Evening star., 1937-03-22
Text of Pope's Encyclical
Prelate in Letter Charges Reich With Violation of
Concordaf With Vatican.
ish to exclude the hope, small though

wish to exclude the hope small though
it may be, that the situation may i'm
prove. He even declares openly:
God, who searches hearts and
minds, is our witness that we have no
desire more intimately cherished than
that of restoring true peace between
the church and state in Germany.
But, if through no fault of ours,
peace is not to be, then the Church
of God will defend it's rights and
liberties in the name of the Omnip-
otent whose arm even today, is not
shortened"
On the other hand, to the children
who are suffering, the Pope cannot
refrain from saying word of comfort
after reports made to him by their
eXcellencies, the bishops, some of whom
came to visit him recently during his
Illness.
Right to Word Of Truth.
''In this hour when faith is tried
as true gold in the fire of tribulation
and persecution, both treacherous and
open, when they are hemmed in by
thousands of forms of organized re-
strictlon of their religious liberties,
and when they are oppressed by the
lmpoSSlbility of receiving true in
formation and defending themselves
by normal means, they have a double
right to a word of truth and moral
encouragement from Him, to whose
predecessor the Saviour directed those
words so full of meaning: I have
prayed for thee that thy faith fail
not and that thou, being converted,
might confirm thy brethren"
Doctrinal affirmation:
among the many points of Catholic
doctrine touched upon by the en-
cycllcal, it is possible in brief resume
to indicate but few,
After recalling the correct notion of
God as Creator of the Universe, Lord,
King and ultimate end of the story of
the world, who does not and cannot
permit other gods beside him." the
Pope adds
II a race or people. if a State or one
OF its determinate forms, if repre-
sentative of civil power or other fun
damental elements of human society
have in the natural order an essential
place and one worthy of respect, Who
SoeVer removes them from this scale
OF earthly values to elevate them as
supreme ruler of all, even of religious
values, and to defy them with an
ldolatrouS cult, pervertS and falsifies
the order created and imposed by God
and is far from true faith in God and
from the conception of life in con-
formity with true faith"
Prophet of Absurdity.
After reaffirming the redemptive
mission of Jesus Christ as announced
beforehand by the sacred books of
the Old Testament, the Pope con-
tinues:
He, therefore, who with sacrilegious
disregard for the essential difference
between God and the creature between
Goldman and simple man-dares
place beside Christ, or worse still. above
Him or against Him, simple mortal,
even though the greatest of all time.
let him know that he is a senseless
prophet of absurdity to whom is to be
applied with terrible opposition the
word of the Scriptures: He who dwells
in the heavens laugheth at them"
Further on he says:
Those human laws which are in
irreconcilable opposition to natural
rights are tainted with original defect
which cannot be healed either by
coercion or by any form of external
force. By this criterion is to be
judged the principle, Right is that
which is useful to the nation'"
Church Mission Cited.
Mission Of the church:
The Pope brings out into particular
relief the mission and work of the
Catholic Church, which, founded by
the Savior, is one for all people, and
for all nations. and under whose roof
as an arched armament of the whole
universe, all people and all tongues find
place and all properties, qualities,
missions and purposes which have
been assigned by God, the Creator and
Savior, to individuals and to human
societies can be developed"
The Pope, while reiterating to
priests, religious organizations and
the laity the most urgent recommen-
dations to fulfill better and better the
sacred duty of bringing faith and
conduct into that harmony required
by the law of God and demanded with
untiring insistence by the church." :"
observes human shortcomings, which
unfortunately are found also among
members of the church, are not to
| be exaggerated or estimated according
to an unjust measure by forgetting
the numberless merits of the church
and closing the eyes to numerous and
| more pripVO11S short -cop1jp0c which