6 The Vatican on World Unrest

The Vatican has theories of its own by which it tries to explain why the world is where it stands to-day; why society has been, and continues to be, shaken by social and political convulsions; and why mankind in general is going through a crisis never before experienced. Unfortunately, owing to lack of space, we must merely glance at the general views of only three modern Popes; but we hope thereby to make their ideas clear, for this will help to show the fundamental attitude of the Catholic Church towards the problems of our perturbing age.

From the time of Leo XIII the Vatican has issued specific statements and general declarations, never contradictory, and showing a systematic attitude towards what it considers to be contrary to its doctrines. The policy of the Catholic Church has been based on these general ideas, and its attitude towards any specific subject has been shaped by them. Here, we shall examine very briefly the essence of some of these declarations, and we shall take the inaugural encyclicals of three Popes who, having ruled the Catholic Church during critical periods, were able more than others to impregnate the Church, and consequently the Vatican, with the spirit emanating from their declarations. In their inaugural encyclicals, each of these three Popes attempted to expound the general principles which would characterize the program he had set himself as Head of the Church, while at the same time suggesting remedies which he considered would cure the ills of modern society.

The first of the modern Popes to deal directly with social and political issues characteristic of modern society was Leo XIII. He, although in many ways very liberal-minded, spent his life in a relentless battle against what the Vatican considered to be the characteristic scourge of the last century―namely, Secularism. The main goal of Secularism was the complete divorce of Church and State and the segregation of religion from issues which were not of a purely religious character. The declarations of Leo XIII, even when confined to general principles, are very important, for the Popes who succeeded him not only maintained them, but enlarged upon them according to the requirements of the times, and they consequently affected the policy of the Vatican in the twentieth century.

Pope Leo XIII made known his ideas regarding the Catholic Church and society in his first encyclical published April 2, 1878 (Inscrutabili). In this encyclical he drew a careful picture of world conditions in his time and the practical consequences brought about by the principles of the Secular State.

Great evils had affected not only society, but also the State and the individual, said Leo XIII. The new principles (Secularism and Liberalism) had caused the subversion of those fundamental truths which were the foundation of society. They had implanted a general obstinacy in the heart of the individual, who had thus become very impatient of all authority. Disagreements of all kinds over political and social problems, which were bound to create revolutions, were increasing daily.

The new theories, which were especially directed against Christianity and the Catholic Church, had in the practical field been the cause of acts directed against the authority of the Catholic Church. Among these actions which were the consequences of the new doctrines were the passing in more than one country of laws which shook the very foundation of the Catholic Church; the freedom given to individuals to propagate principles which were “mischievous” restrictions on the Church’s right to educate youth; the seizure of the temporal power of the Popes; and the systematic rejection of the authority of the Pope and of the Catholic Church, “the source of progress.”

“Who, ” said Leo XIII, “will deny the service of the Church in bringing truth to the peoples sunk in ignorance and superstition?… If we compare the ages when the Church was universally revered as a mother with our age, is it not beyond all question that our age is rushing wildly along the straight road to destruction? ” The Papacy, declared Leo, was the protector and the guardian of civilization.”It is in very truth the glory of the Supreme Pontiffs that they steadfastly set themselves as a wall and bulwark to save human society from falling back into its former superstition and barbarism.” If the Papacy’s “healing authority” had not been put aside, the world would have been spared innumerable revolutions and wars, and the civil power “would not have lost that venerable and sacred glory, the lustrous gift of religion, which alone renders the state of subjection noble and worthy of Man.”

Leo XIII then told Catholics what they should do to counteract the hostility of the enemies of the Church:

(1) Every Catholic had a duty of submission to the teaching of the Holy See.
(2) Education should be Catholic.
(3) Every member of the Church should follow the principle of Catholicism with regard to the family and marriage.

The teaching of the Catholic Church, affirmed Leo, should be imparted to children as early as possible, and the Church should see not only that there is “a suitable and solid method of education…. but above all……this education should be wholly in harmony with the Catholic Faith.”

But, first and most important, education should start in the family, which, in order to be equal to such a duty, should be Catholic. Parents must be Catholic, and must be united by the sacraments of the Church. Youth must receive “family Christian training”; and such training becomes impossible when the laws of the Catholic Church are ignored (as under the laws of the secularized State).

Subsequently this Pope advised Catholics not only to obey the Catholic Church in religious matters, but also to follow its advice in social and political problems. Throughout the last quarter of the nineteenth century he published many encyclicals, in which he repeatedly condemned the Secular State, the heresy of Liberalism, and finally of Socialism. He advised Catholics to fight these ideologies, which were hostile to the Church, on their own ground―namely, in social and political fields, by uniting in Catholic trade unions and by creating Catholic Parties. His teaching characterized the general policy of the Vatican up to the beginning of the twentieth century, by which time the type of State condemned by the Catholic Church over and over again had established itself practically all over Europe.

Thirty-six years after Leo XIII’s inaugural letters the First World War broke out, and the new Pope, Benedict XV, denounced what, according to him, were the real causes of hostilities and of the deterioration of the Western world.

What caused the First World War? he asked (Ad Beatissimi, November 1, 1914), and in answer asserted that it was due not only to the fact that “the precepts and practice of Christian wisdom have ceased to be observed in the ruling of States, ” but also to the general weakening of authority.”There is no longer any respect for the authority of the rulers, ” he declared, and “the bonds of duty which should tie the subject to whatever authority is above him have become so weak that they have almost disappeared.” That is due to modern teaching about the origin of authority. What is the essence of such teaching? The essence is the false idea that the source of authority’s power is the free will of men, and not God. It is from this illusion that man is the source of authority that the unrestrained striving for independence of the masses has arisen. Such a spirit of independence has penetrated into the very home and family life. Even in clerical circles such vice is apparent. It follows that there is widespread contempt for laws and authority, rebellion on the part of those who should remain subject, criticism of orders and crime against property on the part of those who claim that no law binds them. The peoples, therefore, should return to the old doctrine, and the Pope, “to whom is divinely committed the teachings of the truth, ” must remind the peoples of the world that “there is no power but from God; and the power that be are ordained by God.” As all authority comes from God, it follows that all Catholics must obey their authorities. Their authorities, whether religious or civil, must be obeyed religiously; that is to say, as a matter of conscience. The only exception to this duty is when the authority is used against the laws of God and of His Church; otherwise all Catholics, concludes the Pope, must obey blindly, for “he that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist purchase to themselves damnation.”

Benedict XV then draws practical conclusions and hints to the rulers of nations that if they want discipline, obedience, and order, they must support the teaching of the Catholic Church. It is foolish, he states, for a country to rule without the teaching of the Church, or to educate its youth in other doctrines that are not of the Church.”Sad experience proves that human authority fails when religion is set aside.” So the ruler of the State should not despise God’s authority and His Church; otherwise the peoples will despise their authority. Human society, the Pope continues, is kept together by two factors―mutual love and dutiful acknowledgment of authority over all. These sources have been weakened, with the result that, within each nation, the population, is “divided, as it were, into two hostile armies, bitterly and ceaselessly at strife, the owners on the one hand, and the proletariat and the workers on the other.”

The proletariat should not be filled with hatred, and should not envy the wealthy, says the Pope, for such a proletariat would become an easy prey for agitators. For “it does not follow that, because men are equal by their nature, they must all occupy an equal place in the community.” The poor should not look upon the rich and rise against them, as if the rich were thieves; for when the poor do this, they are unjust and uncharitable, besides acting unreasonably. The consequences of class hatred are disastrous, and strikes are to be deplored, for they disorganize national life. The errors of Socialism have been exposed by Leo XIII, and bishops should see that the Catholics never forget Leo’s condemnation of it. They should preach brotherly love, which will never abolish “the difference of conditions and therefore of classes, but will bring it to pass that those who occupy higher positions will in some way bring themselves down to those in lower position, and treat them not only justly… but kindly and in a friendly and patient spirit. The poor, on their side, will rejoice in their prosperity (the prosperity of the rich) and rely confidently on their help.”

Men have lost the belief in a future life, and they therefore consider this earthly life as the whole reason for their existence. A wicked Press, godless schools, and other influences have caused this “most pernicious error.” Those who uphold these doctrines desire wealth; but as wealth is not equally divided, and as the State sets limits to the taking of the wealth of the rich, the poor hate the State.”Thus the struggle of one class of citizen against another bursts forth, the one trying by every means to obtain and to take what they want to have, the other endeavoring to hold and to increase what they already possess.”

Why did the Catholic Church at this stage insist so much on authority and on the issue of the struggle between classes? Because the rumbling of social upheaval closely to follow the First World War was already being heard by the Vatican, which, fearing the worst, was already taking the first precautionary steps.

The advice given by the Pope to individual Catholics and to nations should be remembered, for during the following decade that emphasis on the necessity for strengthening authority, on the blind obedience owed by subjects, and on the duty of everyone not to allow difference of wealth and social ideology (i. e. Socialism) to incite class struggle, was to become the slogan of Fascist Totalitarianism.

The First World War came and went, leaving behind it immense ruin, especially in the social and political fields. Society at large, as Benedict XV had feared, was torn asunder by conflicting social doctrines and struggling political systems, most of which were trying to shape society according to the very principles which the Catholic Church had always condemned. To add to the confusion and to the strength of those forces of disorder, Russia had turned Bolshevist and had become a beacon to all the European peoples in revolutionary mood.

One of the characteristics of the Socialist, Communist, and Anarchist individuals and movements was that, besides aiming at changing the economic and social system, they had declared a ruthless war on religion in general and on the Catholic Church in particular. The danger of Socialism, previously theoretic, had become real and pressing. Once more the Catholic Church spoke to the Faithful, repeating the statements of Pope Benedict XV and adding further accusations against what it considered to be the cause of the terrible world unrest.

Pius XI was elected Pope in 1922, and in the same year published his inaugural encyclical, in which he not only emphasized the attitude of the Catholic Church toward social and political problems, but also indicted democracy, thus preceding the Fascist and Nazi dictatorships (Ubi Arcano Dei, English trans., On the Troubles Left by the European War, 1914-18; Their Cause and Remedies).

This encyclical discussed the effects of the war and stated that nowhere was there peace among States, families, or individuals. World unrest was attributed to the fact that God had been banished from public affairs,

marriage, and education. It declared that war would recur unless men shared the “peace of Christ, ” and that the Catholic Church was indispensable to peace. Pope Pius XI next raised the social and political issue, saying that everywhere there was “class warfare, ” factious opposition of parties not seeking public good, plots, assaults on rulers, strikes, lock-outs, and riots. Modern doctrines had weakened family ties; they had caused restlessness of mind consequent upon the war; they had sapped authority to such a degree that obedience was felt to be submission to an awful yoke. While men wanted to work as little as possible, servants and masters were enemies. The multitude of the needy was growing in number and becoming the reserve from which future revolutions would recruit new armies.

The Pope then hastened to say that, although the Church did not discriminate between forms of government as such, yet no one could deny that the structure of a democracy suffers more easily than that of any other State from the treacherous interplay of acts. Democracy, asserted Pius XI, was the main cause of all the chaos, which had come about because of the very nature of democratic Governments, where the will of the people is sovereign and where there is too much freedom; and the more democratic a country, the more chaotic her national life.

This condemnation of democracy was very significant, for it came at a time when the Fascist doctrines were making great strides in Italy and the rest of Europe. We shall see later how this indictment of democracy was not to be confined to the purely theoretical field, but was to enter into the sphere of politics―and thus contribute to the tragic consequences of which we are all aware.

In his encyclical, Pius XI also gave several other causes which he alleged were responsible for the world unrest:

(1) God had been removed from the conduct of public affairs. (2) Marriage had become purely a civil contract. (3) God had been banished from schools. After these accusations, the Pope finally suggested the remedies with which the society of the twentieth century could be cured. Every individual, he said, should respect the divine arrangement of human obedience and should respect the divine arrangement of human society and, above all, of the Catholic Church, a teacher “incapable of error.” Only the Catholic Church, he went on, could bring peace and order, for the Church alone teaches with a divine commission, and by divine command, that individuals and States must obey God’s laws, and the Catholic Church is “the only one and the only divinely constituted guardian and interpreter of these revealed truths.”

That being so, continued Pius XI, society could find a solution to its troubles only by following the teaching of the Catholic Church. As for nations trying to settle their differences, it was useless for them to create an International Institution (League of Nations) regardless of the Church. If they wished such an organization to succeed, then they must build it on the model of that International Institution which worked so well during the Middle Ages―namely, the Catholic Church. For the Catholic Church alone is able to safeguard the sacredness of International Law, for while it belongs to all nations, yet it is above all nations.

Individuals must look to the Catholic Church for guidance, not only in spiritual, but also in social, matters; and they should never forget that they are forbidden to support certain social doctrines of which the Church does not approve (i. e. Liberalism, Modernism, Socialism, etc.). Unfortunately, remarked the Pope, there are too many, even amongst Catholics, who are inclined to look upon social matters with too liberal a mind.”In their words, writings, and in the whole tenor of their lives, they behave as though the teaching and commands set out by Popes…..were becoming completely obsolete…..In this there can be recognized a certain kind of modernism in morals in matters touching authority and the social order, which, along with modernism, we specifically condemn.”

Pope Pius XI was a man of action. His reign (1922-39), which occurred during one of the most fateful periods of modern history, was marked by his strong will and the fact that the Catholic Church was increasingly dependent upon the personal decisions of the ruling Pontiff. He not only strove to see that what his predecessors preached was carried out, but had extremely strong beliefs of his own on questions regarding the attitude that the Catholic Church should adopt towards social and political problems.

Pius XI was a man “contemptuous of democratic institutions, ” as his first encyclical clearly showed. He endeavored with great success to impregnate the spirit of the Catholic Church and, above all, the policy of the Vatican with hostility towards certain great modern social and political currents. The result was that the Vatican adopted a strong and well-defined policy towards contemporary social and political movements. This policy was based on the principles of tightening the authority of the State and the right of the Catholic Church to play a bigger part in modern society. Its duty was to see that youth should receive religious education, to preserve the sacredness of the family, and to assure that Secularism should be anathematized, Socialism destroyed, divorce abolished, democracy condemned.

His endeavors, directed towards applying such principles to reality, soon brought the Catholic Church very close to certain movements which, although entirely alien to religion, yet shared with the Vatican a hatred of certain social and political trends then bestirring society. Having found common ground, and sharing many aims, the Vatican and these political movements began to battle together against what they considered their common enemies. Who was mainly responsible for such an alliance, and how was it that the Vatican decided to embark upon such a policy?

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