The Popes and Democracy - Part V. the Attitude of Catholics in a World of Errors 43. What the Popes Think

Being divinely inspired, the Popes cannot reject the sociopolitical concepts which built Christendom and made it radiate throughout the world in seventeen centuries of history. If, however, a Pope should do so, one would have to infer that he is a heretic. There have been heretical Popes in the long history of the Church, and it is virtually certain that history will repeat itself in the Latter Days (i.e. the Great Apostasy predicted by Our Lord). But, endowed with the priceless heritage of Christian tradition, Popes as a whole have consistently condemned modern errors. These errors have led the whole world to the brink of disaster. Fully aware of the danger, the Popes have made their position clear. "There is no need to break away from the past ... It is sufficient to restore the institutions that were broken up by the Revolution and to adapt them to the new environment resulting from the material development of society ... the true friends of the people are not innovators but traditionalists ..." (St. Pius X, "Our Apostolic Mandate") "Thus, they say, Democracy is to usher in the reign of complete justice! Is that not an insult to other forms of government, reducing them in this way to the level of ineffective makeshifts? ... Now then! ... your Catholic youth is told ... that the great Bishops and the great Kings ... were unable to give their peoples either real justice or true happiness! ... The spirit of the revolution is obviously there, and We can only conclude that the social doctrines of the Sillon are false; its spirit is dangerous, and its teaching deadly." (St. Pius X, ibid.)