MIRARI VOS
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE GREGORY XVI
ON LIBERALISM AND RELIGIOUS INDIFFERENTISM
AUGUST 15, 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 win now 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 August 15, the feast of the Assumption
of the Virgin, in the year of Our Lord 1832, the second year of Our
Pontificate.
ENDNOTES
Note 1.
Lk 22.32. Return to text
Note 2.
I Cor 4.21.Return to text
Note 3.
Lk 22.53.Return to text
Note 4.
Is 24.5.Return to text
Note 5.
St. Celestine, Pope, epistle 21 to Bishop Galliar.Return to text
Note 6.
St. Agatho, Pope, epistle to the emperor, apud Labb., ed. Mansi, vol. 2, p. 235.Return to text
Note 7.
St. Innocent, epistle 11 apud Constat.Return to text
Note 8.
St. Cyprian, de unitate eccles.Return to text
Note 9.
Council of Florence, session 25, in definit. apud Labb., ed. Venet., vol. 18, col. 527. Return to text
Note 10.
St. Jerome, epistle 2 to Nepot. a. 1, 24.Return to text
Note 11.
From canon ap. 38 apud Labb., ed Mansi, vol. 1, p. 38.Return to text
Note 12.
Council of Trent, session 13 on the Eucharist, prooemium .Return to text
Note 13.
St. Cyprian, epistle 52, ed. Baluz.Return to text
Note 14.
St. Gelasius, Pope, in epistle to the bishop of Lucaniae.Return to text
Note 15.
Heb 13.4.Return to text
Note 16.
Eph 4.5.Return to text
Note 17.
Lk 11.23.Return to text
Note 18.
Symbol .s. Athanasius.Return to text
Note 19.
St. Jerome, epistle 57.Return to text
Note 20.
St. Augustine, in psalm. contra part. Donat.Return to text
Note 21.
St. Augustine, epistle 166.Return to text
Note 22.
Ap 9.3.Return to text
Note 23.
Acts 19.Return to text
Note 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.Return to text
Note 25.
Council of Trent, sessions 18 and 25.Return to text
Note 26.
Letter of Clement XIII, Christianae, 25 November 1766.Return to text
Note 27.
Rom 13.2.Return to text
Note 28.
St. Augustine in psalt. 124, n. 7.Return to text
Note 29.
St. Euchenius apud Ruinart. Acts of the Holy Martyrs concerning Saint
Maurius and his companions, n. 4.Return to text
Note 30.
Tertullian, in apologet., chap. 37.Return to text
Note 31.
Wis 7.15.Return to text
Note 32.
St. Irenaeus, bk. 14, chap. 10.Return to text
Note 33.
St. Bernard, serm de nat. b.M.v., sect. 7.Return to text