CIVIL
795
CIVIL
treats of it at length in that which begins with the
words "Immortale Dei," issued 1 November, 1885.
Origin op the State. — According to Catholic teaching man is by nature a social animal, he naturally seeks the society of his fellows, and he cannot attain to his proper development except in society. As he is born and bred in the bosom of the family, from the necessities of his nature, so, in order to defend him- self, in order to attain the full perfection of his bodily, mental, and spiritual faculties, families must join together and form a higher and more powerful society, the State. Nature prescribes that the father should be the head of the family, and to keep the peace between citizens, to secure to all their rights, to punish the wTongdoer, to foster the common good, nature imperiously demands that there should be a supreme authority in the State. As Leo XIII says in the Encyclical "Immortale Dei", "It is not difficult to determine what would be the form and character of the State were it governed according to the principles of Christian philosophy. Man's natural instinct moves him to live in civil society, for he cannot, if dwelling apart, provide himself with the necessary requirements of life, nor procure the means of developing his mental and moral faculties. Hence it is divinely ordained that he should lead his life, be it family, social, or civil, with his fellow- men, amongst whom alone his several wants can be adequately supplied. But as no society can hold together unless someone be over all, directing all to strive earnestly for the common good, every civi- lized community must have a ruling authority, and this authority, no less than society itself, has its source in nature, and has consequently God for its author. Hence it follows that all public power must proceed from God. For God alone is the true and supreme Lord of the world. Everything without exception must be subject to Him, and must serve Him, so that whosoever holds the right to govern, holds it from one sole and single source, namely God. t lie Sovereign Ruler of all. 'There is no power but from God.' "
The state of civil society then is the state of nature; there never was. nor, man's nature being what it is, could there be a state in which men led a solitary life of freedom without the restraints and the ad- vantages of civil society, such as was dreamed of by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. The authority of the State is derived not from a social compact, voluntarily entered into by men, but, like the au- thority of the father of a family, it is derived from nut ure herself, and from God, the Author and the l.i ird of nature. This Catholic doctrine concerning the Divine origin of civil authority, as it is inherent in society, must be carefully distinguished from the theory of the Divine right of kings which was popular in England among the High Church party in the seventeenth century. According to the theory of Divine right the king was the Divinely constituted vicegerent of Jesus Christ on earth; he was responsi- ble to God alone for his acts; in the name of God he governed his subjects in both spiritual and temporal matters. The theory united the spiritual and the temporal power in one subject, and derived the com- bined authority from the direct and immediate delegation of God. It has not ineptly been called Csesaropapism.
But though nature and God prescribe that there should be a supreme authority in the State, and that all citizens should conscientiously render due obedi- ence to it, yet they do not determine the subject of the supreme civil authority. Whether a particular State De a monarchy, an oligarchy, or a democracy, or any combination of these forms of government, is a matter that depends on history and the character of the people. Provided that the government fulfils its function, its form in the eyes of the Catholic Church is
of comparatively little importance. As Leo XIII says,
"The right to rule is not necessarily bound up with
any special mode of government. It may take this
or that form, provided only that it be of a nature
to ensure the general welfare. But whatever be the
nature of the government rulers must ever bear in
mind that God is the paramount ruler of the world,
and must set Him before themselves as their exemplar
and law in the administration of the State" (Encyc-
lical, Immortale Dei). The same pope touches on
this subject in his Encyclical (10 January, 1890) on
the chief duties of Christians as citizens: "The
Church", he says, "the guardian always of her own
right and most observant of that of others, holds that
it is not her province to decide which is the best
among many different forms of government and the
civil institutions of Christian States, and amid the
various kinds of State rule she does not disapprove
of any, provided the respect due to religion and the
observance of good morals be upheld." He returned
to the same point in his Encyclical of 16 February,
1892, on allegiance to the republic in France:
"Various political governments have succeeded one
another in France during the last century, each hav-
ing its own distinctive form: the Empire, the Mon-
archy, and the Republic. By giving one's self up
to abstractions one could at length conclude which
is the best of these forms, considered in themselves;
and in all truth it may be affirmed that each of them
is good, provided it lead straight to the end — that
is to say, to the common good, for which social au-
thority is constituted — and finally, it may be added
that, from the relative point of view, such and such
a form of government may be preferable because of
being better adapted to the character and customs
of such or such a nation. In this order of speculative
ideas, Catholics, like all other citizens, are free to
prefer one form of government to another, precisely
because no one of these social forms is, in itself,
opposed to the principles of sound reason or to
the maxims of Christian doctrine."
The State not Secularist. — The State should not be indifferent to religion and profess mere secu- larism. "The State," says Leo XIII, in the FCncyc- lical "Immortale Dei", "constituted as it is, is clearly bound to act up to the manifold and weighty duties linking it to God, by the public profession of religion. Nature and reason, which command every individual devoutly to worship God in holiness, be- cause we belong to Him and must return to Him since from Him we came, bind also the civil com- munity by a like law. For men living together in society are under the power of God no less than individuals are, and society, not less than indi- viduals, owes gratitude to God, who gave it being and maintains it, and whose ever-bounteous good- ness enriches it with countless blessings. Since, then, no one is allowed to be remiss in the service due In God, and since the chief duly of all men is to cling to religion in both its teaching and practice — not such religion as they may have a preference for, but the religion which God enjoins, and which certain and most clear marks show to be the only one true religion — it is a public crime to act as though there were no God. So, too, is it a sin in the State not to have care for religion, as a something beyond its scope, or as of no practical benefit; it nut of many t < .rn i- of religion to adopt that one which chimes in "it'u the fancy; for we are bound absolutely to wor- ship God in that way which he has -Inran to be His will. All who rule, therefore, should hold in honour the holy name of Cod. and one of their chief duties must 1»' to favour religion, to protect it, to shield it under the credit and sanction of the laws, and neither to organize nor enact any measures that may com- promise its safety. This is the bounden duty of rulers to the people over whom they rule. For one
