What is the Church's position on the Separation of Church and State?

[DallasTexas]

Sure, I’ll get you a nice little list. Give me a few.

Thank you Shin.

 

[Shin]

Thank you Shin.

Here’re some references:
Letter to Anastasius, Pope Gelasius I, 494 fordham.edu/halsall/source/gelasius1.html
Unam Sanctam, 18 November 1302, Pope Boniface VIII papalencyclicals.net/Bon08/B8unam.htm
Qui pluribus, November 9, 1846, Pope Bl. Pius IX ewtn.com/Library/ENCYC/P9QUIPLU.HTM
Syllabus of Errors, December 8, 1864, Pope Bl. Pius IX papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9syll.htm
Encyclical Immortale Dei, 1885, Pope Leo XIII vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_01111885_immortale-dei_en.html
Libertas, 1888, Pope Leo XIII vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_20061888_libertas_en.html
Annum sacrum, Pope Leo XIII ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/L13ANNUM.htm
Vehementer Nos, February 11, 1906, Pope St. Pius X vatican.va/holy_father/pius_x/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_11021906_vehementer-nos_en.html
Lamentabili Sane, July 3, 1907, Pope St. Pius X papalencyclicals.net/Pius10/p10lamen.htm
Quas Primas, December 11, 1925, Pius XI vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_11121925_quas-primas_en.html

These are some good archive pages as well.

If I may draw attention to a few excerpts from various sources:

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God’ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

There are two powers, august Emperor, by which this world is chiefly ruled, namely, the sacred authority of the priests and the royal power. Of these that of the priests is the more weighty, since they have to render an account for even the kings of men in the divine judgment. You are also aware, dear son, that while you are permitted honorably to rule over human kind, yet in things divine you bow your head humbly before the leaders of the clergy and await from their hands the means of your salvation. In the reception and proper disposition of the heavenly mysteries you recognize that you should be subordinate rather than superior to the religious order, and that in these matters you depend on their judgment rather than wish to force them to follow your will.

“And just as the end at which the Church aims is by far the most noble of the ends, so also is her authority the most exalted of all authority, and can in no way be looked upon as inferior to the civil power or in any way subject to it.”

Hence the Roman Pontiffs have never ceased, as circumstances required, refuting and condemning the doctrine of the separation of Church and State.

“…since God is the source of all goodness and justice, it is absolutely ridiculous that the State should pay no attention to the laws of God or render them abortive by contrary enactments. The State is not only obligated to protect the temporal and physical well-being of the people, it is obligated to protect their spiritual well-being as well.”

“There was once a time when States were governed by the philosophy of the Gospel. Then it was that the power and divine virtue of Christian wisdom had diffused itself throughout the laws, institutions, and morals of the people, permeating all ranks and relations of civil society. Then, too, the religion instituted by Jesus Christ, established firmly in befitting dignity, flourished everywhere, by the favor of princes and the legitimate protection of magistrates; and Church and State were happily united in concord and friendly interchange of good offices. The State, constituted in this wise, bore fruits important beyond all expectation, whose remembrance is still, and always will be, in renown, witnessed to as they are by countless proofs which can never be blotted out or ever obscured by any craft of any enemies."

 

[DallasTexas]

Here’re some references:
Letter to Anastasius, Pope Gelasius I, 494 fordham.edu/halsall/source/gelasius1.html
Unam Sanctam, 18 November 1302, Pope Boniface VIII papalencyclicals.net/Bon08/B8unam.htm
Qui pluribus, November 9, 1846, Pope Bl. Pius IX ewtn.com/Library/ENCYC/P9QUIPLU.HTM
Syllabus of Errors, December 8, 1864, Pope Bl. Pius IX papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9syll.htm
Encyclical Immortale Dei, 1885, Pope Leo XIII vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_01111885_immortale-dei_en.html
Libertas, 1888, Pope Leo XIII vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_20061888_libertas_en.html
Annum sacrum, Pope Leo XIII ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/L13ANNUM.htm
Vehementer Nos, February 11, 1906, Pope St. Pius X vatican.va/holy_father/pius_x/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_11021906_vehementer-nos_en.html
Lamentabili Sane, July 3, 1907, Pope St. Pius X papalencyclicals.net/Pius10/p10lamen.htm
Quas Primas, December 11, 1925, Pius XI vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_11121925_quas-primas_en.html

These are some good archive pages as well.

If I may draw attention to a few excerpts from various sources:

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God’ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

There are two powers, august Emperor, by which this world is chiefly ruled, namely, the sacred authority of the priests and the royal power. Of these that of the priests is the more weighty, since they have to render an account for even the kings of men in the divine judgment. You are also aware, dear son, that while you are permitted honorably to rule over human kind, yet in things divine you bow your head humbly before the leaders of the clergy and await from their hands the means of your salvation. In the reception and proper disposition of the heavenly mysteries you recognize that you should be subordinate rather than superior to the religious order, and that in these matters you depend on their judgment rather than wish to force them to follow your will.

“And just as the end at which the Church aims is by far the most noble of the ends, so also is her authority the most exalted of all authority, and can in no way be looked upon as inferior to the civil power or in any way subject to it.”

Hence the Roman Pontiffs have never ceased, as circumstances required, refuting and condemning the doctrine of the separation of Church and State.

“…since God is the source of all goodness and justice, it is absolutely ridiculous that the State should pay no attention to the laws of God or render them abortive by contrary enactments. The State is not only obligated to protect the temporal and physical well-being of the people, it is obligated to protect their spiritual well-being as well.”

“There was once a time when States were governed by the philosophy of the Gospel. Then it was that the power and divine virtue of Christian wisdom had diffused itself throughout the laws, institutions, and morals of the people, permeating all ranks and relations of civil society. Then, too, the religion instituted by Jesus Christ, established firmly in befitting dignity, flourished everywhere, by the favor of princes and the legitimate protection of magistrates; and Church and State were happily united in concord and friendly interchange of good offices. The State, constituted in this wise, bore fruits important beyond all expectation, whose remembrance is still, and always will be, in renown, witnessed to as they are by countless proofs which can never be blotted out or ever obscured by any craft of any enemies."

Thank you Shin for the information.