Folio 597

Pius XI, 1922-1939

printed p. 565 · pdf p. 597

PIUS XI 1922-1939

The Relation Between Church and State1

[From the Encyclical, "Ubi arcano," December 23, 1922]

2190. But if the Church thinks it unlawful to mingle in these worldly affairs, concerned in the mere controlling of politics, without reason, yet by her own right she strives that civil power invent no cause for obstructing in any way those higher blessings in which man's eternal salvation is contained, or for threatening harm or destruction by unjust laws and orders; or for undermining the divine constitution of the Church; or, finally, of trampling upon the sacred laws of God in the civil community of men.

The Law and Method of Following the Doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas2

[From the Encyclical, "Studiorum Ducem," June 29, 1923]

2191. We desire very much that those especially who hold the magisteria of the higher disciplines in the schools of the clergy note carefully and observe inviolably all the precepts which both Our predecessors, and first of all Leo XIII3 and Pius X,4 have decreed and We ourselves have ordered last year.5 Moreover, let them be convinced that they will then satisfy the demands of their office and will likewise fulfill Our expectation, if, when they begin truly to love the Doctor Aquinas, by a long and intensive study of his works, and by interpreting the Doctor himself, they communicate the warmth of this love to the students under their instruction, and render them capable of exciting a similar zeal in others.

2192. Naturally among lovers of St. Thomas, such as all the sons of the Church who are concerned with the highest studies should be, We desire that there exist that honorable rivalry with just freedom from which studies make progress, but no detraction which is not favorable to truth and which serves only to break the bonds of charity. Therefore, let whatever is prescribed6 in the Code of Canon Law be sacred to each one of them, that "the professors may carry on the study of rational7 philosophy

  1. AAS 14 (1922), 698. ↩

  2. AAS 15 (1923), 323 f. ↩

  3. Litt. Encyclical, "Aeterni Patris," August 4, 1879 [AAS 12 (1879), 97 ff.]. ↩

  4. Motu proprio, "Doctoris Angelici," June 29, 1914 [AAS 6 (1914), 336 ff.]. ↩

  5. Encyclical, "Officiorum omnium," August 1, 1922 [AAS 14 (1922), 449 ff.]. ↩

  6. Can. 1366, Sec. 2. ↩

  7. The 24 theses [AAS 6 (1914), 383 ff.] to be proposed are referred to here as "the ↩