The Catholic World, Vol. 22, October, 1875, to March, 1876: A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and ScienceVarious
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 22, October, 1875, to March, 1876: A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
Another example. In Paragraph X. we find the same principle of modern
liberalism enunciated in the following manner: “In this our age, it is no
longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be considered as the
only religion of the state, to the exclusion of all others.” “Ætate hac
nostra, non amplius expedit religionem Catholicam haberi, tanquam unicam
status religionem, cæteris quibuscumque cultibus exclusis.” The document
to which we refer is a consistorial Allocution pronounced the 26th July,
1855, and it commences with these words, _Nemo vestrum_. What is this
Allocution? A solemn protest against the criminality of the Spanish
government, which, in contempt of its word and oath, of the rights of the
church and the eternal laws of justice, had dared to perjure itself by
abrogating, of its own single authority, the first and second articles
of the concordat. Pius IX., full of grief, speaks in these terms: “You
know, venerable brethren, how, in this convention, amongst all the
decisions relative to the interests of the Catholic religion, we have,
above all, established that this holy religion should continue to be the
only religion of the Spanish nation, to the exclusion of every other
worship.” The proposition of the Syllabus is not expressed in any other
way in the Allocution. A man of great ability, or a scientific man,
taking into account the facts, and weighing carefully the expressions of
the Pontiff, might perhaps detect it therein. But how many others would
it wholly escape! How many would not perceive it, or, if they should
chance to catch sight of it, would remain in suspense, uncertain which
was rebuked, the application of the doctrine or the doctrine itself! How
many, in short, would be unwilling to recognize, in these words, aught
but the sorrowful complaint of the Vicar of Jesus Christ outraged in his
dearest rights! Return, however, to the Syllabus, and that which was
obscure comes to light and manifests itself clearly. The two propositions
we have cited do not appear, in it, confused or uncertain. Detached, on
the contrary, from the particular circumstances which were calculated
to weaken their meaning, and clad in a form more lofty, more universal,
more abstract, they receive an unspeakable signification. No hesitation
is possible. It is no longer the doctrine of M. Froschammer, nor the
sacrilegious usurpations of the Spanish government, which are rebuked;
it is but the doctrine considered in itself and in its substance. And
since the Roman Pontiff, after having isolated it, fixes on it a mark of
reprobation by declaring it erroneous, he denounces it to all ages and
all people as deserving the everlasting censure of the church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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