten would not confine
themselves to the households alone, but would scatter their riches
abroad through the nations.
9.
But Catholic wisdom, sustained by the precepts of natural and
divine law, provides with especial care for public and private
tranquility in its doctrines and teachings regarding the duty of
government and the distribution of the goods which are necessary
for life and use. For, while the socialists would destroy the
"right" of property, alleging it to be a human invention
altogether opposed to the inborn equality of man, and, claiming a
community of goods, argue that poverty should not be peaceably
endured, and that the property and privileges of the rich may be
rightly invaded, the Church, with much greater wisdom and good
sense, recognizes the inequality among men, who are born with
different powers of body and mind, inequality in actual
possession, also, and holds that the right of property and of
ownership, which springs from nature itself, must not be touched
and stands inviolate. For she knows that stealing and robbery were
forbidden in so special a manner by God, the Author and Defender
of right, that He would not allow man even to desire what belonged
to another, and that thieves and despoilers, no less than
adulterers and idolaters, are shut out from the Kingdom of Heaven.
But not the less on this account does our holy Mother not neglect
the care of the poor or omit to provide for their necessities;
but, rather, drawing them to her with a mother's embrace, and
knowing that they bear the person of Christ Himself, who regards
the smallest gift to the poor as a benefit conferred on Himself,
holds them in great honor. She does all she can to help them; she
provides homes and hospitals where they may be received,
nourished, and cared for all the world over and watches over
these. She is constantly pressing on the rich that most grave
precept to give what remains to the poor; and she holds over their
heads the divine sentence that unless they succor the needy they
will be repaid by eternal torments. In fine, she does all she can
to relieve and comfort the poor, either by holding up to them the
example of Christ, "who being rich became poor for our
sake,(18) or by reminding them of his own words, wherein he
pronounced the poor blessed and bade them hope for the reward of
eternal bliss. But who does not see that this is the best method
of arranging the old struggle between the rich and poor? For, as
the very evidence of facts and events shows, if this method is
rejected or disregarded, one of two things must occur: either the
greater portion of the human race will fall back into the vile
condition of slavery which so long prevailed among the pagan
nations, or human society must continue to be disturbed by
constant eruptions, to be disgraced by rapine and strife, as we
have had sad witness even in recent times.
10.
These things being so, then, venerable brethren, as at the
beginning of Our pontificate We, on whom the guidance of the whole
Church now lies, pointed out a place of refuge to the peoples and
the princes tossed about by the fury of the tempest, so now, moved
by the extreme peril that is on them, We again lift up Our voice,
and beseech them again and again for their own safety's sake as
well as that of their people to welcome and give ear to the Church
which has had such wonderful influence on the public prosperity of
kingdoms, and to recognize that political and religious affairs
are so closely united that what is taken from the spiritual
weakens the loyalty of subjects and the majesty of the government.
And since they know that the Church of Christ has such power to
ward off the plague of socialism as cannot be found in human laws,
in the mandates of magistrates, or in the force of armies, let
them restore that Church to the condition and liberty in which she
may exert her healing force for the benefit of all society.
11.
But you, venerable brethren, who know the origin and the drift of
these gathering evils, strive with all your force of soul to
implant the Catholic teaching deep in the minds of all. Strive
that all may have the habit of clinging to God with filial love
and revering His divinity from their tenderest years; that they
may respect the majesty of princes and of laws; that they may
restrain their passions and stand fast by the order which God has
established in civil and domestic society. Moreover, labor hard
that the children of the Catholic Church neither join nor favor in
any way whatsoever this abominable sect; let them show, on the
contrary, by noble deeds and right dealing in all things, how well
and happily human society would hold together were each member to
shine as an example of right doing and of virtue. In fine, as the
recruits of socialism are especially sought among artisans and
workmen, who, tired, perhaps, of labor, are more easily allured by
the hope of riches and the promise of wealth, it is well to
encourage societies of artisans and workmen which, constituted
under the guardianship of religion, may tend to make all
associates contented with their lot and move them to a quiet and
peaceful life.
12.
Venerable brethren, may He who is the beginning and end of every
good work inspire your and Our endeavors. And, indeed, the very
thought of these days, in which the anniversary of our Lord's
birth is solemnly observed, moves us to hope for speedy help. For
the new life which Christ at His birth brought to a world already
aging and steeped in the very depths of wickedness He bids us also
to hope for, and the peace which He then announced by the angels
to men He has promised to us also. For the Lord's "hand is
not shortened that he cannot save, neither is his ear heavy that
he cannot hear."(19) In these most auspicious days, then,
venerable brethren, wishing all joy and happiness to you and to
the faithful of your churches, We earnestly pray the Giver of all
good that again "there may appear unto men the goodness and
kindness of God our Savior,"(20) who brought us out of the
power of our most deadly enemy into the most noble dignity of the
sons of God. And that We may the sooner and more fully gain our
wish, do you, venerable brethren, join with Us in lifting up your
fervent prayers to God and beg the intercession of the Blessed and
Immaculate Virgin Mary, and of Joseph her spouse, and of the
blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, in whose prayers We have the
greatest confidence. And in the meanwhile We impart to you, with
the inmost affection of the heart, and to your clergy and faithful
people, the apostolic benediction as an augury of the divine
gifts.
Given
at St. Peter's, in Rome, on the twenty-eighth day of December,
1878, in the first year of Our pontificate.
Endnotes:
1.
Isa. 58:1 | 2. Jude 8 | 3. 1 Tim. 6:10 | 4. See above, p. 155,
note 2 | 5. On Freemasonry, Humanum genus | 6. 1 Tim. 3:15 | 7. 2
Cor. 6:14 | 8. Eph. 3:15 | 9. Rom. 13a, 7 | 10. 1 Cor. 12:28 | 11.
Wis. 6:3-4, 8-9 | 12. Acts 5:29 | 13. Heb. 13:4 | 14. Eph. 5:23 |
15. Eph. 6:1-2 | 16. Eph. 6:4 | 17. Eph. 6:5-9 | 18. 2 Cor. 8:9 |
19. Isa. 59:1 | 20. Ti. 3:4
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