The Popes and Democracy - PART II. Specific Concepts 19. The Separation of Church and State

The separation of Church and State is iniquitous and disastrous. It is a step backwards which can only have the direst consequences on the future of civilisation. The State must draw its strength from the Church. A State separated from the Church is like a man separated from God. "The State cannot be built unless the Church lays the foundations and supervises the work ... You cannot build a society without God." (St. Pius X "Our Apostolic Mandate") As early as in the 18th century, Pius VI, in "Caritas Quae", spoke of - "the fury of those called the Tiers Etat ... (the authors) of that baleful constitution separated and cut off from the Catholic Religion." In "Quanta Cura", Pius IX spoke of "the false and perverse opinions (which wanted) to abolish that mutual co-operation and agreement of counsels between the Priesthood and Governments." In "Ad Apostolicae" he said that it was an error to believe that: "In the case of conflicting laws the civil law should prevail (over that of the Church)." And in "Acerbissimum", he explicitly condemned the opinion that: "the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church." Today, however, many "liberal" or "progressive" Catholics hold such views, seemingly unaware that when the civil law prevails, the divine law is more and more encroached upon by an inevitable, irresistible and gradual process. Basic human liberties are then lost in the name of "freedom". Let us not forget that Communists, too, speak of "freedom". When they believe that they are free from religious superstition, they are not necessarily less in earnest than the modern Democrat of the West who is convinced that it is a great blessing to be free from the "interference of the Church" in all domains of life, and in education in particular. The state of the world today is conclusive proof that the Popes were right. No lasting improvement will ever be secured in national and international affairs unless Church and State are united again. Vatican II in "Gaudium et Spes", does not contradict this, but what it says does not possess the clarity of the above, and lends itself to false interpretations. It stresses the juridical autonomy of Church and State (which is not denied in the above excerpts), and it ignores the moral obligation of the State to follow the Church's teachings (which is emphasised above). Vatican II does speak of "co-operation between Church and State", but apparently on an equal footing, as if the Church has as much to learn from the State in order to run her affairs, as the State has to learn from her in order to run its own affairs. This is a far cry from the "supervision" advocated by St. Pius X. In many ways, the process of "supervision" has been reversed. Take education; at first all schools were run by the Church - which was quite proper since Truth comes from God and cannot be divorced from the Word of God. But the victory of Masonic and liberal ideas in general, the rise of agnostics and atheists to power, produced a new situation: the State set up its own system of education. Today, the State supervises Catholic Education! This, of course, is intolerable; and there is no doubt that it would not have succeeded at all if the Catholic Hierarchy had simply refused to comply with the Law. Indeed, no government can afford to lose the Catholic vote, and if a particular government were foolish enough to do so for the sake of its sectarian principles the opposition would immediately grasp the opportunity and profess a contrary policy. In time, both parties would recognise the right of the Church to be completely independent, for party platforms do change from generation to generation - and even from decade to decade.