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tember, 1874), among many other Decreta affecting the conduct of the "faithful," I find the following judgment upon the relations of the Roman Catholic Church towards the State:—
"We assert that the Church is a perfect Society, independent of the Civil power and Superior to it. Between the religious authority of this Society (the fulness of which authority resides in the Roman Pontiff) and the political power of the Christian ruler there exists, from the very nature of things, such a relation, that the latter is to the former not only negatively but also positively subordinate, although indirectly so. The Civil power can do nothing which tends to the injury of the Church, and ought to abstain from such acts as would clash with the laws of the Church, and, indeed, should also, at the request of the Church, co-operate toward its benefit and the attainment of its supernatural end. This is the true doctrine of Boniface the Eighth, in the Bull Unam Sanctam, in which he teaches that the material sword should be subordinate to the spiritual sword, and should be used for the Church, but not against the Church. The opinion of the Fathers is the same who write that the Civil power has been instituted by God for the protection and care of the Church."[1]
Following out the idea contained in the above Decretum, Mgr. Bourget says in his Pastoral of 5th May, 1875, just before the Local Elections for the Province of Quebec:—
Eighth Rule.—Who are those who ought not to be voted for?
We have just told you, our very dear brethren, with the full
- ↑ Profitemur Ecclesiam esse societatem perfectam, independentem a potestate civili, eaque superiorem. Inter religiosam hujus societatis auctoritatem, cujus plenitudo est in Romano Pontifice et potestatem politicam christiani gubernii, ea existit ex ipsis rerum naturis relatio ut hæc sit illi nedum negative sed et positive subordinata, licet indirecte. Potestas scilicet civilis nihil agere potest quod redundet in damnum Ecclesiæ, et ab iis actibus abstinere debet qui jura Ecclesiæ læderent; imo debet etiam, quando societas religiosa id exposcit, ad ejus bonum et ad ejus finem supernaturalem attingendum conferre. Hæc est certa doctrina Bonifacii VIII. in Bulla Unam Sanctam, in qua docet gladium materialem esse oportere sub gladio spiriluali et esse adhibendum pro Ecclesia, non autem contra Ecclesiam. Eadem est sententia Patrum, qui scribunt potestatem civilem a Deo esse institutam in præsidium et lutelam Ecclesise. .
