Still more, in this separation, the State has not given to the Church her independence nor permitted her to enjoy, in the liberty which it pretends to conceive, the peace guaranteed by common right. The evidence of this is found in the numberless measures of exception which are inserted in the law. These measures are contrary to the divine constitution given by Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Church, which is a body ruled by pastors and doctors. In contradiction to these principles, the law confers the administration and care of public worship, not to the hierarchy divinely constituted, but to an association of lay persons. These Associations of Worship shall, moreover, be supervised by the civil authority in such a manner that the ecclesiastical authority can no longer have any power over them. They are absolutely opposed to the liberty of the Church. Finally, the law violates the property rights of the Church, whether by usurpation of these Associations of Worship, as also by the suppression of the budget of worship, which was in itself a partial indemnity. The Pope continues: "For this reason We reprove and condemn the law, voted in France for the separation of Church and State, as profoundly injurious to God Whom it denies officially when it begins the law with a declaration that the Republic recognizes no creed. We reprove and condemn it as violating the natural law, the law of nations, the public fidelity to treaties. We condemn it as contrary to the divine constitution of the Church, and to its essential rights and liberties. We condemn it as overturning justice and trampling under feet the property rights which the Church has acquired on many titles and in virtue of the Concordat itself. We reprove and condemn it as gravely offensive to the dignity of the Apostolic See, to Our own person, to the episcopate, the clergy and the people of France." The Pope then declares that this law can never be cited against the imprescriptible rights of the Church. The Holy Father then addresses himself to the bishops, the clergy and the faithful of France. He asks the bishops to bring a most perfect union of heart and will to the projects which they shall form for the defence of the Church, and he declares that he will address them at opportune times practical instructions to guide their conduct in the midst of their great difficulties. The clergy should have in their hearts the sentiments of the Apostles and rejoice that they are esteemed worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. The faithful should remember the fate which follows those impious sects which permit themselves to be bound by a yoke, for they have themselves with cynical audacity proclaimed their motto: "Decatholicise France!" In their resistance they must be strongly united and possess a large measure of courage and generosity. In the secret consistory, the Holy Father again referred to the insulting measures of the separation law.