Pastoral Letter Promulgating the Jubilee/Syllabus of Errors
THE SYLLABUS
Of the Principal Errors of our Time, which are Stigmatized in the Consistorial Allocutions, Encyclical, and other Apostolical Letters of Our Most Holy Father, Pope Pius IX.
Section I.—Pantheism, Naturalism, and Absolute Rationalism.
I. There exists no Divine Power, Supreme Being, Wisdom, and Providence distinct from the universe, and God is none other than nature, and is therefore mutable. In effect, God is produced in man and in the world, and all things are God, and have the very substance of God. God is therefore one and the same thing with the world, and thence spirit is the same thing with matter, necessity with liberty, true with false, good with evil, justice with injustice. (Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
II. All action of God upon man and the world is to be denied. (Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
III. Human reason, without any regard to God, is the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood, of good and evil; it is its own law to itself, and suffices by its natural force to secure the welfare of men and of nations. (Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
IV. All the truths of Religion are derived from the native strength of human reason; whence reason is the master rule by which man can and ought to arrive at the knowledge of all truths of every kind. (Encyclical letters, Qui pluribus, 9th November, 1846, Singulari quidem, 17th March, 1856, and the Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
V. Divine revelation is imperfect, and, therefore, subject to a continual and indefinite progress, which corresponds with the progress of human reason. (Encyclical Qui pluribus, 9th November, 1846, and the Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
VI. Christian faith is in opposition to human reason, and divine revelation not only does not benefit, but even injures the perfection of man. (Encyclical Qui pluribus, 9th November, 1846, and the Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
VII. The prophecies and miracles, uttered and narrated in the Sacred Scriptures, are the fictions of poets; and the mysteries of the Christian faith, the result of philosophical investigations. In the books of the two Testaments there are contained mythical inventions, and Jesus Christ is Himself a mythical fiction. (Encyclical Qui pluribus, 9th November, 1846, and the Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
Section II.—Moderate Rationalism.
VIII. As human reason is placed on a level with Religion, so theological matters must be treated in the same manner as philosophical ones. (Allocution Singulari quadem perfusi, 9th December, 1854.)
IX. All the dogmas of the Christian Religion are, without exception, the object of natural science or philosophy, and human reason, instructed solely by history, is able, by its own natural strength and principles, to arrive at the true knowledge of even the most abstruse dogmas; provided such dogmas be proposed as subject matter for human reason. (Letter to the Archbishop Frising. Gravissimas, 11th December, 1862—to the same, Tuas libenter, 21st December, 1863.)
X. As the philosopher is one thing, and philosophy is another, so it is the right and duty of the philosopher to submit himself to the authority which he shall have recognised as true; but philosophy neither can nor ought to submit to any authority. (Letter to Archbishop Frising. Gravissimas, 11th December, 1862—to the same, Tuas libenter, 21st December, 1863.)
XI. The Church not only ought never to animadvert upon philosophy, but ought to tolerate the errors of philosophy, leaving to philosophy the care of their correction. (Letter to Archbishop Frising. 11th December, 1862.)
XII. The decrees of the Apostolic See and of the Roman Congregation fetter the free progress of science. (Id. Ibid.)
XIII. The method and principles, by which the old scholastic Doctors cultivated theology, are no longer suitable to the demands of the age and the progress of science. (Ib. Tuas libenter, 21st December, 1863.)
XIV. Philosophy must be treated of without any account being taken of supernatural revelation. (Id. Ibid.)
N. B.—To the rationalistic system belong, in great part, the errors of Anthony Gunther, condemned in the letter to the Cardinal Archbishop of Cologne "Eximiam tuam," June 15, 1847; and in that to the Bishop of Breslau, "Dolore haud mediocri," April 30, 1860.)
Section III.—Indifferentism, Latitudinarianism.
XV. Every man is free to embrace and profess the Religion he shall believe true, guided by the light of reason. (Apostolic Letters Multiplices inter, 10th June 1851. Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June 1862.)
XVI. Men may in any religion find the way of eternal salvation, and obtain eternal salvation. (Encyclical letter Qui pluribus, 9th November, 1846. Allocution, Ubi primum, 17th December, 1847. Encyclical letter Singulari quidem, 17th March, 1856.)
XVII. We may entertain at least a well-founded hope for the eternal salvation of all those, who are in no manner in the true Church of Christ. (Allocution Singulari quadem, 9th December, 1854. Encyclical letter Quanto conficiamur, 17th August, 1863.)
XVIII. Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian Religion, in which it is possible to be equally pleasing to God as in the Catholic Church. (Encyclical letter Noscitis et nobiscum, 8th December, 1849.)
Section IV.—Socialism, Communism, Secret Societies, Biblical Societies, Clerico-Liberal Societies.
Pests of this description are frequently rebuked in the severest terms in the Encyc. Qui pluribus, Nov. 9, 1846; Alloc. Quibus quantisque, Aug. 20, 1849; Encyc. Nescitis et Nobiscum, Dec. 8, 1849; Alloc. Singulari quadam, Dec. 8, 1854; Encyc. Quanto conficiamur mœrore," Aug. 10, 1863.
Section V.—Errors Concerning the Church and Her Rights.
XIX. The Church is not a true, and perfect, and entirely free society, nor does she enjoy peculiar and perpetual rights conferred upon her by her Divine Founder, but it appertains to the civil power to define, what are the rights and limits within which the Church may exercise authority. (Allocution Singulari quadem, 9th December, 1854, Multis gravibusque, 17th December, 1860, Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
XX. The ecclesiastical power must not exercise its authority without the permission and assent of the civil Government. (Allocution; Meminit unusquisque, 30th September, 1861.)
XXI. The Church has not the power of defining dogmatically, that the Religion of the Catholic Church is the only true Religion. (Apostolic Letters Multiplices inter, 10th June, 1851.)
XXII. The obligation which binds Catholic teachers and authors applies only to those things, which are proposed for universal belief as dogmas of the faith, by the infallible judgment of the Church. (Letters to Archbishop Frising. Tuas libenter, 21st Dec, 1863.)
XXIII. The Roman Pontiffs and Œcumenical Councils have exceeded the limits of their power, have usurped the rights of Princes, and have even committed errors in defining matters of faith and morals. (Apost. Letter, Multiplices inter, 10th June 1851.)
XXIV. The Church has not the power of availing herself of force, or any direct or indirect temporal power. (Letter Apost. Ad. Apostolicæ, 22nd Aug., 1851.)
XXV. In addition to the authority inherent in the Episcopate, a further and temporal power is granted to it by the civil authority, either expressly or tacitly, which power is on that account also revocable by the civil authority whenever it pleases. (Letter Apost. Ad. Apostolicæ, 22nd Aug., 1851.)
XXVI. The Church has not the innate and legitimate right of acquisition and possession. (Allocution Nunquam fore, 18th Dec, 1856. Encyclical Incredibili, 17th Sept., 1863.)
XXVII. The ministers of the Church and the Roman Pontiff ought to be absolutely excluded from all charge and dominion over temporal affairs. (Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
XXVIII. Bishops have not the right of promulgating even their Apostolical letters, without the permission of the Government. (Allocution Nunquam fore, 15th December, 1856.)
XXIX. Dispensations granted by the Roman Pontiff must be considered null, unless they have been asked for by the civil Government. (Id. Ibid.)
XXX. The immunity of the Church and of ecclesiastical persons derives its origin from civil law. (Apost. Multiplices inter, 10th June, 1851.)
XXXI. Ecclesiastical Courts for the temporal causes, of the clergy, whether civil or criminal, ought by all means to be abolished, even without the concurrence and against the protest of the Holy See. (Allocution Acerbissimum, 27th September, 1852. And. Nunquam fore, 15th December, 1856.)
XXXII. The personal immunity exonerating the clergy from military service may be abolished, without violation either of natural right or of equity. Its abolition is called for by civil progress, especially in a community constituted upon principles of Liberal Government. (Letter to the Archbishop of Montreal, Singularis nobisque, 29th September, 1864.)
XXXIII. It does not appertain exclusively to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, by any right proper and inherent, to direct the teaching of theological subjects. (Letter to Archbishop Frising. Tuas libenter, 21st December, 1863.)
XXXIV. The teaching of those, who compare the Sovereign Pontiff to a free Sovereign acting in the Universal Church, is a doctrine which prevailed in the Middle Ages. (Letter Apost. Ad. Apostolicæ, 22nd August, 1851.)
XXXV. There would be no obstacle to the sentence of a General Council, or the act of all the universal peoples, transferring the Pontifical Sovereignty from the Bishop and city of Rome to some other bishopric and some other city. (Id. Ibid.)
XXXVI. The definition of a National Council does not admit of any subsequent discussion, and the civil power can regard as settled an affair decided by such National Council. (Id. Ibid.)
XXXVII. National Churches can be established, after being withdrawn and plainly separated from the authority of the Roman Pontiff. (Allocution Multis gravibusque, 17th December, 1860. Jamdudum cernimus, 18th March, 1861.)
XXXVIII. Roman Pontiffs have, by their too arbitray conduct, contributed to the division of the Church into Eastern and Western. (Letter Apost. Ad. Apostolicæ, 22nd August, 1851.)
Section VI.—Errors about Civil Society, considered both in itself and in its Relation to the Church.
XXXIX. The Republic is the origin and source of all rights, and possesses rights which are not circumscribed by any limits. (Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
XL. The teaching of the Catholic Church is opposed to the well-being and interests of society. (Encyclical Qui pluribus, 9th November, 1846, Allocution Quibus quantisque, 20th April, 1849.)
XLI. The Civil power, even when exercised by an infidel Sovreign, possesses an indirect and negative power over religious affairs. It, therefore, possesses not only the right called that of exequatur but that of the (so-called) appellatio ab abusu.[1] (Apostolic Letter, Ad. 22d August, 1851.)
XLII. In the case of conflicting laws between the two Powers, the civil law ought to prevail. (Letter Apost. Ad. Apostolicæ, 22nd August, 1851.)
XLIII. The civil power has a right to break, and to declare and render null the conventions (commonly called Concordats), concluded with the Apostolic See, relative to the use of rights appertaining to the ecclesiastical immunity, without the consent of the Holy See, and even contrary to its protest. (Allocution In consistoriali, 1st November, 1850. Multis gravibusque, 17th December, 1861.)
XLIV. The civil authority may interfere in matters relating to Religion, morality, and spiritual government. Hence it has control over the instructions for the guidance of consciences issued, conformably with their mission, by the Pastors of the Church. Further it possesses power to decree, in the matter of administering the divine Sacraments, as to the dispositions necessary for their reception. (Allocution In Consistoriali, 1st November, 1850. Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1861)
XLV. The entire direction of public schools, in which the youth of Christian States are educated, except (to a certain extent) in the case of Episcopal Seminaries, may and must appertain to the civil power, and belong to it so far, that no other authority whatsoever shall be recognized as having any right to interfere in the discipline of the schools, the arrangement of the studies, the taking of degrees, or the choice and approval of the teachers.—(Allocution in Consistoriali, 1st November, 1850.—Allocution Quibus luctuosissimis, 5th September, 1851.)
XLVI. Much more, even in Clerical Seminaries, the method of study to be adopted is subject to the civil authority. (Allocution Nunquam fore, 15th December, 1856.)
XLVII. The best theory of civil society requires, that popular schools open to the children of all classes, and, generally, all public institutes intended for instruction in letters and philosophy, and for conducting the education of the young, should be freed from all ecclesiastical authority, government, and interference, and shonld be fully subjected to the civil and political power, in conformity with the will of rulers and the prevalent opinions of the age. (Letter to the Archbishop of Fribourg, Quam non sine, 14th July, 1864.)
XLVIII. This system of instructing youth, which consists in sepating it from the Catholic faith and from the power of the Church, and in teaching exclusively, or at least primarily, the knowledge of natural things and the earthly ends of social life alone, may be approved by Catholics. (Id. Ibid.)
XLIX. The civil power has the right to prevent ministers of Religion, and the faithful, from communicating freely and mutually with each other, and with the Roman Pontiff. (Allocution Maxima qudem, 9th June, 1862.)
L. The secular authority possesses, as inherent in itself, the right of presenting Bishops, and may require of them that they take possession of their dioceses, before having received canonical institution and the Apostolical letters from the Holy See. (Allocution Nunquam fore, 15th December, 1856.)
LI. And further, the Secular Government has the right of deposing Bishops from their Pastoral functions, and it is not bound to obey the Roman Pontiff, in those things which relate to Episcopal Sees and the institution of Bishops. (Letter Apost. Multiplices inter 10th June, 1851. Allocution, Acerbissimum, 28th Sept., 1852.)
LII. The Government has of itself the right to alter the age prescribed by the Church for the religious profession, both of men and women; and it may enjoin upon all religious establishments, to admit no person to take solemn vows without its permission. (Allocution Nunquam fore, 15th Dec, 1856.)
LIII. The laws for the protection of religious establishments, and securing their rights and duties, ought to be abolished: nay more, the civil government may lend its assistance to all who desire to quit the religious life they have undertaken, and break their vows. The government may also suppress Religious Orders, collegiate Churches, and simple Benefices, even those belonging to private patronage, and submit their goods and revenues to the administration and disposal of the civil power. (Allocution Acerbissimum, 27th Sept., 1852. Allocution, Probe memineritis, 22nd January, 1855. Allocution, Cum sæpe, 26th July, 1855.)
LIV. Kings and princes are not only exempt from the jurisdiction of the Church, but are superior to the Church, in litigated questions of jurisdiction. (Letter Apost. Multiplices inter, 10th June, 1851.)
LV. The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church. (Allocution Acerbissimum, 27th September, 1852.)
Section VII.—Errors concerning Natural and Christian Ethics.
LVI. Moral laws do not stand in need of the divine sanction, and there is no necessity that human laws should be conformable to the law of nature, and receive their sanction from God. (Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
LVII. Knowledge of philosophical things and morals, and also civil laws may and must be independent of divine and ecclesiastical authority. (Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
LVIII. No other forces are to be recognized than those which reside in matter, and all moral teaching and moral excellence ought to be made to consist in the accumulation and increase of riches by every possible means, and in the enjoyment of pleasure. (Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862. Encyclical Quanto conficiamur, 10th August, 1863.)
LIX. Right consists in the material fact, and all human duties are but vain words, and all human acts have the force of right. (Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
LX. Authority is nothing else, but the result of numerical superiority and material force. (Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.)
LXI. An unjust act, being successful, inflicts no injury upon the sanctity of right. (Allocution Jamdudum cernimus, 18th March, 1861.)
LXII. The principle of non-intervention, as it is called, ought to be proclaimed and adhered to. (Allocution Novos et ante, 28th September, 1860.)
LXIII. It is allowable to refuse obedience to legitimate Princes; nay more, to rise in insurrection against them. (Encyclical Qui pluribus, 9th November, 1846. Allocution Quisque vestrum, 4th October, 1847. Encyclical Noscitis et nobiscum, 8th December, 1849. Letter Apostolicas Cum Catholica, 26th March, 1860.)
LXIV. The violation of a solemn oath, even every wicked and flagitious action repugnant to the eternal law, is not only not blameable, but quite lawful, and worthy of the highest praise, when done for the love of country. (Allocution Quibus quantisque, 20th April, 1849.)
Section VIII.—Errors concerning Christian Marriage.
LXV. It cannot be by any means tolerated, to maintain that Christ has raised marriage to the dignity of a sacrament. (Apostolical Letter Ad Apostolicae, 22d August, 1851.)
LXVI. The sacrament of marriage is only an adjunct of the contract, and separable from it, and the sacrament itself consists in the nuptial benediction alone. (Id. ibid.)
LXVII. By the law of nature, the marriage tie is not indissoluble, and in many cases divorce, properly so called, may be pronounced by the civil authority. (Id, ibid.; Allocution Acerbissimum, 27th September, 1852.)
LXVIII. The Church has not the power of laying down what are diriment impediments to marriage. The civil authority does possess such a power, and can do away with existing impediments to marriage. (Let. Apost. Multiplices inter, 10th June, 1851.)
LXIX. The Church only commenced in later ages to bring in diriment impediments, and then availing herself of a right not her own, but borrowed from the civil power. (Let. Apost. Ad Apostolicæ, 22d August, 1851.)
LXX. The canons of the Council of Trent, which pronounce censure of anathema against those who deny to the Church the right of laying down what are diriment impediments, either are not dogmatic, or must be understood as referring only to such borrowed power. (Let. Apost. ibid.)
LXXI. The form of solemnizing marriage prescribed by the said Council, under penalty of nullity, does not bind in cases where the civil law has appointed another form, and where it decrees that this new form shall effectuate a valid marriage. (Id. ibid.)
LXXII. Boniface VIII. is the first who declared, that the vow of chastity pronounced at Ordination annuls nuptials. (Id. ibid.)
LXXIII. A merely civil contract may, among Christians, constitute a true marriage, and it is false, either that the marriage contract between Christians is always a sacrament, or that the contract is null if the sacrament be excluded. (Id. ibid., Letter to King of Sardinia, 9th September, 1852. Allocution Acerbissimum, 27th September, 1852; Multis gravibusque, 17th December, 1860.)
LXXIV. Matrimonial causes and espousals belong by their very nature to civil jurisdiction. (Let. Apost., 22d August, 1851. Allocution Acerbissimum, 27th September, 1859.)
N. B. Two other errors may tend in this direction, those upon the abolition of the celibacy of Priests, and the preference due to the state of marriage over that of virginity. These have been proscribed; the first in the Encyclical "Qui pluribus," Nov. 9, 1846; the second in the Letters Apostolical "Multiplices inter," June 10, 1851.
Section IX.—Errors Regarding the Civil Power of the Sovereign Pontiff.
LXXV. The children of the Christian and Catholic Church are not agreed upon the compatibility of the temporal with the spiritual power. (Let. Apost. Ad Apostolicæ, 22d August 1851.)
LXXVI. The abolition of the temporal power, of which the Apostolic See is possessed, would contribute in the greatest degree to the liberty and prosperity of the Church. (Al. Quibus quantisque, 20th April, 1849.)
N.B. Besides these errors, explicitly noted, many others are impliedly rebuked by the proposed and asserted doctrine, which all Catholics are bound most firmly to hold, touching the temporal Sovereignty of the Roman Pontiff. These doctrines are clearly stated in the Allocutions "Quibus quantisque," April 20, 1859, and "Si semper antea," May 20, 1850; Letters Apost. "Quum Catholica Ecclesia," March 26, 1860; Allocutions "Novas," Sept. 28, 1860; "Jamdudum," March 18, 1861, and "Maxima quidem," June 9, 1862.
Section X.—Errors having Reference to Modern Liberalism.
LXXVII. In the present day, it is no longer expedient that the Catholic Religion shall be held as the only Religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other modes of Worship. (Allocution Nemo vestrum, 26th July, 1855.)
LXXVIII. Whence it has been wisely provided by law, in some countries called Catholic, that persons coming to reside therein shall enjoy the public exercise of their own worship. (Allocution Acerbissimum, 27th September, 1852.)
LXXIX. Moreover it is false, that the civil liberty of every mode of worship, and the full power given to all of overtly and publicly manifesting their opinions and their ideas, of all kinds whatsoever, conduce more easily to corrupt the morals and minds of the people, and to the propagation of the pest of indifferentism. (Allocution Nunquam fore, 15th December, 1856.)
LXXX. The Roman Pontiff can, and ought, to reconcile himself to, and agree with progress, liberalism, and civilization as lately introduced. (Allocution Jamdudum cernimus, 18th March, 1861.)
- ↑ The power of authorising official acts of the Papal power, and of correcting the alleged abuses of the same.