MIRARI VOS
(On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism)
Pope Gregory XVI
Encyclical of Pope Gregory XVI promulgated on 15 August 1832.
To All Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the
Catholic World.
Venerable Brothers, Greetings and Apostolic Benediction.
We think that you wonder why, from the time of Our assuming the
pontificate, We have not yet sent a letter to you as is customary
and as Our benevolence for you demanded. We wanted very much to
address you by that voice by which We have been commanded, in the
person of blessed Peter, to strengthen the brethren.1 You know what
storms of evil and toil, at the beginning of Our pontificate, drove
Us suddenly into the depths of the sea. If the right hand of God had
not given Us strength, We would have drowned as the result of the
terrible conspiracy of impious men. The mind recoils from renewing
this by enumerating so many dangers; instead We bless the Father of
consolation Who, having overthrown all enemies, snatched Us from the
present danger. When He had calmed this violent storm, He gave Us
relief from fear. At once We decided to advise you on healing the
wounds of Israel; but the mountain of concerns We needed to address
in order to restore public order delayed Us.
2. In the meantime We were again delayed because of the insolent
and factious men who endeavored to raise the standard of treason.
Eventually, We had to use Our God-given authority to restrain the
great obstinacy of these men with the rod.2 Before We did, their
unbridled rage seemed to grow from continued impunity and Our
considerable indulgence. For these reasons Our duties have been
heavy.
3. But when We had assumed Our pontificate according to the
custom and institution of Our predecessors and when all delays had
been laid aside, We hastened to you. So We now present the letter
and testimony of Our good will toward you on this happy day, the
feast of the Assumption of the Virgin. Since she has been Our patron
and savior amid so many great calamities, We ask her assistance in
writing to you and her counsels for the flock of Christ.
4. We come to you grieving and sorrowful because We know that you
are concerned for the faith in these difficult times. Now is truly
the time in which the powers of darkness winnow the elect like
wheat.3 "The earth mourns and fades away....And the earth is
infected by the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed
the laws, they have changed the ordinances, they have broken the
everlasting covenant."4
5. We speak of the things which you see with your own eyes, which
We both bemoan. Depravity exults; science is impudent; liberty,
dissolute. The holiness of the sacred is despised; the majesty of
divine worship is not only disapproved by evil men, but defiled and
held up to ridicule. Hence sound doctrine is perverted and errors of
all kinds spread boldly. The laws of the sacred, the rights,
institutions, and discipline--none are safe from the audacity of
those speaking evil. Our Roman See is harassed violently and the
bonds of unity are daily loosened and severed. The divine authority
of the Church is opposed and her rights shorn off. She is subjected
to human reason and with the greatest injustice exposed to the
hatred of the people and reduced to vile servitude. The obedience
due bishops is denied and their rights are trampled underfoot.
Furthermore, academies and schools resound with new, monstrous
opinions, which openly attack the Catholic faith; this horrible and
nefarious war is openly and even publicly waged. Thus, by
institutions and by the example of teachers, the minds of the youth
are corrupted and a tremendous blow is dealt to religion and the
perversion of morals is spread. So the restraints of religion are
thrown off, by which alone kingdoms stand. We see the destruction of
public order, the fall of principalities, and the overturning of all
legitimate power approaching. Indeed this great mass of calamities
had its inception in the heretical societies and sects in which all
that is sacrilegious, infamous, and blasphemous has gathered as
bilge water in a ship's hold, a congealed mass of all filth.
6. These and many other serious things, which at present would
take too long to list, but which you know well, cause Our intense
grief. It is not enough for Us to deplore these innumerable evils
unless We strive to uproot them. We take refuge in your faith and
call upon your concern for the salvation of the Catholic flock. Your
singular prudence and diligent spirit give Us courage and console
Us, afflicted as We are with so many trials. We must raise Our voice
and attempt all things lest a wild boar from the woods should
destroy the vineyard or wolves kill the flock. It is Our duty to
lead the flock only to the food which is healthful. In these evil
and dangerous times, the shepherds must never neglect their duty;
they must never be so overcome by fear that they abandon the sheep.
Let them never neglect the flock and become sluggish from idleness
and apathy. Therefore, united in spirit, let us promote our common
cause, or more truly the cause of God; let our vigilance be one and
our effort united against the common enemies.
7. Indeed you will accomplish this perfectly if, as the duty of
your office demands, you attend to yourselves and to doctrine and
meditate on these words: "the universal Church is affected by
any and every novelty"5 and the admonition of Pope Agatho:
"nothing of the things appointed ought to be diminished;
nothing changed; nothing added; but they must be preserved both as
regards expression and meaning."6 Therefore may the unity which
is built upon the See of Peter as on a sure foundation stand firm.
May it be for all a wall and a security, a safe port, and a treasury
of countless blessings.7 To check the audacity of those who attempt
to infringe upon the rights of this Holy See or to sever the union
of the churches with the See of Peter, instill in your people a
zealous confidence in the papacy and sincere veneration for it. As
St. Cyprian wrote: "He who abandons the See of Peter on which
the Church was founded, falsely believes himself to be a part of the
Church."8
8. In this you must labor and diligently take care that the faith
may be preserved amidst this great conspiracy of impious men who
attempt to tear it down and destroy it. May all remember the
judgment concerning sound doctrine with which the people are to be
instructed. Remember also that the government and administration of
the whole Church rests with the Roman Pontiff to whom, in the words
of the Fathers of the Council of Florence, "the full power of
nourishing, ruling, and governing the universal Church was given by
Christ the Lord."9 It is the duty of individual bishops to
cling to the See of Peter faithfully, to guard the faith piously and
religiously, and to feed their flock. It behooves priests to be
subject to the bishops, whom "they are to look upon as the
parents of their souls," as Jerome admonishes.10 Nor may the
priests ever forget that they are forbidden by ancient canons to
undertake ministry and to assume the tasks of teaching and preaching
"without the permission of their bishop to whom the people have
been entrusted; an accounting for the souls of the people will be
demanded from the bishop."11 Finally let them understand that
all those who struggle against this established order disturb the
position of the Church.
9. Furthermore, the discipline sanctioned by the Church must
never be rejected or be branded as contrary to certain principles of
natural law. It must never be called crippled, or imperfect or
subject to civil authority. In this discipline the administration of
sacred rites, standards of morality, and the reckoning of the rights
of the Church and her ministers are embraced.
10. To use the words of the fathers of Trent, it is certain that
the Church "was instructed by Jesus Christ and His Apostles and
that all truth was daily taught it by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit."12 Therefore, it is obviously absurd and injurious to
propose a certain "restoration and regeneration" for her
as though necessary for her safety and growth, as if she could be
considered subject to defect or obscuration or other misfortune.
Indeed these authors of novelties consider that a "foundation
may be laid of a new human institution," and what Cyprian
detested may come to pass, that what was a divine thing "may
become a human church."13 Let those who devise such plans be
aware that, according to the testimony of St. Leo, "the right
to grant dispensation from the canons is given" only to the
Roman Pontiff. He alone, and no private person, can decide anything
"about the rules of the Church Fathers." As St. Gelasius
writes: "It is the papal responsibility to keep the canonical
decrees in their place and to evaluate the precepts of previous
popes so that when the times demand relaxation in order to
rejuvenate the churches, they may be adjusted after diligent
consideration."14
11. Now, however, We want you to rally to combat the abominable
conspiracy against clerical celibacy. This conspiracy spreads daily
and is promoted by profligate philosophers, some even from the
clerical order. They have forgotten their person and office, and
have been carried away by the enticements of pleasure. They have
even dared to make repeated public demands to the princes for the
abolition of that most holy discipline. But it is disgusting to
dwell on these evil attempts at length. Rather, We ask that you
strive with all your might to justify and to defend the law of
clerical celibacy as prescribed by the sacred canons, against which
the arrows of the lascivious are directed from every side.
12. Now the honorable marriage of Christians, which Paul calls
"a great sacrament in Christ and the Church,"15 demands
our shared concern lest anything contrary to its sanctity and
indissolubility is proposed. Our predecessor Pius VIII would
recommend to you his own letters on the subject. However,
troublesome efforts against this sacrament still continue to be
made. The people therefore must be zealously taught that a marriage
rightly entered upon cannot be dissolved; for those joined in
matrimony God has ordained a perpetual companionship for life and a
knot of necessity which cannot be loosed except by death. Recalling
that matrimony is a sacrament and therefore subject to the Church,
let them consider and observe the laws of the Church concerning it.
Let them take care lest for any reason they permit that which is an
obstruction to the teachings of the canons and the decrees of the
councils. They should be aware that those marriages will have an
unhappy end which are entered upon contrary to the discipline of the
Church or without God's favor or because of concupiscence alone,
with no thought of the sacrament and of the mysteries signified by
it.
13. Now We consider another abundant source of the evils with
which the Church is afflicted at present: indifferentism. This
perverse opinion is spread on all sides by the fraud of the wicked
who claim that it is possible to obtain the eternal salvation of the
soul by the profession of any kind of religion, as long as morality
is maintained. Surely, in so clear a matter, you will drive this
deadly error far from the people committed to your care. With the
admonition of the apostle that "there is one God, one faith,
one baptism"16 may those fear who contrive the notion that the
safe harbor of salvation is open to persons of any religion
whatever. They should consider the testimony of Christ Himself that
"those who are not with Christ are against Him,"17 and
that they disperse unhappily who do not gather with Him. Therefore
"without a doubt, they will perish forever, unless they hold
the Catholic faith whole and inviolate."18 Let them hear Jerome
who, while the Church was torn into three parts by schism, tells us
that whenever someone tried to persuade him to join his group he
always exclaimed: "He who is for the See of Peter is for
me."19 A schismatic flatters himself falsely if he asserts that
he, too, has been washed in the waters of regeneration. Indeed
Augustine would reply to such a man: "The branch has the same
form when it has been cut off from the vine; but of what profit for
it is the form, if it does not live from the root?"20
14. This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that
absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of
conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in
sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and over again
with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion
from it. "But the death of the soul is worse than freedom of
error," as Augustine was wont to say.21 When all restraints are
removed by which men are kept on the narrow path of truth, their
nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to ruin.
Then truly "the bottomless pit"22 is open from which John
saw smoke ascending which obscured the sun, and out of which locusts
flew forth to devastate the earth. Thence comes transformation of
minds, corruption of youths, contempt of sacred things and holy
laws--in other words, a pestilence more deadly to the state than any
other. Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities
renowned for wealth, dominion, and glory perished as a result of
this single evil, namely immoderate freedom of opinion, license of
free speech, and desire for novelty.
15. Here We must include that harmful and never sufficiently
denounced freedom to publish any writings whatever and disseminate
them to the people, which some dare to demand and promote with so
great a clamor. We are horrified to see what monstrous doctrines and
prodigious errors are disseminated far and wide in countless books,
pamphlets, and other writings which, though small in weight, are
very great in malice. We are in tears at the abuse which proceeds
from them over the face of the earth. Some are so carried away that
they contentiously assert that the flock of errors arising from them
is sufficiently compensated by the publication of some book which
defends religion and truth. Every law condemns deliberately doing
evil simply because there is some hope that good may result. Is
there any sane man who would say poison ought to be distributed,
sold publicly, stored, and even drunk because some antidote is
available and those who use it may be snatched from death again and
again?
16. The Church has always taken action to destroy the plague of
bad books. This was true even in apostolic times for we read that
the apostles themselves burned a large number of books.23 It may be
enough to consult the laws of the fifth Council of the Lateran on
this matter and the Constitution which Leo X published afterwards
lest "that which has been discovered advantageous for the
increase of the faith and the spread of useful arts be converted to
the contrary use and work harm for the salvation of the
faithful."24 This also was of great concern to the fathers of
Trent, who applied a remedy against this great evil by publishing
that wholesome decree concerning the Index of books which contain
false doctrine.25 "We must fight valiantly," Clement XIII
says in an encyclical letter about the banning of bad books,
"as much as the matter itself demands and must exterminate the
deadly poison of so many books; for never will the material for
error be withdrawn, unless the criminal sources of depravity perish
in flames."26 Thus it is evident that this Holy See has always
striven, throughout the ages, to condemn and to remove suspect and
harmful books. The teaching of those who reject the censure of books
as too heavy and onerous a burden causes immense harm to the
Catholic people and to this See. They are even so depraved as to
affirm that it is contrary to the principles of law, and they deny
the Church the right to decree and to maintain it.
17. We have learned that certain teachings are being spread among
the common people in writings which attack the trust and submission
due to princes; the torches of treason are being lit everywhere.
Care must be taken lest the people, being deceived, are led away
from the straight path. May all recall, according to the admonition
of the apostle that "there is no authority except from God;
what authority there is has been appointed by God. Therefore he who
resists authority resists the ordinances of God; and those who
resist bring on themselves condemnation."27 Therefore both
divine and human laws cry out against those who strive by treason
and sedition to drive the people from confidence in their princes
and force them from their government.
18. And it is for this reason that the early Christians, lest
they should be stained by such great infamy deserved well of the
emperors and of the safety of the state even while persecution
raged. This they proved splendidly by their fidelity in performing
perfectly and promptly whatever they were commanded which was not
opposed to their religion, and even more by their constancy and the
shedding of their blood in battle. "Christian soldiers,"
says St. Augustine, "served an infidel emperor. When the issue
of Christ was raised, they acknowledged no one but the One who is in
heaven. They distinguished the eternal Lord from the temporal lord,
but were also subject to the temporal lord for the sake of the
eternal Lord."28 St. Mauritius, the unconquered martyr and
leader of the Theban legion had this in mind when, as St. Eucharius
reports, he answered the emperor in these words: "We are your
soldiers, Emperor, but also servants of God, and this we confess
freely . . . and now this final necessity of life has not driven us
into rebellion: I see, we are armed and we do not resist, because we
wish rather to die than to be killed."29 Indeed the faith of
the early Christians shines more brightly, if with Tertullian we
consider that since the Christians were not lacking in numbers and
in troops, they could have acted as foreign enemies. "We are
but of yesterday," he says, "yet we have filled all your
cities, islands, fortresses, municipalities, assembly places, the
camps themselves, the tribes, the divisions, the palace, the senate,
the forum....For what war should we not have been fit and ready even
if unequal in forces--we who are so glad to be cut to pieces--were
it not, of course, that in our doctrine we would have been permitted
more to be killed rather than to kill?...If so great a multitude of
people should have deserted to some remote spot on earth, it would
surely have covered your domination with shame because of the loss
of so many citizens, and it would even have punished you by this
very desertion. Without a doubt you would have been terrified at
your solitude.... You would have sought whom you might rule; more
enemies than citizens would have remained for you. Now however you
have fewer enemies because of the multitude of Christians."30
19. These beautiful examples of the unchanging subjection to the
princes necessarily proceeded from the most holy precepts of the
Christian religion. They condemn the detestable insolence and
improbity of those who, consumed with the unbridled lust for
freedom, are entirely devoted to impairing and destroying all rights
of dominion while bringing servitude to the people under the slogan
of liberty. Here surely belong the infamous and wild plans of the
Waldensians, the Beghards, the Wycliffites, and other such sons of
Belial, who were the sores and disgrace of the human race; they
often received a richly deserved anathema from the Holy See. For no
other reason do experienced deceivers devote their efforts, except
so that they, along with Luther, might joyfully deem themselves
"free of all." To attain this end more easily and quickly,
they undertake with audacity any infamous plan whatever.
20. Nor can We predict happier times for religion and government
from the plans of those who desire vehemently to separate the Church
from the state, and to break the mutual concord between temporal
authority and the priesthood. It is certain that that concord which
always was favorable and beneficial for the sacred and the civil
order is feared by the shameless lovers of liberty.
21. But for the other painful causes We are concerned about, you
should recall that certain societies and assemblages seem to draw up
a battle line together with the followers of every false religion
and cult. They feign piety for religion; but they are driven by a
passion for promoting novelties and sedition everywhere. They preach
liberty of every sort; they stir up disturbances in sacred and civil
affairs, and pluck authority to pieces.
22. We write these things to you with grieving mind but trusting
in Him who commands the winds and makes them still. Take up the
shield of faith and fight the battles of the Lord vigorously. You
especially must stand as a wall against every height which raises
itself against the knowledge of God. Unsheath the sword of the
spirit, which is the word of God, and may those who hunger after
justice receive bread from you. Having been called so that you might
be diligent cultivators in the vineyard of the Lord, do this one
thing, and labor in it together, so that every root of bitterness
may be removed from your field, all seeds of vice destroyed, and a
happy crop of virtues may take root and grow. The first to be
embraced with paternal affection are those who apply themselves to
the sacred sciences and to philosophical studies. For them may you
be exhorter and supporter, lest trusting only in their own talents
and strength, they may imprudently wander away from the path of
truth onto the road of the impious. Let them remember that God is
the guide to wisdom and the director of the wise.31 It is impossible
to know God without God who teaches men to know Himself by His word.32 It is the proud, or rather
foolish, men who examine the
mysteries of faith which surpass all understanding with the
faculties of the human mind, and rely on human reason which by the
condition of man's nature, is weak and infirm.
23. May Our dear sons in Christ, the princes, support these Our
desires for the welfare of Church and State with their resources and
authority. May they understand that they received their authority
not only for the government of the world, but especially for the
defense of the Church. They should diligently consider that whatever
work they do for the welfare of the Church accrues to their rule and
peace. Indeed let them persuade themselves that they owe more to the
cause of the faith than to their kingdom. Let them consider it
something very great for themselves as We say with Pope St. Leo,
"if in addition to their royal diadem the crown of faith may be
added." Placed as if they were parents and teachers of the
people, they will bring them true peace and tranquility, if they
take special care that religion and piety remain safe. God, after
all, calls Himself "King of kings and Lord of lords."
24. That all of this may come to pass prosperously and happily,
let Us raise Our eyes and hands to the most holy Virgin Mary, who
alone crushes all heresies, and is Our greatest reliance and the
whole reason for Our hope.33 May she implore by her patronage a
successful outcome for Our plans and actions. Let Us humbly ask of
the Prince of the Apostles, Peter and his co-apostle Paul that all
of you may stand as a wall lest a foundation be laid other than that
which has already been laid. Relying on this happy hope, We trust
that the Author and Crown of Our faith Jesus Christ will console Us
in all these Our tribulations. We lovingly impart the apostolic
benediction to you, venerable brothers, and to the sheep committed
to your care as a sign of heavenly aid.
Given in Rome at St. Mary Major, on 15 August, the feast of the
Assumption of the Virgin, in the year of Our Lord 1832, the second
year of Our Pontificate.
ENDNOTES
1. Lk 22:32.
2. 1 Cor 4:21.
3. Lk 22:53.
4. Is 24:5.
5. St. Celestine, Pope, epistle 21 to Bishop Galliar.
6. St. Agatho, Pope, epistle to the emperor, apud Labb., ed.
Mansi, vol. 2, p. 235.
7. St. Innocent, epistle 11 apud Constat.
8. St. Cyprian, de unitate eccles.
9. Council of Florence, session 25, in definit. apud Labb., ed.
Venet., vol. 18, col. 527.
10. St. Jerome, epistle 2 to Nepot. a. 1, 24.
11. From canon ap. 38 apud Labb., ed Mansi, vol. 1, p. 38.
12. Council of Trent, session 13 on the Eucharist, prooemium .
13. St. Cyprian, epistle 52, ed. Baluz.
14. St. Gelasius, Pope, in epistle to the bishop of Lucaniae.
15. Heb 13:4.
16. Eph 4:5.
17. Lk 11:23.
18. Symbol .s. Athanasius.
19. St. Jerome, epistle 57.
20. St. Augustine, in psalm. contra part. Donat.
21. St. Augustine, epistle 166.
22. Ap 9:3.
23. Acts 19.
24. Acts of the Lateran Council 5, session 10, where the
constitution of Leo X is mentioned; the earlier constitution of
Alexander VI, Inter multiplices, ought to be read, in which there
are many things on this point.
25. Council of Trent, sessions 18 and 25.
26. Letter of Clement XIII, Christianae, 25 November 1766.
27. Rom 13:2.
28. St. Augustine in psalt. 124, n. 7.
29. St. Euchenius apud Ruinart. Acts of the Holy Martyrs
concerning Saint Maurius and his companions, n. 4.
30. Tertullian, in apologet., chap. 37.
31. Wis 7:15.
32. St. Irenaeus, bk. 14, chap. 10.
33. St. Bernard, serm de nat. b.M.v., sect. 7.