Saint Pius X: Principles of Political Action
M. Thierry Martin
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From the first days of his pontificate, Pius X qualified as a "religious" pope in the strict sense of the word. Certain members of the Curia even protested that a little parish priest from Mantua, rather limited in his culture and his knowledge of the world, had been placed on the Chair of St. Peter. Undoubtedly aware of such rude comments–which continue even a century later–St. Pius X alluded to them in his first consistorial allocution: "We do not hide the fact that we will shock certain persons in saying that we will concern ourselves with politics."1 The Pope, however, immediately made it clear on what grounds he intended to step into this domain: "The Sovereign Pontiff, invested by God with the supreme magisterium, does not have the right to tear political affairs away from the realm of faith and morals."2 In reality, St. Pius X is all the more political because he defends the Faith in its integrality.
After having indicated the two fundamental principles of Catholic politics according to St. Pius X, we will describe in detail his program of Catholic restoration, both a shield against errors and a sword for the truth. Finally, we will explain the method he recommends for the creation of the Catholic City.
The Principles
A) The first founding principle for the "political" action of St. Pius X, more topical than ever now, is the refusal of the legal apostasy of contemporary societies. The intent of the politics of nations at the time of St. Pius X, not only in France but also in Portugal, Spain, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Mexico, was already to sever the ties between man and the Author of all things by means of civil legislation; to distance the government of men ever farther from the principles of the Faith and of Catholic morality; and to oppose Caesar to God in order ultimately to replace God with Caesar. Well before he became pope, the bishop of Mantua had already denounced "this supreme outrage of our time"3 in a pastoral letter:
God is chased from politics by the theory of the separation of Church and State; He is chased from science by systematic doubt; from art, debased even to verism [i.e., the theory that the ugly and the vulgar have their place on the grounds of truth and aesthetic value–Ed.]; from laws characterized by a morality of flesh and blood; from the school, with the abolition of the catechism; and even from the family, which certain would like to see desecrated in its roots and deprived of the grace of the Sacrament. God is chased from the huts of the poor..., from the houses of the rich..., disdained by the powerful....No other society has more resolutely addressed this word to God: Recede a nobis4 (Job 21:14).
This "separation" remains in 2003 the alpha and the omega of politics. "No to a moral law that would take precedence over civil law," declared the president of the French Republic in 1995, a declaration since reiterated. Is it not pathetic to see Pope John Paul II recently implore the drafter of a "European constitution" to mention the "Christian values" of Europe when, in the aftermath of Vatican II, conciliar Rome sought to obtain the secularization of those states whose institutions expressly mentioned the True God? The response to the papal request was dryly delivered by the current president of the European council: "Europe is not a Christian club,"5 thus permitting Moslem Turkey to become part of Europe.
B) The second founding principle of the political action of St. Pius X is the refusal of Rousseau's myth concerning "the natural goodness of man." It is not by chance that the condemnation of this heresy is included in the encyclical published on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception: "What is the starting point, in reality, of the enemies of religion who spread so many errors? They begin by denying the primitive fall of man and his disgrace."6 That is the profound source of the separation between St. Pius X and all those who have attempted various efforts of civil restoration. There is no truly coherent political program and no long term social restoration if one does not admit that man is a sinner and that only the price of the Blood of Calvary, renewed in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, can permit him to advance on the road of the Good. Then, and only then, will the social order, reinforced by the legitimate powers of the public authority, be well founded. Bernard Fay, in his Louis XVI ou la fin d'un monde [Louis XVI, or The End of an Age], explains that the Minister of Justice7 could report to the King in 1776 that no murder had taken place in Paris in the four years previous. Paris at that time numbered nearly 500 parishes and fewer than 1,000 policemen. In 2003, the French capital numbers 30,000 policemen; 300,000 crimes are committed every year; and the hundred churches of the diocese are nearly empty (except one–St. Nicolas!). It is, therefore, with good reason that St. Pius X insists on the "union of religion and the fatherland," an expression that he uses frequently, a union that for him represents the basis of a "Christian civilization." It is this union that alone permits "that harmony which, spreading from each person to human society, confirms the well-being of all of society, and includes a double element: civil and religious."8
The Program
On these two solid foundations–the necessary cooperation between Church and State for the good of man, who is made up of a body and a soul, and the public recognition of the Redeemer by governing bodies–we can outline the political program that St. Pius X passed down to Catholics of the 21st century. It comprises two essential themes: the rejection of errors–which is the shield against heresy–and the affirmation of truths–which is the sword of eternal Truth.
A) St. Pius X names the errors or heresies to be held in check: "an unhealthy Utopia, revolt, and impiety."9 The unhealthy Utopia is undeniably socialism, or the various forms of socialism, the latest to date being globalization, which St. Pius X had already denounced: that universal socialism which is the abasement of customs and conditions and the suppression of all obstacles to the supremacy of money, forged by that "dark alliance" of plutocrats (the expression is from Leo XIII) and revolutionary sects against the natural, Christian social order in the world. Here is what St. Pius X writes about it:
| "God is chased from politics by the theory of the separation of Church and State; He is chased from science by systematic doubt; from art, debased even to verism; from laws characterized by a morality of flesh and blood; from the school, with the abolition of the catechism; and even from the family, which certain would like to see desecrated in its roots and deprived of the grace of the Sacrament...." |
St. Pius X's shroud and death-bed crucifix. |
For the members of the Sillon,10 all inequality is an injustice and subversive of all social order or, at the least, a lesser justice! A principle absolutely contrary to the nature of things, which generates jealousy and injustice and subverts all social order....The beneficiary of this cosmopolitan social action can only be one thing...a religion more universal than the Catholic Church, reuniting all men, at last become brothers and comrades in the "reign of God"; they are no longer working for the Church, they are working for humanity."11
On the contrary, clarifies Pope Pius X, it is not "the arrival of universal democracy [that] matters... for the action of the Church in the world!"12
As for the revolt, it is liberalism, which the Pope stigmatizes in these terms:
They always have on their lips noble words of progress and civilization: it is not that those things are so very dear to them, but rather they are able more easily to disguise the malignity of their intentions with these grandiose words....They propose to foment a universal apostasy from the faith and the discipline of the Church–an apostasy much more sinister than the one that nearly engulfed the age of St. Charles Borromeo....The origin of the two apostasies is the same: the enemy, he who always lies in ambush for the ruin of men, has over sown cockle among the wheat (Mt. 13:25).13
As for impiety, the opposite of the virtue of piety, which is "the love and respect of supernatural goods," St. Pius X denounced it from the very beginning of his pontificate:
The impious war that has been declared...continues to be waged nearly everywhere against God....From there springs, from nearly every side, a total rejection of any respect for God. From there spring those manners of living, public as well as private, without the least regard for His sovereignty. What is more, there is no effort nor artifice that is not employed in the attempt to abolish the memory of Him, and even the very notion of God....Man, with an unspeakable temerity, has usurped the throne of the Creator and, raising himself above all that bears the name of God...he dedicates the temple of the visible world to himself, and wishes to receive there the adoration of his fellow creatures.14
B) The second theme of his political program is the sword of eternal truths. In the affirmation of principles of the truth, St. Pius X first exhorts Catholics not to dissimulate their faith: "The truth wants no disguise; our flag should be raised high."15 On the contrary, they should unite with other Catholics around Catholic principles:
There is only one force of order capable of re-establishing tranquility in the midst of the general upset: the party of God. It is...to this association that we must attract the greatest possible number of adherents, if we have public security at heart.16
The first point of St. Pius X's program of the restoration for our time is the sanctity of marriage and the preservation of the sanctuary of the family. He frequently comes back to this topic, as much in his encyclicals as in his letters or his allocutions to pilgrims:
The Holy Spirit said that children resemble their fathers: putting aside the case of certain ill-natured offspring..., the bad behavior of children ought to be attributed to the negligence, the carelessness, and–God forbid–the ill-will of their parents. That is why, if we are seeking a remedy for the good of society, it is above all in the family that we will find it....Your sons should grow up to resemble you: good Christians and excellent citizens.17
The second point of his program is an education that is integrally and authentically Catholic. On this subject, as well, how many written and oral exhortations do we not possess from the Holy Father, so topical for our own day? Here is one among many:
It is easy to see that in these circumstances, so unfortunate for all of France, the greatest danger is that of the young. Removed for the most part from the care and instruction of the Church, the young are pushed en masse into public middle schools and large high schools, which seem to have been designed expressly to uproot all religious sentiment from their souls. If we cannot provide a complete remedy to such an evil, at least must we consecrate all our efforts to preserving the integrity of the Catholic schools that we still possess.18
The third point of his program is a "just balance between the different classes of society," and a "utilization of temporal goods according to Christian laws and institutions."19 In the line of Leo XIII20 and announcing Pius XI,21 St. Pius X reminds us of the foundations of the Christian social economy:
Capitalists and the workers themselves could both contribute mightily to solving the question of workers by founding institutions destined to lessen the gap between these two classes and to unite them...and, above all, [by founding] corporations of arts and trades.22
St. Pius X expresses his great desire to see an economy organized on trade and professions:
The social question and social science were not invented yesterday....Throughout history, Church and State, in harmony, have raised up fecund organizations to this end....The Church, which has never betrayed the good of the people by compromising alliances, has no need to separate herself from the past and has only to take up again, with the aid of true builders of a social restoration, those organisms destroyed by the Revolution, and to adapt them, in the same Christian spirit that inspired them, to a new environment created by the material evolution of contemporary society: for the true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries, nor innovators, but men of tradition.23
The Method
St. Pius X did not content himself with reaffirming these principles or developing his program. He also traced a method of social restoration without which nothing is possible: "We have no other means of being men, from the spiritual point of view just as much as the social point of view, except that of drawing closer to the perfect man, and approaching the full measure of Christ. All of Christian life should be but a continual study to attain the beauty of Christ."24 Observing that "it is in the measure to which the beneficent force of religion penetrates the life of men, that we truly deliberate for the prosperity of the State,"25Catholics find themselves reminded by the pope of the importance of prayer, "the principle duty of the Christian, at all times, but especially in difficulties and troubles....When we do not know what we should do, our only recourse is to raise our eyes to God; from Him alone can we obtain light, inspiration and assistance";26 the irreplaceable role of the Eucharist, "...the divine Eucharist is the center of the faith, the last end of every other devotion, the source of all good, the culmination of all the other sacraments, the resume of the divine mysteries, the river of all graces, the balm for every sorrow, the bread of life, the viaticum that fortifies us for the voyage toward eternity, the gage and the foretaste of eternal happiness."27 Pius X's allocution is a magnificent text overflowing with the supernatural love of the saint and his devotion to Mary, "It is quite rightly that the saints have called Mary 'a living monstrance,' for she is eager to show us Jesus, while we are exiled in this valley of tears. She presents to him herself the prayer in which we cry out each day: 'After this our exile, show us Jesus, the blessed fruit of thy womb' ";28 the practice of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, in reason of "the numerous fruits that it brings with it, full of holy consolation";29 and finally the primordial role of the clergy in society, "The priest is such that he cannot be good or bad for himself alone; of what great consequence for the people, his conduct and way of living...."30
In conclusion, like a treasure, let us make our own, meditate upon, and spread insofar as we are able, the program that St. Pius X gives to us, Catholics of France, on the feast of St. Louis of the year 1910, in the Letter Concerning the Sillon, an invitation to walk with Him who is the perfect Way:
We cannot build the city otherwise than God Himself has built it; we cannot reconstruct society, if the Church does not lay the foundation and direct the labors; no, civilization cannot be reinvented nor is the new city to be built in the clouds. It has existed, and it exists; it is Christian civilization, the Catholic city. It is simply a question of founding and restoring it without cease, always upon natural and divine foundations and against the ever-renewed attacks of the unhealthy Utopia, revolt and impiety: Omnia instaurare in Christo.31
M. Thierry Martin is a technical advisor for the Regional Council of the Ile-de-France, a governmental department. Translated exclusively for Angelus Press by Miss Ann Marie Temple from the Society of Saint Pius X's Colloquium on St. Pius X held March 29, 2003.
1. Consistorial allocution Primum Vos, November 9, 1903.
2. Ibid.
3. Letter from the Secretary of State to Mr. Paul Feron-Vrau, May 20, 1910.
4. "Depart from us."
5. Le Monde, January 9, 2003.
6. Encyclical, Ad Diem Ilium Laetissimum, February 2, 1904.
7. "Lieutenant criminel".
8. Letter, Quod Felices, October 30, 1906.
9. Letter, Notre Charge Apostolique [Our Apostolic Mandate], August 25, 1910.
10. Translator's note: The Sillon was a movement founded by Marc Sangnier at the beginning of the 20th century to fight for social change by uniting Christian principles with the principles of liberal democracy.
11. Letter, Our Apostolic Mandate, August 25, 1910.
12. Ibid.
13. Encyclical, Editae Saepe Dei, May 26, 1910. Encyclical, E Supremi Apostolatus, October 20, 1903.
15. Letter, Je reponds de ma main, October 20, 1912.
16. Encyclical, E Supremi Apostolatus, October 4, 1903.
17. Allocution, Lamento nepiu ragionevole, October 27, 1907.
18. Letter, Sub Exitum, May 6, 1907.
19. Encyclical, E Supremi Apostolatus, October 4, 1903.
20. Leo XIII's encyclicals Rerum Novarum (1891) and Graves de Communi (1902).
21. Pius XI's encyclical Quadragesima Anno (1931).
22. Motu proprio Fin dalla Prima, December 18, 1903.
23. Letter Notre Charge Apostolique, August 25, 1910.
24. Letter Con lieto animo, December 23, 1903.
25. Letter Missam a vobis, July 10, 1911.
26. Allocution La Vostra Visita, February 22, 1913.
27. Discourse Je vous remercie, April 14, 1912.
28. Allocution Conspectus Vester, November 28, 1910.
29. Letter Exercitorium Spiritualium, December 8, 1904.
30. Encyclical Haerent Animo, August 4, 1908.
31. Letter Notre Charge Apostolique, August 25, 1910.
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