La Civiltà Cattolica, 57th year (1906), I, 520 sqq. French translation, with slight variations in phraseology, in Archives diplomatiques (3d series, 1906), XCVII, 252 sqq. World History

287.

Pius X’s Denunciation of the Law of Separation, February, 1906 (Condensed)

Venerable brethren, beloved sons, salutation and apostolic benediction:

Our soul is full of tender solicitude and our heart is wrung with anguish as our thoughts dwell upon you. And how, indeed, could it be otherwise on the morrow of the promulgation of the law which, in breaking violently the ancient ties by which your nation was united to the Apostolic See, places the Catholic Church in France in a situation unworthy of her and forever lamentable. This event is unquestionably of the gravest character, for it is as fatal to civil society as to religion. Nevertheless it cannot be a matter of surprise to any one who has given any attention to the religious policy pursued in France in these later years. To you, venerable brethren, it will come neither as an innovation nor a surprise, witnesses as you have been of the numerous and powerful blows unnecessarily inflicted on religion by the public authority.

Review of anticlerical legislation

You have seen the sanctity and inviolability of Christian marriage attacked by certain legislative provisions; the schools and hospitals put under the control of the laity; pupils torn from their studies and from ecclesiastical discipline and forced into military schools; the religious congregations dispersed and plundered and their members commonly reduced to the last stages of destitution. Other legal measures have followed, all of which you know: the abrogation of the law ordering public prayers at the opening of each parliamentary session and of the courts; the suppression of the signs of mourning on Good Friday, traditional on board of the ships; the elimination from the judiciary oath of all that gave to it religious character; the banishment from the courts, schools, army, navy, and finally from all public establishments, of every act or emblem which could recall religion in any way. These measures and others still, which little by little separated Church and State, were only the landmarks placed with the view of arriving at a complete and official separation; their promoters themselves did not hesitate to acknowledge it proudly and often.

Rome has warned France of the coming dangers

The Apostolic See, on the contrary, has spared no pains in warding off so great a calamity. On the one hand, it has never tired of warning those who were at the head of French affairs, and has implored them repeatedly to consider well the enormity of the evils which their separatist policy would inevitably bring; on the other hand, it has multiplied striking evidences of its condescending affection toward France. It had the right to hope, therefore, in consideration of the obligations of gratitude, that it might be able to restrain these politicians from their wayward course and induce them at last to renounce their projects.

Duty requires Pius to speak

But attentions, good offices, efforts, as much on the part of our predecessor as on our own part, have all been without avail. The violence of the enemies of religion has ended in their carrying into execution plans which were for a long time merely aspirations,—plans opposed to your rights as a Catholic nation and contrary to all which the wise desire. Accordingly, in an hour so grave for the Church, we, conscious of our apostolic duty, have considered it an obligation to lift our voice and open our soul to you, venerable brethren, and to your clergy and your people,—you whom we have always surrounded with a protecting solicitude and whom we properly love at this moment more tenderly than ever.

Necessity of separation denied

That it is necessary to separate Church and State is a thesis absolutely false,—a most pernicious error. Based in fact upon the principle that the State ought not to recognize any religious faith, it is, to begin with, deeply insulting to God; for the creator of man is also the founder of human societies, and he maintains them as he does us. We owe him, therefore, not only private worship, but also a public and social worship in his praise.

Moreover, this thesis is clearly the negation of the supernatural order. It limits the action of the State to the sole pursuit of prosperity during this life, which is only the secondary reason for political societies; and it does not recognize in any manner the highest object of the State, namely, eternal bliss offered to man at the close of this present life, so short in duration, but regards it as foreign to the concerns of State. This thesis reverses the order very wisely established by God in the world, the order which requires a harmonious concord between the two societies.

Governments cannot regard religion with indifference

The Roman Pontiffs have not ceased, according to circumstances and times, to refute and condemn the doctrine of the separation of Church and State. Our illustrious predecessor, Leo XIII, notably, has often and splendidly expounded what ought to be the relation between the two societies according to Catholic doctrine. "Between them," he said, "there must necessarily be a wise union, a union which can be compared with propriety to that which in man joins the soul and the body." He added: "Human societies cannot, without becoming criminal, conduct themselves as if God did not exist, or refuse to occupy themselves with religion as if it were a foreign matter or of no importance to them. . . . As for the Church, which has God himself for its author, to exclude it from the active life of the nation, from the laws, the education of the youth, from domestic society, is to be guilty of a great and pernicious error."

France the object of special favors from Popes

And if in separating itself from the Church, any Christian State commits an act eminently baleful and censurable, how much is such action to be deplored in the case of France above all nations! France, we say, which during the course of centuries has been the object of such great and peculiar favor on the part of the Holy See; France whose fortune and glory have always been intimately united with the practice of Christian virtues and respect for religion! The same Pontiff, Leo XIII, had good reason for saying: "France should never forget that her providential destiny has united her to the Holy See with bonds too close and too ancient for her ever to wish to break them. From this union, indeed, have come forth her true greatness and her purest glory. . . . To disturb this traditional union would be to take from the nation itself a part of its moral strength and high mission in the world."

The Concordat cannot be broken by one party to the contract

The bonds that consecrate this union ought, moreover, to be doubly inviolable on account of the sworn faith which treaties exact. The Concordat agreed upon by the sovereign Pontiff and the French government, like all similar treaties that States conclude between themselves, was a bilateral contract which was binding on both sides. The Roman Pontiff, on the one part, the head of the French nation on the other, agreed then solemnly, both for themselves and for their successors, to maintain inviolable the compact they had signed. The French government has not hesitated to ignore, with reference to the Holy See, the ordinary considerations and the courtesy with which even the smallest States do not dispense in dealing with each other. And its agents who were, moreover, the representatives of a Catholic nation, have not feared to treat with brutal disrespect the dignity and power of the Pontiff, supreme head of the Church, for whom they should have shown a respect superior to that which all political powers inspire,—all the more because this Pontiff labors for the eternal good of souls.

The Church oppressed by the new law

If we now examine the law itself which has just been promulgated we shall find a fresh reason to complain still more loudly. Since the State, breaking the bonds of the Concordat, separates itself from the Church, it was due the latter naturally to let it enjoy its independence and rights in peace and in the liberty ostensibly conceded to it. Now nothing has been further from the facts: we note in the law several exceptional measures which are odiously restrictive and place the Church under the dominion of the civil power. It has indeed been a source of bitter sorrow to us to see the State thus invade the exclusive province of the ecclesiastical power; and we grieve the more, since, forgetful of equity and justice, it has thus placed the Church in France in a critical situation, subversive of its most sacred rights.

The law is contrary to the constitution of the Church

The provisions of the new law are, in effect, contrary to the constitution on which the Church was founded by Jesus Christ. The Scriptures teach us and the traditions of the fathers confirm it, that the Church is the mystic body of Christ, a body ruled by pastors and teachers,—hence a body of men in the midst of whom are found those leaders who have full power to govern, teach, and judge.¹

The refusal to pay the clergy is unjust

The law suppressing the appropriations for public worship frees the State from the obligation of providing for the expenses of religious worship, but it at the same time repudiates an engagement contracted in a diplomatic agreement, and seriously violates the principles of justice. On that point there can indeed be no possible doubt, and historical documents themselves bear witness to the fact in the clearest fashion. If the French government assumed in the Concordat the burden of assuring to the members of the clergy a salary which would enable them to provide in a suitable fashion for themselves and religious worship, it did not make this as a gratuitous concession; it pledged itself to do this by way of indemnification, partial at least, to the Church whose property the State had appropriated during the Revolution. On the other hand also, when the Roman Pontiff in the same Concordat and for the sake of peace engaged in his own name and that of his successors not to disturb the holders of property which had been thus taken from the Church, it is certain that he only made that promise on one condition: that is, that the French government should agree for all time adequately to pay the clergy and provide for the expenses of divine worship.

The law disastrous to France

Finally—and how can we well be silent on this point?—aside from the interests of the Church which have been injured, the new law will be most fatal to your country. There can be no doubt that it will in reality destroy the union and harmony of souls, and without that union and harmony no nation can live and prosper. That is why, especially in the present situation in Europe, this perfect harmony is the most ardent wish of all those in France who, truly loving their country, have its welfare at heart. As for us, following the example of our predecessor and inheriting his very special partiality for your nation, we are unquestionably compelled to maintain the religion of your ancestors in the full possession of all its rights among you; but at the same time, and always having before our eyes that fraternal peace of which religion is certainly the strictest bond, we have labored to strengthen all in unity.

Sweeping condemnation of the law

Accordingly we, remembering our Apostolic charge and bound to defend against every attack and to maintain in their absolute integrity the inviolable and sacred rights of the Church, by virtue of the supreme authority which God has conferred upon us, we, for the reasons given above, reject and condemn the law passed in France for the separation of the Church and State, as profoundly insulting to God whom it officially denies by making it a principle that the Republic recognizes no religion. We reject and condemn it as violating natural law, the law of nations, and the public faith due to treaties, as contrary to the divine constitution of the Church, to its fundamental rights, and to its liberty, as overturning justice and trampling under foot the property rights which the Church has acquired by manifold titles and especially by virtue of the Concordat. We reject and condemn it as grievously offensive to the dignity of this Apostolic See, to our person, to the episcopacy, to the clergy, and to all the French Catholics.

An appeal to the faithful in France

Consequently we protest solemnly and with all our strength against the proposal, the passage, and the promulgation of this law, declaring that it could never be impleaded so as to annul the imprescriptible and immutable rights of the Church.¹. . .

As for the defense of religion, if you desire to undertake it in a worthy manner, to carry it on without error and with success, two things above all are important: you should conduct yourselves according to the precepts of the Christian law, so faithfully, that your acts and your entire life may be an honor to the religion which you profess. You should also remain in strict union with those to whom it properly belongs to guard religion here below,—with your priests, your bishops, and especially with the Apostolic See, which is the center of Catholicism and of everything which may properly be done in its name. Thus armed for the struggle, advance without fear to the defense of the Church, taking care that your confidence rests entirely in God whose cause you uphold, and in which he will help you. Implore him without ceasing.

As for us, as long as you may have to struggle against danger, we shall be heart and soul in your midst; labors, pains, sufferings, we shall share all with you; and, addressing ourselves at the same time to the God who has established the Church and who heeds our humblest and most earnest prayers, we supplicate him to look down on France with compassion, to rescue her from the billows raging around her, and to give calm and peace to her soon through the intercession of Mary the Immaculate.

As a sign of these divine favors, and in order to assure you of our very especial good will, we most affectionately grant our apostolic benediction to you, venerable brethren, to your clergy, and to the entire French nation.

Given at Rome near Saint Peter’s, February 11, 1906, the third year of our pontificate.

PIUS X

¹ Here the Pope enumerates his objections to the associations of laymen (associations cultuelles), in whose hands the Law of Separation placed the administration of the various local churches.

¹ In the passages which follow, omitted here, the Pope encourages French Catholics to be steadfast in the midst of their adversity, trusting in Jesus Christ and their own faith.