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Vouthon
Guest
Pope Pius VII was a fan of democracy…
When the French Revolutionary Army invaded Italy in 1797, Pope Pius VII - then the top Cardinal in the Church comparable to how the current Pope was before his election - cautioned temperance and submission to the Cisalpine Republic they established. In his Christmas homily that year, he asserted that there was no opposition between a democratic form of government and being a good Catholic
“…Become out-and-out Christians and you will also be thorough-going democrats. Christian virtue makes men good democrats… Equality is not an idea of philosophers but of Christ…and do not believe that the Catholic religion is against democracy…The democratic form of government is not . . . repugnant to the Gospel. On the contrary it exacts all the sublime virtues which are learned only in the school of Jesus Christ…”
- Pope Pius VII, 1797 Christmas Sermon
One historian comments:
**"…These words, now commonplace, took vision and courage to utter in 1797 with the smell of blood still rank on French “democracy.”…" **
After the horrors of the French Revolution, which preached democracy but in actual fact used it as a pretext to launch violent revolution and anti-clerical persecution, and the subsequent loss of the Papal States, the Church started to retreat into itself in the mid-nineteenth century under the pontificate of Pope Gregory XVI and his successor Blessed Pius IX, and became distrustful of what democracy and equality - although great in theory - actually would mean in practice (ie it would be abused by an anti-clerical agenda).
Thankfully this distrust didn’t last long, for Blessed Pius IX’s successor Pope Leo XIII supported the idea of “Christian Democracy” as a viable and legitimate form of government in a Catholic state. He stated:
“It is not of itself wrong to prefer a democratic form of government if only the Catholic doctrine be maintained as to the origin and exercise of power…it is not forbidden to prefer temperate, popular forms of government, without prejudice, however, to Catholic teaching on the origin and use of authority…the Church does not disapprove of any of the various forms of government, provided they be per se capable of securing the good of the citizens”
It is a truly stunning reflection on the importance of democracy from a Catholic perspective, and how the true spirit of democracy can become corrupted. Pope Pius XII was a Blessed soul and an avid supporter of democracy. He deserves to become a saint.
Here’s an excerp (although I strongly advise that you read the entire message as it must be digested in its entirety to make real sense):
"…Moreover – and this is perhaps the most important point – beneath the sinister lightning of the war that encompasses them, in the blazing heat of the furnace that imprisons them, the peoples have, as it were, awakened from a long torpor. They have assumed, in relation to the state and those who govern, a new attitude – one that questions, criticizes, distrusts.
"…In his Christmas Message of 1944, for example, Pope Pius XII articulated a detailed endorsement of democracy…"
However some “Tradionalist”" Catholics exploit Pope Gregory and Pius IX’s views in the mid-nineteenth century without considering the Popes who supported democracy prior to this, and those who did after. Nor do they consider the fact that these two 19th century Popes were not opposed to democracy in principle, but how it might be “abused” and used by an anti-clerical agenda.
When the French Revolutionary Army invaded Italy in 1797, Pope Pius VII - then the top Cardinal in the Church comparable to how the current Pope was before his election - cautioned temperance and submission to the Cisalpine Republic they established. In his Christmas homily that year, he asserted that there was no opposition between a democratic form of government and being a good Catholic
“…Become out-and-out Christians and you will also be thorough-going democrats. Christian virtue makes men good democrats… Equality is not an idea of philosophers but of Christ…and do not believe that the Catholic religion is against democracy…The democratic form of government is not . . . repugnant to the Gospel. On the contrary it exacts all the sublime virtues which are learned only in the school of Jesus Christ…”
- Pope Pius VII, 1797 Christmas Sermon
One historian comments:
**"…These words, now commonplace, took vision and courage to utter in 1797 with the smell of blood still rank on French “democracy.”…" **
After the horrors of the French Revolution, which preached democracy but in actual fact used it as a pretext to launch violent revolution and anti-clerical persecution, and the subsequent loss of the Papal States, the Church started to retreat into itself in the mid-nineteenth century under the pontificate of Pope Gregory XVI and his successor Blessed Pius IX, and became distrustful of what democracy and equality - although great in theory - actually would mean in practice (ie it would be abused by an anti-clerical agenda).
Thankfully this distrust didn’t last long, for Blessed Pius IX’s successor Pope Leo XIII supported the idea of “Christian Democracy” as a viable and legitimate form of government in a Catholic state. He stated:
“It is not of itself wrong to prefer a democratic form of government if only the Catholic doctrine be maintained as to the origin and exercise of power…it is not forbidden to prefer temperate, popular forms of government, without prejudice, however, to Catholic teaching on the origin and use of authority…the Church does not disapprove of any of the various forms of government, provided they be per se capable of securing the good of the citizens”
- (Leo Thirteenth: Encyclical “Libertas,” June 20, 1888)
It is a truly stunning reflection on the importance of democracy from a Catholic perspective, and how the true spirit of democracy can become corrupted. Pope Pius XII was a Blessed soul and an avid supporter of democracy. He deserves to become a saint.
Here’s an excerp (although I strongly advise that you read the entire message as it must be digested in its entirety to make real sense):
"…Moreover – and this is perhaps the most important point – beneath the sinister lightning of the war that encompasses them, in the blazing heat of the furnace that imprisons them, the peoples have, as it were, awakened from a long torpor. They have assumed, in relation to the state and those who govern, a new attitude – one that questions, criticizes, distrusts.
- Taught by bitter experience, they are more aggressive in opposing the concentration of dictatorial power that cannot be censured or touched, and call for a system of government more in keeping with the dignity and liberty of the citizens. These multitudes, uneasy, stirred by the war to their innermost depths, are today firmly convinced – at first, perhaps, in a vague and confused way, but already unyieldingly – that had there been the possibility of censuring and correcting the actions of public authority, the world would not have been dragged into the vortex of a disastrous war, and that to avoid for the future the repetition of such a catastrophe, we must vest efficient guarantees in the people itself. In such a psychological atmosphere, is it to be wondered at if the tendency towards democracy is capturing the peoples and winning a large measure of consent and support from those who hope to play a more efficient part in the destinies of individuals and of society? …"
"…In his Christmas Message of 1944, for example, Pope Pius XII articulated a detailed endorsement of democracy…"
However some “Tradionalist”" Catholics exploit Pope Gregory and Pius IX’s views in the mid-nineteenth century without considering the Popes who supported democracy prior to this, and those who did after. Nor do they consider the fact that these two 19th century Popes were not opposed to democracy in principle, but how it might be “abused” and used by an anti-clerical agenda.