Excerpts from:
Notre Charge Apostolique
"Our Apostolic Mandate"
Given by Pope Pius X to the French Bishops
August 15, 1910
Given by Pope Pius X to the French Bishops
August 15, 1910
“We fear that worse is to come: the end
result of this developing promiscuousness, the beneficiary of this cosmopolitan
social action, can only be a Democracy which will be neither Catholic, nor
Protestant, nor Jewish. It will be a religion (for Sillonism, so the leaders
have said, is a religion) more universal than the Catholic Church, uniting all
men to become brothers and comrades at last in the ‘Kingdom of God’. We do not
work for the Church, we work for mankind.
“And now, overwhelmed with the deepest sadness,
We ask Ourselves, Venerable Brethren, what has become of the Catholicism of the
Sillon? Alas! this organization which formerly afforded such promising
expectations, this limpid and impetuous stream, has been harnessed in its
course by the modern enemies of the Church, and is now no more than a miserable
affluent of the great movement of apostasy being organized in every country for
the establishment of a One-World Church which shall have neither dogmas, nor
hierarchy, neither discipline for the mind, nor curb for the passions, and
which, under the pretext of freedom and human dignity, would bring back to the
world (if such a Church could overcome) the reign of legalized cunning and
force, and the oppression of the weak, and of all those who toil and suffer.
“We know only too well the dark workshops in which are elaborated these
mischievous doctrines which ought not to seduce clear-thinking minds. The
leaders of the Sillon have not been able to guard against these doctrines. The
exaltation of their sentiments, the undiscriminating good-will of their hearts,
their philosophical mysticism, mixed with a measure of illuminism, have carried
them away towards another Gospel which they thought was the true Gospel of Our
Savior. To such an extent that they speak of Our Lord Jesus Christ with a
familiarity supremely disrespectful, and that -- their ideal being akin to that
of the Revolution -- they fear not to draw between the Gospel and the Revolution
blasphemous comparisons for which the excuse cannot be made that they are due
to some confused and over-hasty composition.
“We wish to draw your attention, Venerable Brethren, to this distortion of the
Gospel and to the sacred character of Our Lord Jesus Christ, God and man,
prevailing within the Sillon and elsewhere. As soon as the social question is
being approached, it is the fashion in some quarters to first put aside the
divinity of Jesus Christ, and then to mention only His unlimited clemency, His
compassion for all human miseries, and His pressing exhortations to the love of
our neighbor and to the brotherhood of men. True, Jesus has loved us with an
immense, infinite love, and He came on earth to suffer and die so that,
gathered around Him in justice and love, motivated by the same sentiments of
mutual charity, all men might live in peace and happiness. But for the
realization of this temporal and eternal happiness, He has laid down with
supreme authority the condition that we must belong to His Flock, that we must
accept His doctrine, that we must practice virtue, and that we must accept the
teaching and guidance of Peter and his successors. Further, whilst Jesus was
kind to sinners and to those who went astray, He did not respect their false
ideas, however sincere they might have appeared. He loved them all, but He
instructed them in order to convert them and save them. Whilst He called to
Himself in order to comfort them, those who toiled and suffered, it was not to
preach to them the jealousy of a chimerical equality. Whilst He lifted up the
lowly, it was not to instill in them the sentiment of a dignity independent
from, and rebellious against, the duty of obedience.
“Whilst His heart overflowed with
gentleness for the souls of good-will, He could also arm Himself with holy
indignation against the profaners of the House of God, against the wretched men
who scandalized the little ones, against the authorities who crush the people
with the weight of heavy burdens without putting out a hand to lift them. He
was as strong as he was gentle. He reproved, threatened, chastised, knowing,
and teaching us that fear is the beginning of wisdom, and that it is sometimes
proper for a man to cut off an offending limb to save his body. Finally, He did
not announce for future society the reign of an ideal happiness from which
suffering would be banished; but, by His lessons and by His example, He traced
the path of the happiness which is possible on earth and of the perfect
happiness in heaven: the royal way of the Cross. These are teachings that it
would be wrong to apply only to one's personal life in order to win eternal
salvation; these are eminently social teachings, and they show in Our Lord
Jesus Christ something quite different from an inconsistent and impotent
humanitarianism.
“As for you, Venerable Brethren, carry on diligently with the work of the
Saviour of men by emulating His gentleness and His strength. Minister to every
misery; let no sorrow escape your pastoral solicitude; let no lament find you
indifferent. But, on the other hand, preach fearlessly their duties to the
powerful and to the lowly; it is your function to form the conscience of the
people and of the public authorities. The social question will be much nearer a
solution when all those concerned, less demanding as regards their respective
rights, shall fulfill their duties more exactingly.”
[Source]
