Chapter 15 The Great Betrayal

To reconcile the church with the revolution, such is the concern of the Liberals called Catholics.

Author Unknown.

To the Catholic Doctrine of the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the union between

Church and State, the Liberals claiming to be Catholics object that it is doubtlessly true, but inapplicable,

even in the Catholic countries.

In other words, in theory one can accept the thesis proposed by the popes and theologians,

but in practice one must yield to circumstances and place himself resolutely into the hypothesis

to promote religious pluralism and the liberty of forms of worship.

The liberal Catholics have not ceased responding that they have a will for orthodoxy equal

to that of the most intransigent and a sole concern for the interests of the church.

The conciliation that they have sought is not theoretical or abstract, but practical.

This is the famous distinction between the thesis, doctrine, and the hypothesis, practice in given circumstances.

This distinction, I ask you to observe, is susceptible of a correct interpretation. The application

of principles must take the circumstances into consideration, and this is done by circumspection, which

is a part of the virtue of prudence.

Thus, the presence in a Catholic nation of large Muslim, Jewish, and Protestant minorities

can prompt a tolerance of these cults in a city otherwise Catholic by a state that continues

to recognize the true religion because it believes

in the social reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be careful. For the liberal Catholics, that is not

the question. According to them, in practice, the principles which are nevertheless by definition

rules of action must not be applied

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