fi4 PERILS. — RO>rAN'ISM. 



Letter, March, 1873, said : ' ' Nationalities must be subor- 

 dinate to religion, and we must learn that we are Cath- 

 olics first and citizens next. God is above man, and the 

 church above the state. " 



Here is a distinct issue touching the highest allegiance 

 of the Roman Catholic citizens of the United States, 

 whether it is due to the Pope or to the constitution and 

 the laws of the land. In his Syllabus of Errors, Proposi- 

 tion 42, issued December 8, 1864, Pius IX. said: *' It is an 

 error to hold that, In the case of conflicting laws be- 

 tween the two powers, the civil law ought to prevail. " i 

 The reigning pontiff, in an encyclical issued January 10, 

 1890, says: '' It is wrong to break the law of Jesus Christ 

 in order to obey the magistrate, or under pretence of civil 

 rights to transgress the laws of the church. "^ Again 

 Leo XIII. says: " But if the laws of the state are openly 

 at variance with the law of God— if they inflict injury 



upon the church or set at naught the authority of 



Jesus Christ which is vested in the Supreme Pontilf , 

 then indeed it becomes a duty to resist them, a sin to 

 render obedience. " ^ 



We must not imagine that the two spheres, religious 

 and secular, are so distinct as to prevent all conflict of 

 authorities. Why does Pius IX. say that it is an error 

 to hold that, ' ' In the case of conflicting laws between 

 the two powers, the civil law ought to prevail," unless 

 there is some possibility of conflict? Says Mr. Gladstone : * 

 ' ' Even in the United States, where the severance be- 

 tween church and state is supposed to be complete, a 

 long catalogue might be drawn of subjects belonging to 

 the domain and competency of the State, but also unde- 

 niably affecting the government of the Church ; such as, 

 by way of example, marriage, burial, education, prison 

 discipline, blasphemy, poor-relief, incorporation, mort- 



1 See also Apostolic Letter, Ad Apostolicce. August 22, 1851. 



2 Authorized Translation of Encyclical, p. 3. 



3 Ibid. p. 4. 



* Vatican Decrees. Harper & Brothers, 1875, p. 30. 



