Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani, the
Pro-Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition
during last five years of the pontificate of Pope Pius XII (he continued in the
Holy Office and in its successor in the post-Conciliar Church, the Sacred
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith until his retirement on January 8,
1968), was an unflagging foe of the concept of "religious liberty"
being promoted by an unapologetic Americanist, Father John Courtney Murray,
S.J. He wrote a a masterful treatise against this lie of Modernity that was
popularized first and foremost in the supposedly "free" United States
of America:
“Here the problem presents itself of how the
Church and the lay state are to live together. Some Catholics are propagating
ideas with regard to this point which are not quite correct. Many of these
Catholics undoubtedly love the Church and rightly intend to find a mode of
possible adaptation to the circumstances of the times. But it is none the less
true that their position reminds one of that of the faint-hearted soldier who
wants to conquer without fighting, or of that of the simple, unsuspecting
person who accepts a hand, treacherously held out to him, without taking account
of the fact that this hand will subsequently pull him across the Rubicon
towards error and injustice.
“The first mistake of these people is
precisely that of not accepting fully the "arms of truth" and the
teaching which the Roman Pontiffs, in the course of this last century, and in
particular the reigning Pontiff, Pius XII, by means of Encyclicals, Allocutions
and instructions of all kinds, have given to Catholics on this subject.
“To justify themselves, these people affirm
that, in the body of teaching given in
the Church, a distinction must be made between what is permanent and what is
transitory, this latter being due to
the influence of particular passing conditions.
“Unfortunately, however, they include in this
second area principles laid down in the Pontifical documents, principles on
which the teaching of the Church has remained constant, so that they form part
of the patrimony of Catholic doctrine.
“In this matter, the pendulum theory,
elaborated by certain writers in an attempt to sift the teaching set forth in
Encyclical Letters at different times, cannot be applied. ‘The Church,’ it has
been written, ‘…takes account of the rhythm of the world's history after the fashion of a swinging pendulum
which, desirous of keeping the proper measure, maintains its movement by
reversing it when it judges that it has gone as far as it should...’
“From this point of view a whole history of
the Encyclicals could be written. Thus in the field of Biblical studies, the
Encyclical, Divino Afflante Spiritu, comes after the Encyclicals Spiritus
Paraclitus and Providentissimus. In the
field of Theology or Politics, the Encyclicals, Summi Pontificatus, Non abbiamo
bisogno and Ubi Arcano Deo, come after the Encyclical, Immortale Dei."
“Now if this were to be understood in the
sense that the universal and fundamental principles of public ecclesiastical
Law, solemnly affirmed in the Encyclical Letter, Immortale Dei, are merely the reflection of historic moments of the
past, while the swing of the pendulum of the doctrinal Encyclicals of Pope Pius
XI and Pope Pius XII has passed in the opposite direction to different
positions, the statement would have to be qualified as completely erroneous, not only because it misrepresents the
teaching of the Encyclicals themselves, but
also because it is theoretically inadmissible.
“In the Encyclical Letter, Humani Generis, the reigning Pontiff
teaches us that we must recognize in the Encyclicals the ordinary magisterium
of the Church: ‘Nor must it be thought that what is expounded in Encyclical
Letters does not of itself demand assent, in that, when writing such Letters,
the Popes do not exercise the supreme power of their teaching authority. For
these matters are taught with the ordinary teaching authority, of which it is
true to say: He who heareth you heareth
Me. (St. Luke 10:16); and generally what is expounded and inculcated in
Encyclical Letters already belongs for other reasons to Catholic
doctrine."
“Because they are afraid of being accused of
wanting to return to the Middle Ages, some of our writers no longer dare to
maintain the doctrinal positions that are constantly affirmed in the
Encyclicals as belonging to the life and legislation of the Church in all ages. For them is meant the warning of Pope Leo
XIII who, recommending concord and unity in the combat against error, adds that
"care must be taken never to connive, in anyway, at false opinions, never
to withstand them less strenuously than truth allows." - Duties of the Catholic State in Regard to
Religion.
