Forming a Catholic Democracy by Pius VII

Introduction

One of the greatest pontiffs of the revolutionary era was Pope Pius VII, Servant of God. He demonstrated remarkable courage and prudence in navigating the complex challenges of a Europe seemingly at war with the Church. His skilled dealings with Napoleon notably restored much of the Church's temporal prestige. In many ways, Pope Pius VII was to his predecessor, Pope Pius VI, what Pope Leo XIII would later become to Blessed Pope Pius IX nearly a century afterward.

As both cardinal and pope, Pius VII found himself compelled to lead Christ's Church into a new epoch—an era requiring robust Catholic Action within the political sphere. By 1796, just one year prior to delivering the sermon presented here, Napoleon had invaded Italy, severely disrupting the political order that had traditionally supported the principles of the gospel in the temporal order. The Church's duty extended beyond merely condemning the political and social principles underlying these upheavals (which it certainly did) on two fronts. First, the Church needed to encourage Catholic Action in this new environment. It was not enough to set forth the Church's teaching as some sort of ideal. The faithful needed guidance on how to implement what the Church teaches. Second, the Church needed to be careful to distinguish two elements in the principles of the political change. On the one hand, there are certain principles that are certainly against the teaching of the Church and must be condemned. Yet, on the other hand, there are other principles that are simply neutral (e.g., a republican form of government) which the Church does not (and ought not) condemn. 

It was precisely to provide this clarity and direction for Catholic Action within this altered landscape that Cardinal Chiaramonti, soon to become Pope Pius VII, delivered his sermon on Christmas Day, 1797. My prayer is that this discourse will impart timeless principles enabling us—renewed by the spirit of the Gospel—to effectively fulfill the duties of Catholic Action in our own day.

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Discourse of His Eminence Cardinal Chiaramonti, Bishop of Imola, Now Pope Pius VII, Addressed to His Diocesans on Christmas Day, 1797

(Translated from the Italian)

The Eternal displayed His omnipotence in time, and instantly all created beings appeared. He walked on the rebellious waves that covered the earth, and at His commanding voice, the shores encompassed the billows, which fled into their abyss. On Sinai, lightning and thunder, precursors of His Divine Majesty, manifested His presence to the conductor of Israel. On two tablets of stone, the finger of God inscribed the code of laws in which man finds his duties toward the Deity, himself, and his fellows—duties primordially engraved in his soul to guide his conduct and align his manners with his nature.

Shall I proclaim it? Divine Wisdom deemed it insufficient to shower upon man the gifts of infinite goodness, despite the ingratitude and defection of His children. A new order was decreed by the Most High. More splendid benefits were to signalize His mercy, inspiring greater confidence in God.

O happy stable of Bethlehem, in thee appeared such wonders! And thou, Bethlehem, land of Judah, though an obscure corner of the Hebrew country, from thee came forth the Leader foretold by prophecy, prefigured in rites and sacrifices, destined to bear the sceptre of Israel. Thou wert the cradle of the Emmanuel, who brought us the peace of the Man-God, born of a Virgin. The heavens and the earth bore testimony to His divinity and mission.

O happy stable! O glorious land of Judah, thy memory fills me with joy! May the tears of consolation that escape my eyes stir those of my beloved brethren who hear me, and may the universe resound with thy praises and glory!

But shall my joy be a sterile tribute? Shall this discourse merely elicit applause for miraculous events? The Man-God was born to teach men a pure doctrine, to instruct them, and to dispel the darkness clouding their intellect. To this school, I invite you, my dearest brethren. I now lay before you a summary of those precepts, the fulfillment of which shall render you models of Christian perfection in this life and store up treasures of merit for the life to come.

The Son of God, clothed in mortal flesh yet disdaining the frail vanities and fleeting pleasures of earth, teaches us Christian humility through His example and discourses. Declaring blessed the poor in spirit (Matt. v. 3), He invites us to imitate Him, saying, “Whoever will follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt. xvi. 24). These words encapsulate the Christian’s principal duty toward God, rooted in humility, which inspires man to acknowledge his lowliness before the supreme majesty.

The more the soul contemplates this truth, the more she perceives the vast distance between herself and the Creator, recognizing her need for supernatural aid and continual prayer to approach Him. Thus, she adores the incomprehensible goodness of the Supreme Being, who stoops to hear His creatures’ prayers, receive their vows, love those who love Him, and crown those who honor Him. This sentiment is the source of religious worship and its essential acts—a sentiment unchanging across all nations, which neither flesh nor blood can destroy. Its permanence testifies to its truth, just as the imperfections of nations reveal the inconstancy of human nature and the weakness of reason when swayed by passions.

Most holy Catholic Religion! My tongue cannot worthily trace the grandeur with which you envelop so noble a subject. Yet, let me, on every occasion and with all my strength, celebrate your excellence, steadfastness, and triumphs as irrefutable proof of the Divine Omnipotence shining through you. Instructed by this great Master and guided by His precepts, let us, my brethren, renounce ephemeral vanities to become worthy of eternal grandeur. Let us learn that the more we humble ourselves in our own eyes and those of men, the more we are elevated in the eyes of God. He who, puffed up with deceptive knowledge and greedy for fleeting glory, seeks to rise above equality to dominate others is no disciple of Jesus Christ. Such a one has not learned his duties in the school of the Divine Master. Examine, my brethren, which sacrifice your heart most values: be assured that in renouncing all for the love of God, He will abundantly reward you with favors that lead to peace and eternal glory.

Beyond duties toward God, man must fulfill obligations toward himself. The principles of pure reason, his physical constitution, and his irresistible tendency toward happiness command him to preserve himself, labor for his improvement, and seek felicity. When he casts an impartial glance through the veil of grandeur that seems to console him, he discovers the miseries that debase him. If passions have driven great events in human history, they have also been the fatal source of deplorable consequences. O man, when will you learn in the school of Jesus Christ the means to preserve your greatness, achieve true liberty, and break your chains? The true philosopher, formed by Jesus Christ, finds his greatest joy in regulating his actions, mastering his passions, harmonizing inferior powers with the superior, subjecting the flesh to the spirit, and rejecting pleasures condemned by sound morality. In short, he directs his faculties toward the purpose for which God destined him. The virtues with which he nourishes his heart perfect the individual and contribute to the perfection of society.

A traveler in this world, man finds his body warring against his soul, the flesh against the spirit, inferior forces against the superior, dragging him toward the captivity of sin and death. Who shall deliver him from this humiliating struggle, from this body of death? You, Jesus our Savior, our Master, under the swaddling clothes and silence of the manger, teach us the path to emerge victorious from this contest with glory and Christian triumph. “Let him take up his cross”—that is, the mortification of the flesh, which, by resisting inordinate pleasures, does not annihilate the passions but subdues and chains them, preventing their revolt against the laws of heaven and earth. These are the infallible means to keep man in the path of his duties toward himself. My dearest brethren, do not be alarmed by this exposition of a morality whose apparent severity might suggest it destroys liberty. No, my beloved, never has true liberty been presented more clearly.

In the language of philosophy and the Catholic Religion, liberty excludes deviation from rule and unbridled licentiousness, which confuses good and evil, virtue and vice. Far be from you such a gross misinterpretation, which, violating every precept, would strip humanity, reason, and the Creator’s gifts of their essence! Liberty, God’s precious gift to man, is the faculty to act or refrain from acting, yet always in submission to divine and human laws. Liberty ceases to be reasonable when it rebels against the law, opposing God’s will and temporal sovereignty. When men yield to perverse inclinations, rejecting wisdom and virtue, they abuse Providence’s bounties. Such conduct is odious to both God and man.

Happy, my brethren, if you use liberty to glorify God, regulate your conduct, and serve mankind. Happier still when you appreciate the liberty of which our Savior speaks: “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” (John viii. 36). For there is a carnal liberty that leads to sin, as St. Peter warns: “As free, and not using liberty as a cloak for malice” (1 Peter ii. 16). Wretched is the man who abandons himself to this disorder, who makes it his pride. While he exalts his liberty, he is in chains; while he chants his triumph, he is sin’s slave. Strange liberty! True liberty is of the spirit, of grace, freeing the Christian from the captivity of the demon and sin—imperfect in this world but perfect in that eternal realm where slavery, debasement, and sin are unknown.

O admirable Cross, on which the Redeemer, at the price of His blood, achieved our liberty! At your sight, filled with gratitude toward our Divine Redeemer, fortified and healed by His grace, may we detest sin, acquire this precious liberty on earth, and enjoy its fullness in the bosom of eternal repose and unfading glory!

After pondering his relations with the First Cause and himself, man must examine those uniting him to his fellows. He does not exist in isolation. As a member of society, sharing its advantages, reason dictates that he contribute his own in return. Through this reciprocal exchange of services, he promotes public felicity. The words “peace” and “happiness” are so deeply engraved in man’s heart that he cannot mistake their value or reject their pursuit. Yet peace is the daughter of good order, which cannot exist without authorities to whom obedience is due. This obedience, inspired by natural law, is enjoined by the Catholic Religion: to resist temporal powers is to resist God (Rom. xiii. 2).

The democratic government adopted among us, my dearest brethren, does not oppose the maxims I expound; it aligns with the Gospel, demanding sublime virtues acquired only in the school of Jesus Christ. If you practice these religiously, they will ensure your happiness, glory, and the splendor of our republic. Renounce, I beseech you, party spirit, passions, private interests, ambition, and all impure desires, which, unworthy of man and Christian alike, would lead to ruin through the seductions of fleeting glory. Virtue, indicated by the light of nature and fully revealed by the Gospel, alone can perfect man and lead him to supreme happiness. It must be the unshaken foundation of our democracy. Moral virtues alone render us imperfect; theological virtues, with God as their object, complete our perfection.

I will not speak of Sparta or Athens, nor of the famed legislations of Lycurgus or Solon, nor even of Carthage, Rome’s rival. Our thoughts turn more fittingly to the ancient Roman republic. Consider, my brethren, the illustrious citizens who adorned her and the means by which they earned admiration. Shall I recount the courage of Mucius Scaevola, Curtius, the two Scipios, Torquatus, Camillus, and so many others who shone in those memorable times? Their eulogies, penned by countless writers, still instruct posterity. Cato of Utica, of whom it was said that glory pursued him as he fled it, teaches how Rome extended her renown and boundaries. “Do not imagine,” he told his fellow citizens, “that our ancestors aggrandized the empire by arms alone. Were that so, it would be vaster today, as we surpass them in population and armies. But they possessed a perspective and valor unfamiliar to their descendants: industry at home, just and prudent government abroad, untainted by passions and vice” (Sallust, Catiline, 4). This discourse of a distinguished philosopher, worthy to be engraved in gold, shows how Rome’s moral virtues laid the foundation of her greatness, making her the admiration and terror of the world. While the Greeks and other nations, more civilized in appearance, discoursed learnedly on philosophy, the Romans practiced virtue without debating its nature, without schools, and without cloaking it in philosophical garb. Their simple manners rejected studied eloquence and dialectic, which busied itself with subtleties rather than practice.

Here is a brief exposition of Roman virtues in the republic’s renowned era, praised even by the Fathers of the Church, including the sublime philosopher St. Augustine, who paints a picture worthy of his talents (City of God, Book 3). According to this illustrious doctor, the greatness and renown of those republicans were rewards granted by a just God for their labors and virtues. Though degraded by an insatiable thirst for glory, their natural reason spurred them to practice morality. If they surpassed nations older in age and civilization, and if, as Cato and the Fathers attest, their virtues enhanced Roman liberty and earned temporal favors, how much more must we recognize the necessity of virtue in our democratic state? We do not offer homage to false divinities; the Divine Goodness has revealed itself to us through undeniable prophecies and prodigies. We point the infidel nations to the places sanctified by the Word made man, His preaching, His death, and His resurrection. Moral virtues, rooted in the love of order, make us good democrats—democrats of a pure democracy that labors tirelessly for the common welfare, renouncing enmity, perfidy, and ambition, and respecting others’ rights as it fulfills its duties. Thus is consolidated equality, which, rightly understood, sees the law hovering over all members of society to guide, protect, and punish. In harmony with divine and human laws, it preserves each man’s faculties for fulfilling his duties, ensuring individual and collective welfare, and defining what each owes to God, himself, and his equals. Civil equality, derived from natural law and enriched by morality, harmonizes the body politic when each contributes to the common good according to his physical and moral capacities, reaping the benefits of social protection. Absolute equality of strength, wealth, property, or virtue never has and never will exist. Consult the treatises of the profoundest philosophers, interrogate common sense, or let nature speak: all proclaim this truth. An arithmetical equality would upend the physical and moral order.

Yet moral virtues alone do not suffice for our duties’ full performance. The equality that regulates order and ensures society’s happiness requires further support. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only code capable of perfecting man in the social order and regulating equality, securing happiness in this life and promising greater happiness in eternity. The history of philosophy reveals its shortcomings; the history of the Gospel shows it fills this void. However estimable pagan virtues or philosophers’ precepts, their discourses and actions bear the stamp of imperfection. Seeking a happiness whose nature they did not know, many mistook it for transitory goods that bring misery. Glory was often the sole aim of Rome’s celebrated republicans—a good, but not the perfect good, incapable of satisfying the heart. True glory is the fruit of true virtue, aspiring to a happiness that exhausts all desire: God alone. While Rome subdued distant nations, her citizens were tyrannized by pride, revenge, and inordinate ambition. Whoever seeks greatness in effects without ascending to the First Cause is deluded.

Having contemplated pagan virtues, turn your eyes, my dearest brethren, to the prodigies of rectitude and moral integrity adorning the children of the Catholic Religion, before whom shines the humble standard of the Cross. Glance over the happy ages of the Church: the blood of martyrs, the purity of virgins, the sublime talents and profound learning of the Fathers in all branches of knowledge. Is there an age, sex, or condition without Christian heroes? Africa and Asia resounded with their glory, Palestine admired them, and their virtues astonished even Rome and her emperors. The apotheosis contemplated by Tiberius, Hadrian, and Alexander Severus is well known. Christian heroes gave themselves wholly to God and their Savior, burning with charity for their brethren, submissive to supreme authority. They attributed no good act to frail humanity, acknowledged all advantages as gifts of grace, renounced temporal goods or used them only for the poor, regarded themselves as the least among their brethren, exalted others’ merits at their own expense, endured injuries with patience and joy, and sacrificed their lives for God and their fellows. Such traits characterized the Christians of the first centuries, directing their thoughts, actions, and lives to this end.

My dearly beloved, compare these morals with those of the pagans, these practical virtues with philosophers’ theories, this use of liberty with the abuses of licentiousness. Weigh the advantages of this equality, devoted to the glory of the republic, society, religion, and the Being of Beings. Judge and see how the examples of Jesus Christ and His humble adorers contribute to the republic’s happiness, how the Gospel’s precepts, apostolic traditions, and teachings of the Fathers and doctors preserve peace and shed luster on the democratic form of government, transforming men into heroes of humility, prudence, charity, and love for Jesus Christ, coheirs with Him as heirs of God. If a man supports equality in a democratic state by laboring for society’s good, which in turn protects him under the law, how much more does the love of equality shine in one who, devoted to the laws, society, and his brethren, seeks no reward from them but aspires to the recompense God prepares for those who love Him?

Equality, little known to philosophy, is revealed by Jesus Christ in His call to deny oneself and by St. Paul’s exhortation to become all things to all men. This equality extends from creature to God, according to His incomprehensible wisdom. The creature acts only with a view to God, her sole recompense. Admirable doctrine! Who can proclaim it worthily? Give me a man burning with love for God, and he will find this doctrine in his heart.

In this faintly traced picture of Christian virtues, we see their benefits to society and democracy. To encourage their practice, let us contemplate the beauty of the evangelical precepts. The aim of our democracy is to unite all hearts and forces in binding the ties of brotherhood, but this union rests solely on virtue, which cannot coexist with vice, its poison. To destroy vice, we must see man not as he ought to be but as he is, with discordant propensities and aversions. Destroy the bad, cultivate the good. Delve deeper into man’s labyrinth: his actions draw their nobility or baseness from his internal affections. The mind and heart direct his civil and moral conduct; an action’s morality presupposes knowledge and will. Civil laws and supreme authority regulate external acts to maintain society’s tranquility. But a more sublime law is needed for the interior. If society’s members were only outwardly good, none would be perfect, and we would seek in vain the sweet fraternity and pure love embracing all. Virtue, without roots in the heart, would be mere ostentation, beneficence driven by interest, submission born of fear rather than respect or love for order. Jesus Christ unites mankind through charity, replacing servile fear with the liberty of love. Has He not inscribed in His Gospel lessons of fraternal tenderness and heroic virtues? These purify man’s internal and external faculties. He corrects the mind’s errors, lost in idolatry’s darkness, with the truth: “In the beginning was the Word, consubstantial with the Father, and the Word was God” (John i. 1). He rectifies the perverse will, saying to the proud, “Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (Luke xiv. 11). To the avaricious and selfish, He commands: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth consumes, nor thieves break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. vi. 19–21). To the choleric, He says: “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matt. v. 39). Through St. Paul, He teaches the sensual: “He who sows in his flesh shall reap corruption, but he who sows in the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Gal. vi. 8).

How many heroic actions, unknown to paganism and its philosophers, flow from the precept of loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us, and praying for our persecutors, even those who threaten our lives? What magnificent results would arise from analyzing the three evangelical counsels? With divine grace, I shall address them in another instruction. May I congratulate myself on raising your souls to admiration for virtues so suited to perfect both the individual and the state!

Behold, my dearly beloved, an abstract of the evangelical maxims. Recognize their power in enforcing virtue, civil equality, rational liberty, and fostering the affection that unites hearts, ensuring democracy’s existence and honor. Ordinary virtue may suffice for other governments; ours demands more. Strive for the full height of virtue, and you will be true democrats. Faithfully fulfill the evangelical precepts, and you will be the republic’s joy.

The Gospel’s beauty so struck the author of Emile (Rousseau) that he declared: “I confess the majesty of the Scriptures astonishes me; the sanctity of the Gospel speaks to my heart. Compare the books of the philosophers with all their pomp—how small they are beside it! Can a book so sublime and simple be the work of men? Can He whose history it contains be merely a man? Is that the tone of an enthusiast or ambitious sectary? What sweetness, what purity in His manners! What affecting grace in His instructions! What elevation in His maxims! What profound wisdom in His discourse! What presence of mind, what acuteness, what justness in His answers! What mastery over His passions! Where is the man, the sage, who can act, suffer, and die without weakness or ostentation?” He adds: “Shall we say the Gospel’s history is invented at pleasure? My friend, it is not so that people invent. The facts of Socrates, which no one doubts, are less attested than those of Jesus Christ. In truth, this is merely to evade the difficulty without resolving it. It would be more inconceivable that several men conspired to fabricate that book than that one provided its subject. Jewish authors could never have found that tone or morality. The Gospel has characters of truth so great, so striking, so inimitable, that its inventor would be more wonderful than its hero” (Emile, Vol. III, p. 156). Thus, the Gospel’s intrinsic excellence compelled this eloquent writer to render homage to its truth.

God of our fathers, First Cause of the universe, Founder of the Catholic Church, who has stamped her with infallible marks that she may be known and followed, who has crowned her with palms and adorned her with trophies, her beauty untarnished by time or change—God of our fathers, my reason falls prostrate before You. Looking back, I see pass before Your immutable eternity the dynasties of Egypt, the empires of Assyria, Chaldea, Persia, and Media, the governments of Greece, and the Roman republic, which carried the Latin eagle to regions unknown to Europe. All was created and ordained by Your power; the destiny of mortals hangs on Your will. The true Religion, founded by You from man’s origin, traverses the revolutions of earthly powers with security. This beloved daughter, defended and guided by You, shall perpetuate her reign until the consummation of ages.

Brethren, dearly beloved, humble yourselves with me and reverently cast down your eyes before the inscrutable designs of Divine Providence. Let the Catholic Religion be the dearest object of your heart, piety, and affections. Do not imagine it opposes the democratic form of government. United to your Divine Savior under it, you may cherish hope of eternal salvation. By working for your temporal happiness and that of your brethren, you advance the republic’s glory and that of its authorities. Christian obedience, fulfillment of duties, and zeal for the general good, with divine grace, will be a new source of merit to attain the heavenly kingdom to which the Divine Infant, whose glorious birth we celebrate today, invites you. Yes, my dear brethren, be true Christians, and you will be excellent democrats. Imitate the Savior’s obedience and humility through submission to the laws and sovereign authority. If some brethren stray from truth and the Gospel, pray for their conversion as long as hope remains, that they may regain possession of God. Let your works be a mirror reflecting their duties. Do not imitate the errors of a brother worthy of your compassionate charity but strive through repentance to lead him back to salvation.

And you, my beloved co-workers, entrusted with guiding portions of this Christian family and sharing the weight of this ministry, unite with your bishop to maintain the Catholic Religion’s integrity in the flock. Exert all your powers to ensure the disciples of Jesus Christ remain piously faithful to the authorities and the republic. Charged by heaven to oversee the people’s spiritual interests, guide them not only to God’s glory but also to public order’s advantage. My wise co-workers, example is the most powerful argument, the most persuasive and effective eloquence. Let your rectitude, religion, and love for the public welfare shine as a model to your flock. Thus, your desire to see Christian and moral virtues rooted in the souls entrusted to you—forming the glory of our republic and the prosperity of its citizens—will be fulfilled. My dearly beloved brethren, may the peace of the Lord be always with you.