_Popular Objections against the Encyclical._ By. Mgr. de Segur.
Authorized Translation. Dublin: John F. Fowler, 3 Crow Street.
We are delighted to welcome this little work, both for the sake of its own
proper merits, and because it is the first instalment of the authorized
translation of the admirable works of Mgr. de Segur. The Encyclical and
Syllabus still continue to be the great event of the day. Indeed, as yet,
we see only the beginnings of the influence it is surely destined to
exercise on men’s minds; and for the due development of that influence,
works like this of the French prelate are very necessary. The docile
Catholic, for whom St. Peter lives and speaks in Pius IX., will find set
forth herein the majesty and beauty of the doctrine he had before received
in simple faith. The Catholic whose mind has been coloured for good and
evil by modern ideas, and who has felt alarm at the apparent contradiction
between the teaching of the Pope and certain social doctrines he has long
held to be as sacred as first principles, will find in these pages
wherewith to calm his apprehensions and steady his judgment He will see
that what the Church condemns is already condemned by reason and history;
and that, far from placing under the ban any of the elements of true
progress, the Holy See censures the very errors which make all true
progress impossible. The priest who has charge of the wise and the unwise
together, will be glad to have, in these few pages, what may enable him to
provide for the wants of both. We quote a few passages:—
The Pope Condemns Liberty Of Conscience.
You mean to say “the liberty of having no conscience”, or, what is
much the same thing, “the liberty of corrupting or poisoning one’s
conscience!” You are right; the Pope is the mortal enemy of a
liberty so shocking. What good father would leave his son the
liberty of poisoning himself?
It was Protestantism which invented, and it is the Revolution
which has perfected, what unbelievers call liberty of conscience.
It has become an essential part of _progress_, of that
anti-Catholic _progress_ of which we were speaking just now, and
which has insinuated itself into all modern constitutions....
The liberty of following one’s conscience, even when it is
misguided, is not the liberty of conscience condemned by the
Encyclical Letter. Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and all men, of
whatever denomination or sect they may be, are obliged to follow
the dictates of their conscience; as long as they are misled
_fairly_, it is but a misfortune; what the Church demands is that
all men may escape this misfortune, and have full liberty of
embracing truth, when once they have discovered it. The Pope
condemns liberty of _conscience_, and not liberty of
_consciences_. The one is very different from the other.
In Condemning Liberty Of Worship, The Pope Wishes To Oblige
Governments To Persecute Unbelievers, Protestants, Jews.
The Pope desires nothing of all that, and those who say so, do not
believe a word of what they advance. Pius IX. says simply to
_Catholic_ governments (and it is to them that he addresses
himself): “There is but one true religion, because there is but
one God, one Christ, one faith, one baptism, and this only true
religion is that of the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church of Rome.
If, in consequence of unfortunate circumstances, a Catholic
government is obliged to put the Church on the same footing with
false religions, such as Protestants, Jews, Mahometans, etc., it
should bitterly regret such an unhappy state of things, and never
consider it as permanent or lasting. Such conduct would be putting
truth on a line with error, and despising faith.
“It is the duty of a really Catholic government to facilitate, _as
much as possible_, to bishops and priests, the free exercise of
their holy ministry, in order that they may, by the zeal and
persuasion of their charity, work more efficaciously for the
conversion of heretics and other dissenters. It must hinder, _as
much as circumstances and the laws of prudence will permit_, the
extension of heresy; finally, it must endeavour, for its own
interest, as well as for that of the Church, to procure the
inestimable advantages of religious unity and peace to its
subjects”.
These are the matters that Pius IX. speaks of. He simply engages Catholic
sovereigns to do for their subjects what every good father would do for
his children and his servants; he does all in his power to render the
knowledge and practice of religion easy for them; he removes as much as he
can all that is capable of weakening their faith or of corrupting their
morals; he tolerates the evil that he cannot prevent, but he never lets an
opportunity pass without blaming this evil, and repressing that which he
cannot extirpate entirely.
The Church employs gentleness and mildness in order to gain souls to God.
Who would have ever thought of using violent measures to impose faith on
men? Although the Catholic Church pities those who are misguided, and does
all in her power to enlighten them, she respects their faith, when she
knows them to be upright and honest. Intolerant and absolute in matter of
doctrine, she is full of tender solicitude for her children.