Appendix
585
The correct reference for the first citation is Pope Gregory XVI’s
encyclical letter of August 15, 1832. The relevant paragraph is here
quoted in full:
Liberty of Conscience
“This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and
erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must
be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs,
though some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence
that some advantage accrues to religion from it. ‘But the death of the
soul is worse than freedom of error,’ as Augustine was wont to say.
When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the narrow
path of truth, their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels
them to ruin. Then truly ‘the bottomless pit’ is opened from which
John saw smoke ascending which obscured the sun, and out of which
locusts flew forth to devastate the earth. Thence comes transformation
of minds, corruption of youths, contempt of sacred things and holy
laws—in other words, a pestilence more deadly to the state than any
other. Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities renowned
for wealth, dominion, and glory perished as a result of this single evil,
namely immoderate freedom of opinion, license of free speech, and
desire for novelty.”—As printed in Claudia Carlen, Ihm, The Papal
Encyclicals, 1740-1878 (Ann Arbor, Michigan: The Pierian Press,
1990) 1:238.
The second citation should be credited to Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus
of Errors, which accompanied his encyclical letter of December 8,
1864. Included among the 80 errors anathematized are:
“24. The church has not the power of using force, nor has she any
temporal power, direct or indirect.—Apostolic Letter ‘Ad Apostolicae,’
August 22, 1851.”
“78. Hence it has been wisely decided by law, in some Catholic
countries, that persons coming to reside therein shall enjoy the public
exercise of their own peculiar worship.—Allocution ‘acerbissimum,’
September 27, 1852.
“79. Moreover, it is false that the civil liberty of every form of worship,
and the full power, given to all, of overtly and publicly manifest-
ing any opinions whatsoever and thoughts, conduce more easily to
corrupt the morals and minds of the people, and to propagate the
pest of indifferentism.—Allocution ‘Nunquam Fore,’ December 15,