The pope and the people
Subtitle: select letters and addresses on social questions
Publisher: London and Leamington, Art and Book Co.; New York : Benziger Bros.
Published: 1895
Language: eng
Table of contents: title: CONTENTS.; title: I. — The Condition of the Working Classes.; title: (Encyclical Letter, May 15, 1891); title: The Socialist solution ; its refutation — Private Property, a natural right — The right of Private Property proved by the Family — No practical solution without Religion — Labour and suffering must exist — Class must help class — The rich must help the poor — The poor must accept their lot — The Church serves Society by upholding Christianity — She is also solicitous about the temporal interests of her children — The State should promote the general good — should be solicitous for the working population — In what respect the State should interfere — How the State should deal with Labour questions — Working people must have their spiritual rights respected — The State and the regulation of Labour — The Living Wage — The working man should be encouraged to acquire property — Associations and Organizations — The right of Association — The right of Ecclesiastical Association — Bad and dangerous Associations — Catholic Associations for working men to be encouraged — Advice to Catholic Associations — Summary and Conclusion ; Divine Charity 1; title: II. — On the Evils Affecting Modern Society, their Causes and Remedies.; title: (Encyclical Letter, April 21, 1878); title: Summary of the evils that affect the human race — These evils are caused by the rejection and contempt of the Church's authority — The Church is the mother of Civil society — Civil society is vain or false if opposed to the Church's teaching and laws — The Apostolic See has deserved well of all Civil society — The country of Italy has most of all experienced the Church's benefits — Restoration of the Holy See to its former dignity and freedom — Union of the whole Catholic flock with the Supreme Pontiff in embracing truth and rejecting error — Observance of God's law about matrimony and the family — Rejoicing on account of union of hearts and minds — Thanks for tokens of obedience received 50; title: III. — The Christian Constitution of States.; title: (Encyclical Letter, November 1, 1885.); title: The Church is the nursing mother of civilization — Vet she has been traduced from the beginning as an enemy of progress and prosperity in the civil* order — An opinion favoured by many nowadays traces the origin of the maxims of social morality to other sources than the teaching of the Church — The modern system of State polity compared with the Christian jurisprudence — Civil society is founded by God, the Author of Nature — Hence God is the source of public authority and of the right to rule — In order to a just and paternal exercise of authority, the sovereign power must take pattern from God — The obedience of subjects for God's sake is honourable and holy — Society, being a moral person, is bound to pay due homage to God — Society is bound, as a consequence, to help its members to attain their last end — Ecclesiastical Society, which is the Church, is instituted by Christ — with a view to the everlasting salvation of souls — The Church is a Universal Society — with a distinction of grades and offices — both natural and supernatural — complete, independent, and supreme — invested with legislative and judicial power — This authority is complete and self-dependent — The two-fold authority, that of the Church and that of the civil government, established by God — both of which are confined within certain limits — Between these two powers there exists a certain orderly connection — Sacred things are subject to the authority of the Church — Concordats — The Christian idea of Civil Polity is unexceptionable — Advantages to be derived from the Christian Civil Polity — in both the family and society at large — and in benefit of the social order — St. Augustine enlarges admirably on these benefits — History witnesses to these advantages — The new jurisprudence traced to the revolution of the sixteenth century — the main principle being the false claim of the absolute equality of all men — Whence it follows that the will of the people is looked upon as the sole law — Religious indifference throughout society is openly maintained — also the so-called liberty of conscience — Those who adopt these maxims deny that the Church is a complete society — and seek to sever the affairs of the Church from those of the State — Proofs that this system is at variance with the teachings of reason — Religious indifference — The liberty of the Press — Exclusion of the Church from the business of life, from the school, and from the family — The Church enslaved by the Civil power — Condemnation of these erroneous tenets by the Supreme Pontiffs — The true import of those Papal utterances — Rejection of distorted meanings assigned to them — for instance, the Popes in no wise proscribe any form of government or the toleration of false religions — or reasonable, civil and political liberty — or scientific research — The aim of the Pontiff in renewing this assertion of Catholic truth — Duties of Catholics with reference to opinions — in private life — in their public capacity — Example of the early Christians — Recommendations to Catholics to remain well-affected to the Church, and to be conformed to her mind — to be unanimous in their profession of doctrines taught by the Church — to reject whatever is akin to Naturalism or Rationalism — or divorces public from private duty — foregoing all domestic controversies, especially in the periodical Press 65; title: IV. — On the Chief Duties of Christians as Citizens; title: (Encyclical Letter, January 10, 1890.); title: The evil of neglecting Christian teaching — Material progress cannot lead man to his last end — A godless government deserves not the name — Decline of religion owing to the pursuit of temporal advantages — The object of this Encyclical Letter — Catholics, as children of the Church, have imperative duties towards her — The duty of loving the Church and the State — The love of Church and of Country, coming from God, cannot be opposed to each other — The State has no right to order things opposed to God's law — Catholics strictly bound to obey the government in things not contrary to divine authority — Laws invalid which are against those of God — Enmity to Christ and the Church is born of pride — Need of Catholics to be well instructed in their religion — Catholics should be ready and anxious to defend the Faith — To defend the Church is the duty and glory of all Catholics — Catholics should profess and spread the Faith — Faith cometh by hearing, hence the preaching of the word by the Pastors of the Church — Private individuals ought to help in this teaching — Witness of the Vatican Council on this point — Every one bound to preach by example and profession of the Faith — Common action a duty, from the very constitution of the Church — Concord of opinion a prime need — Independence of mind a source of concord even in the natural order — Perfect religious concord is of divine precept — By obedience to the teaching Church revelation is made known to us — Obedience, if not complete, does not exist — St. Thomas of Aquin on the matter — What is included in this complete obedience to the Church — There is no antagonism between Church and State — The Church, exacting obedience from Rulers, helps them to govern — The Church approves of all lawful forms of Civil government — All should imitate the Church in this respect — Civil law must keep in view the moral order — Catholics should uphold Civil Rulers who favour Religion —The enemies of the Church use, against her, dissensions amongst Catholics — Catholic statesmen should shun worldly prudence and rashness — The prudence of the flesh described — How harmful it is to the cause of Christianity — The prudence of the spirit — State prudence consults common good — It concerns above all the Roman Pontiff — then the Bishops — It belongs to the Pope to judge the Rulers of the Church — The chief remedy is to be found in the practice of Christian virtue — The evils threatening nations are the punishment of decay of faith and morals — Charity must be restored towards God and our neighbour — Love of our neighbour carefully preserved amongst the early Christians — How necessary it is in these our times — Warning to parents to bring up their children as true Christians — The nature of Christian training — Commendation of Catholics who have defrayed the expenses of schools — The clergy should exert all their zeal 101; title: V. Human Liberty.; title: (Encyclical Letter, June 20, 1888.); title: By Liberty man is master of his actions — Importance of using it aright — What religion has done for Liberty — Modern notions of Liberty — Christian aspect of Liberty — Natural Liberty — Man, being rational, is therefore free — The Church has ever upheld this freedom — Its definition — It lies in the will enlightened by reason — The power of choosing evil implies defect in human freedom — Mural Liberty — Necessity of law — Natural law, which is our reason commanding us to do good and avoid evil — is identical with the eternal law — Grace is given by God to strengthen and guide the will — but does not hinder freedom — Human law enforces the natural law — and applies its general precepts to particular cases — Hence the eternal law is a standard of true liberty — The Church has ever promoted true freedom — by abolishing slavery and by spreading civilization — by inculcating respect and obedience to lawful authority — by laying down the limits of human authority — Liberalism casts aside authority — Its logical issue — which is repugnant to reason — Its dangerous consequences — Another form of Liberalism limits obedience by the natural law — Its inconsistency — Another form holds that individuals are subject to the Divine law, but not the State — This view is inconsistent with the end of the State — Some false doctrines of Liberalism — Liberty of Worship — "Man must worship God in the way God wills — in the one true religion — The State is also bound to worship God in a form acceptable to Him — The public profession of Religion is helpful to the liberty of rulers and ruled — Liberty of the Press supposes a right to circulate falsehood — Liberty of Teaching — Truth, being the perfection of the intellect, can alone be lawfully taught — Natural and supernatural truth cannot be mutually opposed — The teaching of the Church is beneficial to science — and is a safeguard of true freedom — True and false Liberty of Conscience — The Church tolerates wrongful teaching for grave reasons — Tolerance of evil a sign of imperfection in the State — Recapitulation of the whole Letter — Various kinds and degrees of Liberalism — Rejection of the Church, or of her claims to have rights — The desire of an impossible compromise — Modern liberties, as they are called, affect dangerous independence — Constitutional forms of government approved by the Church — Also political action for national independence 138; title: VI. — Christian Marriage.; title: (Encyclical Letter, February 10, 1880.); title: The restoration of the spiritual order — Many benefits conferred on the natural order itself — both for individual men — and especially for the domestic household — Marriage a divine institution — having from the beginning the two properties of unity and indissolubility — The primitive character of marriage obscured by the Hebrews, through polygamy and divorce ; corrupted by the Gentiles with every kind of sin — Jesus Christ restored marriage to its first condition — and raised it to the dignity of a Sacrament — a higher end proposed to nuptial intercourse — The mutual rights and duties of husbands and wives defined — The authority of parents over their children, and reverence of children towards their parents prescribed — The discipline of the marriage state committed by Christ to the Church, which has constantly exercised this divine conferred authority, and has provided by its laws for the due sanctity and protection of marriage — Rationalists have endeavoured to withdraw marriage from the control of the Church, and to treat it as a mere human institution — But the right of the Church to control marriage is seen from the sacred character inherent in it from its first institution — by the dignity of a Sacrament which Christ has willed to apply to it — by the action of our Saviour, of the Apostles, of the Pontiffs and Bishops in its regard — with the united consent of Christian princes — In Christian marriage the contract inseparable from the Sacrament — The evils arising from desecrated marriages considered — These have led to a law of divorce — the fruitful parent of fresh evils — as experience invariably testifies — The Church, by reason of her care to protect the sanctity and perpetuity of the married state, deserves well of nations — The Church, instead of opposing, does greatly aid the Civil power — A concord between both these parties is to be greatly desired — The Pope oilers his co-operation to temporal rulers — He strongly exhorts all bishops to urge on the faithful that they ever bear in mind the divine origin of marriage — its supernatural dignity, unity and perpetuity — Mixed marriages to be avoided 178; title: VII. — The Right Ordering of Christian Life.; title: (Encyclical Letter, December 30, 1888.; title: The Jubilee an occasion of great spiritual benefit to the world — Christian Life — The reign of the threefold lust — Its sources — Bad books and licentious plays — Godless education — The offspring of Godlessness — The remedy being beyond human resource — must come from Jesus Christ — A Christian is bound not to seek after pleasure and fly from labour — The struggle with our passions brings even temporal blessings — The duty of mortification — Prayer — its fruits — Faith restored and increased by prayer — The example of the Clergy — Virtuous nations rewarded with temporal prosperity — The hope of the future is centred in the Church —A prayer for the well-being of the Church 207; title: VIII. — Concerning Modern Errors, Socialism, Communism, Nihilism.; title: (Encyclical Letter December 28, 1878); title: The character and aims of certain sects described — They attack authority, the family, private property — The source of this rationalism, which since the sixteenth century has invaded the political, scientific, and economical order — The care taken by the Popes to ward off danger by excommunicating members of Secret Societies —The Gospel teachings opposed to Socialism — The Church inculcates obedience of subjects to rulers — and moderation to the rulers of the people — The Church defends the indissoluble union of husband and wife — The Church defines the rights and duties of parents and children, and of masters and servants — It acknowledges the rights of possessing and disposing of private property, honours and relieves the poor, enjoins the rich to give alms — An appeal to peoples and rulers to hearken to the voice of the Church teaching, and to restore liberty to her — Appeal to pastors to plant deep down in the souls of the faithful the teaching of the Church — and to establish Associations of working men — Hope of divine aid 240; title: IX. — Working Men's Clubs and Associations.; title: (An Address to the Officials and Members of the Societies for the Furtherance of Catholic Interests amongst the Industrial Classe in France February 24, 1885.); title: Catholic Working Men's Associations — Self-seeking agitators — The Church and social ills — United action for religious and social ends  241; title: X. — The Reunion of Christendom.; title: (Encyclical Letter, June 20, 1894.); title: The Pope's Jubilee and unity amongst Catholics — A great multitude outside Catholic Unity — The Holy Father's concern for those outside Catholic Unity — The most unfortunate of all nations — Former unity amongst civilized nations — The Eastern Churches — Appeal to the Easterns — Appeal to the Slavs — Nations more recently separated drifting into various errors — Catholic. Unity and the sure way of salvation — Exhortation to Catholics. 245