PopeWatch: Odd Pope Out

Ten popes in a row over the course of more than a century and a half denied that Catholicism on the one hand and Marxism or related doctrines on the other can have any common mission:

“The unspeakable doctrine of Communism, as it is called, [is] a doctrine most opposed to the very natural law” (Pius IX, Qui Pluribus)

“There is nothing in common between Social and Christian Democracy. They differ from each other as much as the sect of socialism differs from the profession of Christianity” (Leo XIII, Graves de Communi Re)

“The audacity and frivolity of men who call themselves Catholics and dream of re-shaping society… and of establishing on earth, over and beyond the pale of the Catholic Church, ‘the reign of love and justice’ … A mere verbal and chimerical construction in which we shall see, glowing in a jumble, and in seductive confusion, the words Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Love, Equality, and human exultation, all resting upon an ill-understood human dignity… Yes, we can truly say that the Sillon, its eyes fixed on a chimera, brings Socialism in its train” (Pius X, Notre Charge Apostolique)

“It is not our intention here to repeat the arguments which clearly expose the errors of Socialism and of similar doctrines. Our predecessor, Leo XIII, most wisely did so in truly memorable Encyclicals; and you, Venerable Brethren, will take the greatest care that those grave precepts are never forgotten” (Benedict XV, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum)

“Socialism, if it remains truly Socialism, even after it has yielded to truth and justice on the points which we have mentioned, cannot be reconciled with the teachings of the Catholic Church because its concept of society itself is utterly foreign to Christian truth… Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist” (Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno)

“Communism is intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever” (Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris)

“The Church has condemned the various forms of Marxist Socialism; and she condemns them again today, because it is her permanent right and duty to safeguard men from fallacious arguments and subversive influence that jeopardize their eternal salvation” (Pius XII, Evangelii Praecones)

“Pope Pius XI further emphasized the fundamental opposition between Communism and Christianity, and made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe even to moderate Socialism” (John XXIII, Mater et Magistra)

“Too often Christians attracted by socialism tend to idealize it in terms which, apart from anything else, are very general: a will for justice, solidarity and equality. They refuse to recognize the limitations of the historical socialist movements, which remain conditioned by the ideologies from which they originated” (Paul VI, Octogesima Adveniens)

“The fundamental error of socialism is anthropological in nature… The sincere desire to be on the side of the oppressed and not to be cut off from the course of history has led many believers to seek in various ways an impossible compromise between Marxism and Christianity” (John Paul II, Centesimus Annus)

“An objection has been raised to the Church’s charitable activity, subsequently developed with particular insistence by Marxism: the poor, it is claimed, do not need charity but justice… Marxism had seen world revolution and its preliminaries as the panacea for the social problem… Christian charitable activity must be independent of parties and ideologies. It is not a means of changing the world ideologically, and it is not at the service of worldly stratagems… [Marxism] is really an inhuman philosophy. People of the present are sacrificed to the moloch of the future” (Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est)