Pius IX…

…judges Francis’ idea on matrimony

• Pius IX recalls the admonitions of St. John Chrysostom regarding the sin of contracting prohibited marriage

Lastly, St. John Chrysostom constantly teaches that matrimony is always indissoluble, when he promptly reproves, as contrary to the evangelical law, the civil laws that permit divorce. He writes: “For what would we say to He who will judge us, when He publicly reads the inspired law saying: I commanded you not to marry a repudiated woman, declaring that this is adultery. How, then, have you dared to contract a prohibited marriage?” (Pius IX. Instruction Difficile dictu, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to the Greek-Romanian Bishops, 1858)

…judges Francis’ idea on the use of internet for catholic education

• The youth are exposed to greater dangers whenever the method of education does not rest on the most intimate union of all of the subjects with religious teaching

From a tender age they should be instructed zealously and deeply on the doctrine of salvation and the Commandments of our holy Religion, and be formed in piety, purity of customs, sense of responsibility and culture. In schools, principally, religious teaching should be the principal and most important part of all teaching and education, in such a way that the knowledge of all things taught in childhood is nothing but an addition. For this reason, when, in the above-mentioned schools, the method of education does not rest on the most intimate union of all of the subjects with religious teaching, the youth are exposed to the greatest dangers. (Pius IX. Letter Quum non sine, July 1864)

• Where the directing authority of the Church and its healthy influence is eliminated, human society will little by little lose Christian spirit

There is no doubt that human society will always suffer the most sensible damage where the directing authority of the Church and its healthy influence is eliminated from private and public education, because on this education depends, to a great extent, the well-being of spiritual and material matters. By this exclusion, human society will little by little lose that Christian spirit which alone could bear the foundations of public order and tranquility and that alone is capable of giving origin to the true and beneficial progress of civilization and of providing man with all the means needed for the achievement of the goal which is beyond the frontiers of this life, that is to say, the achievement of eternal salvation. Furthermore, an education which not only seeks to communicate strictly the knowledge of natural things, and to teach the purposes of the earthly social life, but also strays from the truths revealed by God, could fall no less into the spirit of error and lies. And an education which, without the help of doctrine and Christian morality, attempts to form the young hearts, forming the souls which are molded as easily, as wax is molded, and become corrupted with the same ease, cannot engender anything but a generation that will only guide itself by sensual desires and its own opinions. It will constitute, in this way, the greatest disgrace for families as well as for public life. (Pius IX. Letter Quum non sine, 14 de julio 1864)

…judges Francis’ idea on renouncing our own culture to benefit the refugees

• In these times of confusion and disorder, it is not unusual to see Christians who constantly have a word of conformity and negotiation on their lips. I do not consider them to be the lesser enemies of the Church

In these times of confusion and disorder, it is not unusual to see Christians, Catholics – even within the secular clergy and cloisters – who constantly have a word of conformity, of conciliation and negotiation on their lips. Very well! I do not hesitate to declare: these men are in error, and do not consider them to be the lesser enemies of the Church. We live in a corrupt and pestilent atmosphere and we must know how to preserve ourselves from it. Let us not allow ourselves to be contaminated by false doctrines, which lose all things under the pretext of saving all. (Pius IX. Address in the Church of Aracoeli, September 17, 1861)

…judges Francis’ idea on Christian marriage realized in a partial and analogous way by adultery

• Any other union except the sacramental union is nothing but disgraceful and death-bringing concubinage

No Catholic is ignorant or cannot know that matrimony is truly and properly one of the seven sacraments of the evangelical law, instituted by Christ the Lord, and that for that reason, there can be no marriage between the faithful without there being at one and the same time a sacrament, and that, therefore, any other union of man and woman among Christians, except the sacramental union, even if contracted under the power of any civil law, is nothing else than a disgraceful and death-bringing concubinage very frequently condemned by the Church, and, hence, that the sacrament can never be separated from the conjugal agreement. (Pius IX. Denzinger-Hünermann 2998, Allocution Acerbissimum vobiscum, September 27, 1852)

• Many evils arise from ignorance of divine matters essential for salvation: the necessity of preaching our august religion, its doctrine, precepts, and discipline

Through the parish priests chiefly and other ecclesiastics known for integrity of life, gravity of morals, and constant adherence to sound doctrine, may you teach unremittingly and accurately: at one time preaching the divine word, at another instructing the people in the mysteries of our august religion, its doctrine, precepts, and discipline. You, above all, know that many evils generally arise from ignorance of divine matters essential for salvation. Hence, you will understand that it behooves you to use every care and diligence that so detrimental a condition be prevented. (Pius IX. Encyclical Quanto conficiamur, no. 14, August 10, 1863)

…judges Francis’ idea on the Church’s rules on matrimony being ‘overly rigid’

• Any other union among Christians except the sacramental union is nothing else than a disgraceful concubinage

No Catholic is ignorant or cannot know that matrimony is truly and properly one of the seven sacraments of the evangelical law, instituted by Christ the Lord, and that for that reason, there can be no marriage between the faithful without there being at one and the same time a sacrament, and that, therefore, any other union of man and woman among Christians, except the sacramental union, even if contracted under the power of any civil law, is nothing else than a disgraceful and death-bringing concubinage very frequently condemned by the Church, and, hence, that the sacrament can never be separated from the conjugal agreement. (Pius IX. Denzinger-Hünermann 2991. Allocution Acerbissimum vobiscum, September 27, 1852)

…judges Francis’ idea on God’s mercy aimed at religious syncretism

• In heaven we shall understand how close the bond between divine mercy and justice is

For, in truth, when released from these corporeal chains “we shall see God as He is” [1 John 3:2], we shall understand perfectly by how close and beautiful a bond divine mercy and justice are united. (Pius IX. Allocution singulari quadam, December 9, 1854)

…judges Francis’ idea on renouncing our own culture to receive the refugees

• Enemies of the Church: Christians and Catholics even within the clergy who constantly have a word of negotiation on their lips

In these times of confusion and disorder, it is not unusual to see Christians, Catholics – even within the secular clergy and cloisters – who constantly have a word of conformity, of conciliation and negotiation on their lips. Very well! I do not hesitate to declare: these men are in error, and do not consider them to be the lesser enemies of the Church. We live in a corrupt and pestilent atmosphere and we must know how to preserve ourselves from it. Let us not allow ourselves to be contaminated by false doctrines, which lose all things under the pretext of saving all. (Pius IX. Address in the Church of Aracoeli, September 17, 1861)

…judges Francis’ idea on conversion of the papacy

• The Roman Pontiffs must guard the Lord’s flock from poisoned pastures

With how great care and pastoral vigilance the Roman Pontiffs, our predecessors, fulfilling the duty and office committed to them by the Lord Christ Himself in the person of most Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, of feeding the lambs and the sheep, have never ceased sedulously to nourish the Lord’s whole flock with words of faith and with salutary doctrine, and to guard it from poisoned pastures, is thoroughly known to all, and especially to you, Venerable Brethren. (Pius IX. Encyclical Quanta cura, no. 1, December 8, 1864)

• No other Church is Catholic except the one founded on Peter

The true Church of Jesus Christ was established by divine authority, and is known by a fourfold mark, which we assert in the Creed must be believed; and each one of these marks so clings to the others that it cannot be separated from them; hence it happens that that Church which truly is, and is called Catholic should at the same time shine with the prerogatives of unity, sanctity, and apostolic succession. Therefore, the Catholic Church alone is conspicuous and perfect in the unity of the whole world and of all nations, particularly in that unity whose beginning, root, and unfailing origin are that supreme authority and ‘higher principality’ of blessed Peter, the prince of the Apostles, and of his successors in the Roman Chair. No other Church is Catholic except the one which, founded on the one Peter, grows into one ‘body compacted and fitly joined together’ (Eph 4:16) in the unity of faith and charity… (Denzinger-Hünermann 2888. Pius IX, from the letter of the Sacred Office to the bishops of England, September 16, 1864)

…judges Francis’ idea on the Church’s fault for the Anglican schism

• To allege that Anglicans are part of the true Church is to make the divine establishment of the Church of no consequence

It has been made known to the Apostolic See that some Catholic laymen and ecclesiastics have enrolled in a society to ‘procure’ as they say, the unity of Christianity, […] Indeed, formed and directed by Protestants, it is animated by that spirit which expressly avows for example, that the three Christian communions, Roman Catholic, Greekschismatic, and Anglican, however separated and divided from one another, nevertheless with equal right claim for themselves the name Catholic. Admission, therefore, into that society is open to all, wheresoever they may live, Catholics, Greek-schismatics, and Anglicans, under this condition, however, that no one is permitted to raise a question about the various forms of doctrine in which they disagree, and that it is right for each individual to follow with tranquil soul what is acceptable to his own religious creed. Indeed, the society itself indicates to all its members the prayers to be recited, and to the priests the sacrifices to be celebrated according to its own intention: namely, that the said three Christian communions, inasmuch as they, as it is alleged, together now constitute the Catholic Church, may at some time or other unite to form one body … The foundation on which this society rests is of such a nature that it makes the divine establishment of the Church of no consequence. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2885–2886. Pius IX. Letter of the Holy Office to the Bishops of England, September 16, 1864)

• One cannot tolerate that faithful or clergy pray for Christian unity under the leadership of heretics, according to an intention infected with heresy

For, it is wholly in this: that it supposes the true Church of Jesus Christ to be composed partly of the Roman Church scattered and propagated throughout the whole world, partly, indeed, of the schism of Photius, and of the Anglican heresy, to which, as well as to the Roman Church, ‘there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism’(cf. Eph 4:5). Surely nothing should be preferable to a Catholic man than that schisms and dissensions among Christians be torn out by the roots and that all Christians be ‘careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’ (Eph 4:3) But, that the faithful of Christ and the clergy should pray for Christian unity under the leadership of heretics, and, what is worse, according to an intention, polluted and infected as much as possible with heresy, can in no way be tolerated. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2886–2887. Pius IX. Letter of the Holy Office to the Bishops of England, September 16, 1864)

• The necessity to anathemize those who alter the Gospel of Christ, spreading false doctrines and betraying the depository of the faith

Ever since the origins of the early Church, due to the necessity that the faith of the elect be proven like gold in the fire, the Apostle, vessel of election, wished to warn the faithful that if someone arise, of those who alter and amend the Gospel of Christ, spreading false doctrines and betraying the depository of the faith, even if it was an angel who evangelized something other than he had, it would be necessary to anathemize him. (Pius IX. Apostolic letter Ad apostolicae sedis, August 22, 1851)

…judges Francis’ idea on Ecumenical dialogue

• It is Christian charity to snatch others from the darkness of error in which they lie, and lead them back to Catholic truth

But, God forbid that the sons of the Catholic Church ever in any way be hostile to those who are not joined with us in the same bonds of faith and love; but rather they should always be zealous to seek them out and aid them, whether poor, or sick, or afflicted with any other burdens, with all the offices of Christian charity; and they should especially endeavor to snatch them from the darkness of error in which they unhappily lie, and lead them back to Catholic truth and to the most loving Mother the Church, who never ceases to stretch out her maternal hands lovingly to them, and to call them back to her bosom so that, established and firm in faith, hope, and charity, and ‘being fruitful in every good work’ (Col 1,10), they may attain eternal salvation. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2867. Pius IX. Encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore, no. 8, August 10, 1863)

• It is our duty to cut and uproot the noxious weeds we perceive growing: the spreading of false doctrines and the betraying of the depository of the faith

We believe it our duty and office to cut and uproot the noxious weeds we perceive growing, so that they do not take root and spread damage in the field of the Lord. Certainly, ever since the origins of the early Church, due to the necessity that the faith of the elect be proven like gold in the fire, the Apostle, vessel of election, wished to warn the faithful that if someone arise, of those who alter and amend the Gospel of Christ, spreading false doctrines and betraying the depository of the faith, even if it was an angel who evangelized something other than he had, it would be necessary to anathemize him. (Pius IX. Apostolic letter Ad apostolicae sedis, August 22, 1851)

• Perverse is the shocking theory that it makes no difference to which religion one belongs

Also perverse is the shocking theory that it makes no difference to which religion one belongs, a theory which is greatly at variance even with reason. By means of this theory, those crafty men remove all distinction between virtue and vice, truth and error, honorable and vile action. They pretend that men can gain eternal salvation by the practice of any religion, as if there could ever be any sharing between justice and iniquity, any collaboration between light and darkness, or any agreement between Christ and Belial. (Pius IX. Encyclical Qui pluribus, no. 9, November 9, 1846)

…judges Francis’ idea on Catholic Faith and Lutheran belief

• In their deceit the sects repeatedly declare to be only another form of the same true religion of Christ

You are aware indeed, that the goal of this most iniquitous plot […] This is why they try to draw the Italian people over to Protestantism, which in their deceit they repeatedly declare to be only another form of the same true religion of Christ, thereby just as pleasing to God. Meanwhile they know full well that the chief principle of the Protestant tenets, i.e., that the holy scriptures are to be understood by the personal judgment of the individual, will greatly assist their impious cause. (Pius IX. Encyclical Nostis et nobiscum, no. 6, December 8, 1849)

• Condemned as an error: To state that protestantism is nothing else than a different form of the same true Christian religion

[Condemned error] 18 – Protestantism is nothing else than a different form of the same true Christian religion, in which it is possible to serve God as well as in the Catholic Church. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2918. Pius IX, Syllabus or collection of modern errors, December 8, 1864)

• Necessity to anathemize those who alter the Gospel spreading false doctrines, betraying the depository of the faith

Ever since the origins of the early Church, due to the necessity that the faith of the elect be proven like gold in the fire, the Apostle, vessel of election, wished to warn the faithful that if someone arise, of those who alter and amend the Gospel of Christ, spreading false doctrines and betraying the depository of the faith, even if it was an angel who evangelized something other than he had, it would be necessary to anathemize him. (Pius IX. Apostolic Letter Ad Apostolicae Sedis, August 22, 1851)

• Those who are visibly separated from Catholic unity are not part of the Church

Now, however, one who carefully considers and reflects on the condition in which the diverse and mutually disagreeing religious societies that are separated from the Catholic Church find themselves… should be able very easily to convince himself that no particular one of those societies or even all of them joined together in any way constitute and are that one and catholic Church that Christ the Lord established, constituted, and willed to exist, nor can they in any way be said to be a member or part of the same Church, because they are visibly separated from the Catholic unity. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2998. Pius IX, Apostolic letter Iam vos omnes, September 13, 1864)

…judges Francis’ idea on proclaiming the Gospel

• It is the mission of the Bishop to defend the flock from the snares of the enemy

We are fully confident that you, our beloved sons and venerable brothers, strengthened by the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, will continue steadfast in your outstanding Episcopal zeal. With one mind and heart and with redoubled dedication, may you persist in defending the House of Israel, may you fight the good fight for the faith and defend from the snares of the enemy the faithful entrusted to your care. Admonish and exhort them to be strong in our sacred faith, without which it is impossible to please God. Urge them to persevere firmly established in our divine religion, which alone is true and eternal and prepares for salvation and even, to a very great extent, preserves and prospers civil society. (Pius IX. Encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore, no. 13, August 10, 1863)

• We live in a corrupt and pestilent atmosphere and must preserve ourselves to not be contaminated by false doctrines

In these times of confusion and disorder, it is not unusual to see Christians, Catholics – even within the secular clergy and cloisters – who constantly have a word of conformity, of conciliation and negotiation on their lips. Very well! I do not hesitate to declare: these men are in error, and do not consider them to be the lesser enemies of the Church. We live in a corrupt and pestilent atmosphere and we must know how to preserve ourselves from it. Let us not allow ourselves to be contaminated by false doctrines, which lose all things under the pretext of saving all. (Pius IX. Speech in the Church of Aracoeli, September 17, 1861)

…judges Francis’ idea on the pastor

• Do not be contaminated by false doctrines that lose all things under the pretext of saving all

We live in a corrupt and pestilent atmosphere; we must know how to preserve ourselves from it. Let us not allow ourselves to be contaminated by false doctrines, which lose all things under the pretext of saving all. (Pius IX. Speech in the Church of Aracoeli, September 17, 1861)

• It is better to have fewer upright ministers than many who accomplish nothing for the Church

However, priests are the best examples of piety and Gods worship (Council of Trent, session 22, Ch. 1), and people tend generally to be of the same quality as their priests. Therefore devote the greatest care and zeal to making the clergy resplendent for the earnestness of their morals, the integrity, holiness and wisdom of their lives. Let the ecclesiastical training be zealously preserved in compliance with the sacred canons, and whenever it has been neglected, let it be restored to its former splendor. Therefore, as you are well aware, you must take the utmost care, as the Apostle commands, not to impose hands on anyone in haste. Consecrate with holy orders and promote to the performance of the sacred mysteries only those who have been carefully examined and who are virtuous and wise. They can consequently benefit and ornament your dioceses. These are men who avoid everything which is forbidden to clerics, devoting their time instead to reading, exhorting and teaching, an example to the faithful in word, manner of life, in charity, in faith, in chastity (Tim 4:12). They win the highest respect from all men, and fashion, summon forth and inspire the people with the Christian way of life. For it would certainly be better, as Benedict XIV, Our Predecessor of undying memory very wisely advises, to have fewer ministers if they be upright, suitable and useful, than many who are likely to accomplish nothing at all for the building up of the body of Christ, which is the Church (Benedict XIV, Encyclical Ubi primum). (Pius IX. Encyclical Qui pluribus, no. 23 – 24, November 9, 1846)

Saint Augustine

• The shepherd who lives a wicked life is a murderer of the sheep entrusted to his care

But the wicked shepherds do not spare such sheep. It is not enough that they neglect those that are ill and weak, those that go stray and are lost. They even try, so far as it is in their power, to kill the strong and healthy. Yet such sheep live; yes, by God’s mercy they live. As for the wicked shepherds themselves, they kill the sheep. “How do they kill them?” you ask. By their wicked lives and by giving bad example. Or was God’s servant, who was high among the members of the chief shepherd, told this in vain: Show yourself as an example of good works toward all men, and, Be an example to the faithful? Even the strong sheep, if he turns his eyes from the Lord’s laws and looks at the man set over him, notices when his shepherd is living wickedly and begins to say in his heart: “If my pastor lives like that, why should I not live like him?” The wicked shepherd kills the strong sheep. But if he kills the strong one what does he do to the rest? After all, by his wicked life he kills even the sheep he had not strengthened but had found strong and hardy. I appeal to your love, and again I say, even if the sheep have life and if they are strong in the word of the Lord, and if they hold fast to what they have heard from their Lord, Do what they say but not what they do. Still, as far as he himself is concerned, the shepherd who lives a wicked life before the people kills the sheep under his care. Let such a shepherd not deceive himself because the sheep is not dead, for though it still lives, he is a murderer. (Saint Augustine. Sermon 46 on Pastors, Ez 34:1-16, no. 4, 9 – English)

…judges Francis’ idea on new forms of poverty

• Real charity: to snatch people from the darkness of error and lead them back to Catholic truth

God forbid that the children of the Catholic Church should even in any way be unfriendly to those who are not at all united to us by the same bonds of faith and love. […] they should especially endeavor to snatch them from the darkness of error in which they unhappily lie, and lead them back to Catholic truth and to the most loving Mother the Church, who never ceases to stretch out her maternal hands lovingly to them, and to call them back to her bosom so that, […] they may gain eternal salvation. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2867. Pius IX. Encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863)

…judges Francis’ idea that Jesus is only mercy

• Urge them to persevere firmly established in our divine religion!

We are fully confident that you, our beloved sons and venerable brothers, strengthened by the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, will continue steadfast in your outstanding Episcopal zeal. With one mind and heart and with redoubled dedication, may you persist in defending the House of Israel, may you fight the good fight for the faith and defend from the snares of the enemy the faithful entrusted to your care. Admonish and exhort them to be strong in our sacred faith, without which it is impossible to please God. Urge them to persevere firmly established in our divine religion, which alone is true and eternal and prepares for salvation and even, to a very great extent, preserves and prospers civil society. (Pius IX. Encyclical Quanto Conficiamur, no. 13, August 10, 1863)

…judges Francis’ idea that Koran is a book of peace

• Comparing the religion revealed by God with other religions is to pretend agreement between Christ and Belial

You already know well, venerable brothers, the other portentous errors and deceits by which the sons of this world try most bitterly to attack the Catholic religion. […] Also perverse is the shocking theory that it makes no difference to which religion one belongs, a theory which is greatly at variance even with reason. By means of this theory, those crafty men remove all distinction between virtue and vice, truth and error, honorable and vile action. They pretend that men can gain eternal salvation by the practice of any religion, as if there could ever be any sharing between justice and iniquity, any collaboration between light and darkness, or any agreement between Christ and Belial. (Pius IX. Encyclical Qui pluribus, no. 13.14, November 9, 1846)

• Those who live separated from the true faith cannot attain eternal life

And here, beloved Sons and Venerable Brothers, We should mention again and censure a very grave error in which some Catholics are unhappily engaged, who believe that men living in error, and separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life. Indeed, this is certainly quite contrary to Catholic teaching. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2865. Pius IX. Encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863)

…judges Francis’ idea on adulterine unions

• Any other union of man and woman, except the sacramental union, is nothing else than concubinage

No Catholic is ignorant or cannot know that matrimony is truly and properly one of the seven sacraments of the evangelical law, instituted by Christ the Lord, and that for that reason, there can be no marriage between the faithful without there being at one and the same time a sacrament, and that, therefore, any other union of man and woman among Christians, except the sacramental union, even if contracted under the power of any civil law, is nothing else than a disgraceful and death-bringing concubinage very frequently condemned by the Church, and, hence, that the sacrament can never be separated from the conjugal agreement. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2998. Pius IX. Allocution Acerbissimum vobiscum, September 27, 1852)

…judges Francis’ idea on good-will replacing theological investigation

• To pretend that men can gain eternal salvation in any religion, is to pretend agreement between Christ and Belial

You already know well, venerable brothers, the other portentous errors and deceits by which the sons of this world try most bitterly to attack the Catholic religion […] Also perverse is the shocking theory that it makes no difference to which religion one belongs, a theory which is greatly at variance even with reason. By means of this theory, those crafty men remove all distinction between virtue and vice, truth and error, honorable and vile action. They pretend that men can gain eternal salvation by the practice of any religion, as if there could ever be any sharing between justice and iniquity, any collaboration between light and darkness, or any agreement between Christ and Belial. (Pius IX. Encyclical Qui Pluribus, no. 9, November 9, 1846)

• In their deceit they repeatedly declare Protestantism to be only another form of the same true religion of Christ, thereby just as pleasing to God

You are aware indeed, that the goal of this most iniquitous plot. […] This is why they try to draw the Italian people over to Protestantism, which in their deceit they repeatedly declare to be only another form of the same true religion of Christ, thereby just as pleasing to God. Meanwhile they know full well that the chief principle of the Protestant tenets, i.e., that the holy scriptures are to be understood by the personal judgment of the individual, will greatly assist their impious cause. (Pius IX. Encyclical Nostis et nobiscum, no. 4, December 8, 1849)

• Mutually disagreeing religious societies separated from the Catholic Church can in no way be said to be part of the same Church

Now, however, on who carefully considers and reflects on the condition in which the diverse and mutually disagreeing religious societies that are separated from the Catholic Church find themselves […] should be able very easily to convince himself that no particular one of those societies or even all of them joined together in any way constitute and are that one and catholic Church that Christ the Lord established, constituted, and willed to exist, nor can they in any way be said to be a member or part of the same Church, because they are visibly separated from Catholic unity. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2998. Pius IX, Apostolic letter Iam Vos Omnes, September 13, 1864)

• Condemnation from the Syllabus

[Errors related to the recognition of Protestantism as a true religion] Divine revelation is imperfect, and therefore subject to continuous and indefinite progress, which corresponds to the progress of human reason. […] Protestantism is nothing else than a different form of the same true Christian religion, in which it is possible to serve God as well as in the Catholic Church. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2905; 2918. Pius IX, Syllabus: a collection of errors proscribed in diverse documents, December 8, 1864)

• A very grave error: to believe that men living in error and separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity can attain eternal life

And here, beloved Sons and Venerable Brothers, We should mention again and censure a very grave error in which some Catholics are unhappily engaged, who believe that men living in error, and separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life [see no. 1717]. Indeed, this is certainly quite contrary to Catholic teaching. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2865. Pius IX, Encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863)

…judges Francis’ idea on family

• Condemned errors regarding Christina matrimony

In no way can it be asserted that Christ raised matrimony to the dignity of a Sacrament.
The Sacrament of matrimony is nothing but an appendage to the contract and separable from it, and the Sacrament itself consists merely in the nuptial blessing.

By natural law the bond of matrimony is not indissoluble, and in various cases divorce, properly so-called, can be sanctioned by civil authority. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2965-2967. Pius IX, Collection of errors proscribed in diverse documents, § VIII, Errors pertaining to Christian marriage, December 8, 1864)

• The family is the fruit of Matrimony – any other union outside of the Sacrament is nothing else but shameful concubinage

Among the faithful there cannot be a true marriage that is not at the same time a Sacrament; and therefore among Christians any other union of a man and a woman outside of the Sacrament, even if it is made in accordance with civil law, is nothing else but a shameful and deadly concubinage. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2991. Pius IX, Allocution Acerbissimum nobiscum, September 27, 1852)

…judges Francis’ idea that sin forms a part of religious life

• Religious are distinguished for their doctrine, adorned with virtue, aflame with burning love for God and men

Among the chief goals of Our Apostolic ministry is to embrace your religious families with fatherly love, giving them Our most zealous attention, support and protection, and planning and providing for their greater good and dignity. For your Orders were founded by extremely holy men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for the greater glory of Almighty God and for the salvation of souls. In this, the founders were encouraged by this holy See. By their many different forms, they adorn the Church with variety. As the select auxiliary troops among the soldiers of Christ, they have always been of very great benefit, adornment and protection to both the Christian and the civil commonwealth. Their members, called by God despise all earthly things with their sublime unconquerable spirit. In regarding only heavenly things, they devote themselves to and accomplish with noble toil those important works which are an excellent service to the Catholic Church and civil society. From their beginnings, the religious families have been noted for their talented members who excel in every sort of teaching and learning. These are virtuous and distinguished men of high offices, aflame with burning love for God and men, and superb examples to the world, to angels and to men. They wished nothing more than to meditate on divine things day and night and to endure suffering in imitation of Jesus. They wished also to spread the Catholic faith and teaching and to fight bravely for it, eagerly enduring bitterness, torture, and punishment. They were even willing to sacrifice their very life to bring primitive savage peoples out of the darkness of error, ferocious customs, and the mud of vices to the light of Gospel truth, the practice of virtue, and the pursuits of civil society. They also developed and supported letters, studies, and arts, thus protecting them from perishing. They formed the tender minds and malleable hearts of the young by instilling in them sound teaching. In addition, they recalled the wandering to the path of salvation. Furthermore, since they are merciful, they have practiced every sort of heroic charity at the risk of their lives. This enables them to lovingly provide aid for those who are captive in jail, those who are sick or dying and all who are wretched in want or struck by disaster; they hope to lessen their pain, wipe away their tears, and look after their needs with their entire resources and efforts. (Pius IX. Encyclical Ubi primum arcano, no. 1, June 17, 1847)

…judges Francis’ idea that catholics and muslims adore the same God

• God can neither deceive nor be deceived

For who does not know, or cannot know that all faith is to be given to God who speaks, and that nothing is more suitable to reason itself than to acquiesce and firmly adhere to those truths which it has been established were revealed by God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived? (Denzinger-Hünermann 2778. Pius IX, Encyclical Faith and Reason Qui pluribus, November 9, 1846)

…judges Francis’ idea on sects forming part of the Church

• No other Church is Catholic except the one founded on Peter

The true Church of Jesus Christ was established by divine authority, and is known by a fourfold mark, which we assert in the Creed must be believed; and each one of these marks so clings to the others that it cannot be separated from them; hence it happens that that Church which truly is, and is called Catholic should at the same time shine with the prerogatives of unity, sanctity, and apostolic succession. Therefore, the Catholic Church alone is conspicuous and perfect in the unity of the whole world and of all nations, particularly in that unity whose beginning, root, and unfailing origin are that supreme authority and ‘higher principality’ of blessed Peter, the prince of the Apostles, and of his successors in the Roman Chair. No other Church is Catholic except the one which, founded on the one Peter, grows into one ‘body compacted and fitly joined together’ (Eph 4:16). (Denzinger-Hünermann 2888. Pius IX, Letter of the Sacred Office to the bishops of England, September 16, 1864)

• Schisms to be torn out by the roots; care not to be infected with heresy

Surely nothing should be preferable to a Catholic man than that schisms and dissensions among Christians be torn out by the roots and that all Christians be ‘careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’ (Eph 4:3). But, that the faithful of Christ and the clergy should pray for Christian unity under the leadership of heretics, and, what is worse, according to an intention, polluted and infected as much as possible with heresy, can in no way be tolerated. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2887. Pius IX, Letter of the Sacred Office to the bishops of England, September 16, 1864)

…judges Francis’ idea that Christians should always humble themselves

• It is perverse to attempt to suppress the power of the Catholic Church over all nations and peoples, even to the end of the world

According to the duty of Our Apostolic Ministry, and following the illustrious example of Our Predecessors, We raised Our voice, and in many published Encyclical Letters and Allocutions delivered in Consistory, and other Apostolic Letters, we condemned the chief errors of this most unhappy age, and we excited your admirable episcopal vigilance, and we again and again admonished and exhorted all sons of the Catholic Church, to us most dear, that they should altogether abhor and flee from the contagion of so dire a pestilence. […] But, although we have not omitted often to proscribe and reprobate the chief errors of this kind, yet the cause of the Catholic Church, and the salvation of souls entrusted to us by God, and the welfare of human society itself, altogether demand that we again stir up your pastoral solicitude to exterminate other evil opinions, which spring forth from the said errors as from a fountain. Which false and perverse opinions are on that ground the more to be detested, because they chiefly tend to this, that that salutary influence be impeded and (even) removed, which the Catholic Church, according to the institution and command of her Divine Author, should freely exercise even to the end of the world — not only over private individuals, but over nations, peoples, and their sovereign princes. (Pius IX. Encyclical Cuanta Cura, No. 2-3, December 8, 1846)

…judges Francis’ vision on the divorced who re-marry

• Any other union of man and woman among Christians, except the sacramental union, is nothing else than concubinage

Because no Catholic is ignorant or cannot know that matrimony is truly and properly one of the seven sacraments of the evangelical law, instituted by Christ the Lord, and that for that reason, there can be no m no Catholic is ignorant or cannot arriage between the faithful without there being at one and the same time a sacrament, and that, therefore, any other union of man and woman among Christians, except the sacramental union, even if contracted under the power of any civil law, is nothing else than a disgraceful and death-bringing concubinage very frequently condemned by the Church, and, hence, that the sacrament can never be separated from the conjugal agreement. (Denzinger -Hünermann 2998. Pius IX. Allocution Acerbissimum vobiscum, September 27, 1857)

…judges Francis’ idea on the indissolubility of marriage

• A pagan married to an unfaithful pagan may make use of the Pauline Privilege in converting

Marriage between a Christian and a pagan should be avoided at all cost; however, if previous to the obtaining the dispensation of the disparity of cult from the Holy See, a marriage of this type occurs, it is known to be indissoluble with respect to the bond, and that there will only be a possibility of incurring separation of co-habitation, in the case that there exists canonical motives under the ecclesiastical judge. Therefore, never, as long as the unfaithful husband lives, even if it be in concubinage, may the Christian woman contract a marriage. When, however, one refers to a pagan that is the spouse of a pagan who lives in concubinage, and who converts (the woman), then she may use the privilege granted in favor of the faith, after having made the interpellation (as before – for the dispensation), the other not wishing to convert or cohabitate without offense to the Creator, and consequently does not renounce to continue living in concubinage – something that evidently cannot occur without an offense of the Creator. (Pius IX. Instruction Propositis dubiis of the Holy Office to the Apostolic Vicar of Siangyang, China, July 4, 1855)

…judges Francis’ idea on divorcees as Godparents

• Any other union except the sacramental union is nothing else than disgraceful concubinage

Because no Catholic is ignorant or cannot know that matrimony is truly and properly one of the seven sacraments of the evangelical law, instituted by Christ the Lord, and that for that reason, there can be no marriage between the faithful without there being at one and the same time a sacrament, and that, therefore, any other union of man and woman among Christians, except the sacramental union, even if contracted under the power of any civil law, is nothing else than a disgraceful and death-bringing concubinage very frequently condemned by the Church, and, hence, that the sacrament can never be separated from the conjugal agreement (see n. 1773), and that it pertains absolutely to the power of the Church to discern those things which can pertain in any way to the same matrimony. (Denzinger 1640. Pius IX. Allocution Acerbissimum vobiscum, September 27, 1852)

…judges Francis’ idea on offering rosaries

• How many times the Rosary be said, so much more sure will be the protection of the Virgin

How many times and with how much fervor the prayers of the Rosary be said, so much more sure will be the protection of the Virgin in favor of the Christian people. (Pius IX. Decree Proditum est, February 8, 1875)

…judges Francis’ words that it was not an offense accepting the Cross in the form of a communist symbol

• Socialism and communism: wicked theories and perverted teachings

You are aware indeed, that the goal of this most iniquitous plot is to drive people to overthrow the entire order of human affairs and to draw them over to the wicked theories of this Socialism and Communism, by confusing them with perverted teachings. But these enemies realize that they cannot hope for any agreement with the Catholic Church, which allows neither tampering with truths proposed by faith, nor adding any new human fictions to them. This is why they try to draw the Italian people over to Protestantism, which in their deceit they repeatedly declare to be only another form of the same true religion of Christ, thereby just as pleasing to God. (Pius IX. Encyclical Nostis et Nobiscum, no. 6, December 8, 1849)

…judges Francis’ ideas on faith being revolutionary

• To resist authority is to resist the ordering made by God Himself

Take pains to impress on the Christian people a due obedience and subjection to rulers and governments. Do this by teaching, in accordance with the warning of the Apostle (Rom 12:1-2), that all authority comes from God. Whoever resists authority resists the ordering made by God Himself, consequently achieving his own condemnation; disobeying authority is always sinful except when an order is given which is opposed to the laws of God and the Church. (Pius IX. Encyclical Qui Pluribus, no. 22, November 19, 1846)

• The very nature of human society obligates its members to obey the lawfully established authority

Therefore, warn your faithful that the very nature of human society obligates its members to obey its lawfully established authority; nothing in the precepts of the Lord on this subject, which are proclaimed in holy scripture, can be altered. For it is written: ‘Be subject to every human institution for God’s sake, to the king as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish wrongdoers and to praise those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing right, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Be as free men, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but be as servants of God’ (1Pet 2:13f). And again: ‘Let ever soul be subject to the higher authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, he who resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur their own condemnation’ (Rom 13:1f). (Pius IX. Encyclical Nostis et nobiscum, no. 19, November 19, 1846)

…judges Francis’ ideas on the Church closed and ailing

• Beware of those who, in clothing of sheep, deprave the minds of the imprudent and distance men from religion

To this end also tend the most dark designs of men in the clothing of sheep, while inwardly ravening wolves. They humbly recommend themselves by means of a feigned and deceitful appearance of a purer piety, a stricter virtue and discipline; after taking their captives gently, they mildly bind them, and then kill them in secret. They make men fly in terror from all practice of religion, and they cut down and dismember the sheep of the Lord. […] They spread pestilential doctrines everywhere and deprave the minds especially of the imprudent, occasioning great losses for religion. (Pius IX. Encyclical Qui pluribus, no. 17, November 9, 1846)

• Enemies of all truth strive both openly and deceitfully with plots to shake the Catholic religion

You know as We do, venerable brothers, the recent wrongdoing which has strengthened some wretched enemies of all truth, justice and honor, who strive both openly and deceitfully with plots of every sort to spread their disorders everywhere among the faithful people of Italy. These disorders include the unbridled license of thinking, speaking and hearing every impious matter. They spread these like the foaming waves of a savage sea, and they exert themselves not only to shake the Catholic religion in Italy itself, but if possible to utterly destroy it. (Pius IX. Encyclical Nostis et nobiscum, no. 1, December 8, 1849)

• Fearlessly defend the cause of God and His holy Church never tolerating anything which could defile the purity of this faith

Indeed, We especially call forth in the Lord your own illustrious piety, virtue and prudence, venerable brothers. With these and relying on heavenly aid, you may fearlessly defend the cause of God and His holy Church as befits your station and the office for which you are marked. You must fight energetically, since you know very well what great wounds the undefiled Spouse of Christ Jesus has suffered, and how vigorous is the destructive attack of Her enemies. You must also care for and defend the Catholic faith with episcopal strength and see that the flock entrusted to you stands to the end firm and unmoved in the faith. For unless one preserves the faith entire and uninjured, he will without doubt perish forever (Ex Symbolo Quicumque). So, in accordance with your pastoral care, work assiduously to protect and preserve this faith. Never cease to instruct all men in it […] to convince dissenters, […] by never tolerating and letting pass anything which could in the slightest degree defile the purity of this faith. (Pius IX. Encyclical Qui pluribus, no. 17, November 9, 1846)

…judges Francis’ ideas on the norms of the Church

• See to it with firmness that the holy laws of the Church are observed

See to it with similar firmness that the most holy laws of the Church are observed, for it is by these laws that virtue, religion and piety particularly thrive and flourish. It is an act of great piety to expose the concealments of the impious and to defeat there the devil himself, whose slaves they are (Saint Leo, sermon 8.4). Therefore We entreat you to use every means of revealing to your faithful people the many kinds of plot, pretense, error, deceit and contrivance which our enemies use. This will turn them carefully away from infectious books. Also exhort them unceasingly to flee from the sects and societies of the impious as from the presence of a serpent, earnestly avoiding everything which is at variance with the wholeness of faith, religion and morality. Therefore, never stop preaching the Gospel, so that the Christian people may grow in the knowledge of God by being daily better versed in the most holy precepts of the Christian law; as a result, they may turn from evil, do good, and walk in the ways of the Lord. (Pius IX. Encyclical Qui pluribus, no. 20, November 9, 1846)

…judges Francis’ ideas present in Laudate Si‘

• A very grave error: to believe that men living in error, and separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life

And here, beloved Sons and Venerable Brothers, We should mention again and censure a very grave error in which some Catholics are unhappily engaged, who believe that men living in error, and separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life. Indeed, this is certainly quite contrary to Catholic teaching. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2865. Pius IX, Encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863)

• Errors condemned by the Syllabus

15. Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which he, led by the light of reason, thinks to be the true religion (8, 26).
In the worship of any religion whatever, men can find the way to eternal salvation, and can attain eternal salvation (1, 3, 17).
The Roman Pontiff can and should reconcile and adapt himself to progress, liberalism, and the modern civilization (24). (Denzinger-Hünermann 2915-2916; 2980. Pius IX, Syllabus – compromising the particular errors of our age, December 8, 1864)

…judges Francis’ idea that the Pope should not judge

• Words of conformity constitute an error and a danger for the Church

In these times of confusion and disorder, it is not unusual to see Christians, Catholics —even within the secular clergy and cloisters— who constantly have a word of conformity, of conciliation and negotiation on their lips. Very well! I do not hesitate to declare: these men are in error, and do not consider them to be the lesser enemies of the Church. We live in a corrupt and pestilent atmosphere and we must know how to preserve ourselves from it. Let us not allow ourselves to be contaminated by false doctrines, which lose all things under the pretext of saving all. (Pius IX. Speech in the Church of Aracoeli, September 17, 1861)

… judges Francis’ ideas on the evangelization of the Americas

• Spain was great because it founded its grandeur in propagating the Christian religion

Spain has always showed a special predilection for this Apostolic See and has sought to take Christian civilization to all nations of the globe. The Spanish flag has flown in the seas of America, India and other regions, to manifest that it was a symbol of the faith of Jesus Christ, differently than the tricolored flag [of the French Revolution] that represented and produced all of that which we all know. That is why Spain was great in former times, because it founded its grandeur in propagating the Christian religion, serving and defending it, and making all kinds of sacrifices to this end. (Pius IX. Address in response to the homage of Spanish pilgrims on the occasion of the XXV Anniversary of his Pontificate, June 20, 1870)

…judges Francis’ idea on Communism

• Unspeakable doctrine opposed to the natural law

To this goal also tends the unspeakable doctrine of Communism, as it is called, a doctrine most opposed to the very natural law. For if this doctrine were accepted, the complete destruction of everyone’s laws, government, property, and even of human society itself would follow. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2786. Pius IX. Encyclical Qui pluribus, November 9, 1846)

• Deceitful men who desire to eliminate entirely the doctrine and influence of the Catholic Church

And, not content with removing religion from public society, they wish even to banish religion itself from private families. For, teaching and professing that most deadly error of communism and socialism, they assert that ‘domestic society or the family borrows the whole reason for its existence from the civil law alone; and, hence, all rights of parents over their children, especially the right of caring for their instruction and education, emanate from and depend wholly on the civil law.’ In these impious opinions and machinations these most deceitful men have this particular intention: that the saving doctrine and power of the Catholic Church be entirely eliminated from the instruction and training of youth […]. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2891-2892. Pius IX, Quanta cura, December 8, 1864)

…judges Francis’ idea on the role of non-christian religions

• To accept religious indifference is to attempt an agreement between Christ and Belial

Also perverse is the shocking theory that it makes no difference to which religion one belongs, a theory which is greatly at variance even with reason. By means of this theory, those crafty men remove all distinction between virtue and vice, truth and error, honorable and vile action. They pretend that men can gain eternal salvation by the practice of any religion, as if there could ever be any sharing between justice and iniquity, any collaboration between light and darkness, or any agreement between Christ and Belial. (Pius IX. Encyclical Qui pluribus, no. 9 November 9, 1946)

• Those separated from the true faith cannot obtain eternal salvation

We should mention again and censure a very grave error in which some Catholics are unhappily engaged, who believe that men living in error, and separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life [see n. 1717]. Indeed, this is certainly quite contrary to Catholic teaching. It is known to Us and to you that they who labor in invincible ignorance of our most holy religion and who, zealously keeping the natural law and its precepts engraved in the hearts of all by God, and being ready to obey God, live an honest and upright life, can, by the operating power of divine light and grace […] But, the Catholic dogma that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church is well-known; and also that those who are obstinate toward the authority and definitions of the same Church, and who persistently separate themselves from the unity of the Church, and from the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, to whom ‘the guardianship of the vine has been entrusted by the Savior,’ cannot obtain eternal salvation. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2865-2867. Pius IX, Encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863)

…judges Francis’ idea on religious liberty

• No distinction between the true religion and false ones: liberty of perdition

For you well know, venerable brethren, that at this time men are found not a few who, applying to civil society the impious and absurd principle of ‘naturalism,’ as they call it, dare to teach that ‘the best constitution of public society and (also) civil progress altogether require that human society be conducted and governed without regard being had to religion any more than if it did not exist; or, at least, without any distinction being made between the true religion and false ones.’ And, against the doctrine of Scripture, of the Church, and of the Holy Fathers, they do not hesitate to assert that […] ‘liberty of conscience and worship is each man’s personal right, which ought to be legally proclaimed and asserted in every rightly constituted society; and that a right resides in the citizens to an absolute liberty, which should be restrained by no authority whether ecclesiastical or civil, whereby they may be able openly and publicly to manifest and declare any of their ideas whatever, either by word of mouth, by the press, or in any other way.’ But, while they rashly affirm this, they do not think and consider that they are preaching ‘liberty of perdition’; (Saint Augustine, epistle 105, 166) and that ‘if human arguments are always allowed free room for discussion, there will never be wanting men who will dare to resist truth, and to trust in the flowing speech of human wisdom; whereas we know, from the very teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, how carefully Christian faith and wisdom should avoid this most injurious babbling. (Pius IX. Encyclical Quanta Cura, December 8, 1864)

• Liberty of every cult leads to the spread of indifferentism

For it is false that the civil liberty of every cult, and likewise, the full power granted to all of manifesting openly and publicly any kind of opinions and ideas, more easily leads to the corruption of the morals and minds of the people, and to the spread of the evil of indifferentism. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2979. Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors: Errors which are related to Modern Liberalism)

…judges Francis’ idea on the essence of divinity

• Condemned: God is the same as the nature of things

[Condemned:] No supreme, all wise, and all provident divine Godhead exists, distinct from this world of things, and God is the same as the nature of things and, therefore, liable to changes; and God comes into being in man and in the universe, and all things are God and they have the same substance of God; and God is one and the same as the world, and therefore, also, spirit is one and the same with matter, necessity with liberty, the true with the false, the good with the evil, and the just with the unjust. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2901. Pius IX. Syllabus of particular errors of our age, 1)

…judges Francis’ idea on the flesh of Christ and poverty as a theological category

• Charity is especially to bring those in error back to the Mystical Body of the Church

But, God forbid that the sons of the Catholic Church ever in any way be hostile to those who are not joined with us in the same bonds of faith and love; […] and they should especially endeavor to snatch them from the darkness of error in which they unhappily lie, and lead them back to Catholic truth and to the most loving Mother the Church, who never ceases to stretch out her maternal hands lovingly to them, and to call them back to her bosom so that, […] they may attain eternal salvation. (Denzinger 1678, Pius IX, Encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863)

…judges Francis’ idea that the Virgin Mary was capable to rebel against God

• United with Christ, the Virgin was, with him and through him, eternally at enmity with the serpent and most completely triumphed over him

These ecclesiastical writers in quoting the words by which at the beginning of the world God announced his merciful remedies prepared for the regeneration of mankind — words by which he crushed the audacity of the deceitful serpent and wondrously raised up the hope of our race, saying, ‘I will put enmities between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed’ (Gen 3:15) — taught that by this divine prophecy the merciful Redeemer of mankind, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was clearly foretold: That his most Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, was prophetically indicated; and, at the same time, the very enmity of both against the evil one was significantly expressed. Hence, just as Christ, the Mediator between God and man, assumed human nature, blotted the handwriting of the decree that stood against us, and fastened it triumphantly to the cross, so the most holy Virgin, united with him by a most intimate and indissoluble bond, was, with him and through him, eternally at enmity with the evil serpent, and most completely triumphed over him, and thus crushed his head with her immaculate foot. (Pius IX. Apostolic Constitution Ineffablilis Deus, December 8, 1854)

…judges Francis’ idea on evil in our times

• We live in a corrupt atmosphere and must know how to preserve ourselves from it

In these times of confusion and disorder, it is not unusual to see Christians, Catholics – even within the secular clergy and cloisters – who constantly have a word of conformity, of conciliation and negotiation on their lips. Very well! I do not hesitate to declare: these men are in error, and do not consider them to be the lesser enemies of the Church. We live in a corrupt and pestilent atmosphere and we must know how to preserve ourselves from it. Let us not allow ourselves to be contaminated by false doctrines, which lose all things under the pretext of saving all. (Pius IX. Speech in the Church of Aracoeli, September 17, 1861)

…judges Francis’ idea on ‘culture of encounter’

• Society cannot enjoy true peace if it is not of one fold and one shepherd.

We send this Letter of Ours to all the Christians from whom We are separated, with which we exhort them warmly and beseech them with insistence to hasten to return to the one fold of Christ; we desire in fact from the depths of the heart their salvation in Christ Jesus, and we fear having to render an account one day to Him, Our Judge, if, through some possibility, we have not pointed out and prepared the way for them to attain eternal salvation. […] And since, if also, we fulfill in the earth the office of Vicar, with all our heart we await with open arms the return of the wayward sons to the Catholic Church, in order to receive them with infinite fondness into the house of the Heavenly Father and to enrich them with its inexhaustible treasures. By our greatest wish for the return to the truth and the communion with the Catholic Church, upon which depends not only the salvation of all of them, but above all also of the whole Christian society: the entire world in fact cannot enjoy true peace if it is not of one fold and one shepherd. (Pius IX. Encyclical Iam Vos Omnes, September 13, 1868)

• The shocking theory of religious indifference removes the difference between virtue and vice, truth and error, honorable and vile action, Christ and Belial

Also perverse is the shocking theory that it makes no difference to which religion one belongs, a theory which is greatly at variance even with reason. By means of this theory, those crafty men remove all distinction between virtue and vice, truth and error, honorable and vile action. They pretend that men can gain eternal salvation by the practice of any religion, as if there could ever be any sharing between justice and iniquity, any collaboration between light and darkness, or any agreement between Christ and Belial. (Pius IX. Encyclical Qui pluribus, no. 15, November 9, 1846)

• There is no more effective remedy for current disasters than to make the Catholic Church flourish in society again

Furthermore, they realize that the evils that afflict us so grievously originate in the losses, which for a long time now, but especially since the rise of Protestantism, have been inflicted on religion and the Catholic Church. They see clearly that when the authority of bishops is oppressed and when increasing numbers of men infringe divine and ecclesiastical commandments without penalty, then the respect of the people for civil authority is likewise diminished. Similarly, the present enemies of public calm instigate revolts against the government more easily. […] They furthermore observe that the long-standing impediments preventing the pastors of the Church from exercising their sacred authority freely are now gradually affecting civil authority. Finally, they observe that there is no readier or more effective remedy for the disasters which harry us than to make religion and the Catholic Church flourish again throughout Italy; in the Church, there is no doubt that men will get immediate and appropriate aid in accordance with their condition and need. (Pius IX. Encyclical Nostis et Nobiscum, nos. 2-3, December 8, 1849)

• Without previous instruction, people might fall into error: sufficiently instruct the laity to recognize the snares laid for them

So that all their efforts may not be fruitless, sufficiently instruct the laity in Christian doctrine and the law of the Lord. Hopefully, they are not too weakened by long license in manifold and increasing vices to be able to recognize the snares laid for them and also the vileness of the errors proposed to them. So We earnestly require you, in your pastoral care, to ceaselessly ensure that the faithful entrusted to you are carefully taught the holy doctrines and precepts of our religion in accordance with their individual capacity; exhort and inspire them in every way to conform their lives and morals to these norms. (Pius IX. Encyclical Nostis et Nobiscum, no. 9, December 8, 1849)

…judges Francis’ idea on the impossibility of finding God with entire certainty

<ul

• Nothing is more certain than the truth of our faith, and nothing is supported on firmer principles

Indeed, human reason, lest it be deceived and err in a matter of so great importance, ought to search diligently for the fact of divine revelation so that it can know with certainty that God has spoken, and so render to Him, as the Apostle so wisely teaches, ‘a rational service’ (Rom 12:1). For who does not know, or cannot know that all faith is to be given to God who speaks, and that nothing is more suitable to reason itself than to acquiesce and firmly adhere to those truths which it has been established were revealed by God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived? But, how many, how wonderful, how splendid are the proofs at hand by which human reason ought to be entirely and most clearly convinced that the religion of Christ is divine, and that ‘every principle of our dogmas has received its root from above, from the Lord of the heavens,’ and that, therefore, nothing is more certain than our faith, nothing more secure, that there is nothing more holy and nothing which is supported on firmer principles. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2778- 2779. Pius IX, Encyclical Qui pluribus, November 9, 1846)

…judges Francis’ idea on new customs among today’s youth

• Union outside marriage profanes the temple of the Holy Spirit

Through marriage, in fact, the love of married people is taken up into that love which Christ irrevocably has for the Church (cf. Eph 5:25-32), while dissolute sexual union defiles the temple of the Holy Spirit which the Christian has become (sexual intercourse outside marriage is formally condemned 1Cor 5:1; 6:9; 7:2; 10:8 Eph. 5:5; 1Tim 1:10; Heb 13:4; and with explicit reasons 1Cor 6:12-20). Sexual union therefore is only legitimate if a definitive community of life has been established between the man and the woman. This is what the Church has always understood and taught (cf. Innocent IV, ‘Sub catholica professione; Pius II, Propos damn in Ep Cum sicut accepimus; decrees of the Holy Office, Sept 24th, 1665, DS 2045; March 2nd, 1679, DS 2148 Pius XI, Casti Connubii, Dec 31st, 1930) and she finds a profound agreement with her doctrine in men’s reflection and in the lessons of history. (Congregation for the Doctrine for the Faith, Declaration Persona humana, no. VII, December 29, 1975)

…judges Francis’ idea on new customs among today’s youth

• Any union other than matrimony, even if contracted under the civil law, is nothing else than concubinage

Because no Catholic is ignorant or cannot know that matrimony is truly and properly one of the seven sacraments of the evangelical law, instituted by Christ the Lord, and that for that reason, there can be no marriage between the faithful without there being at one and the same time a sacrament, and that, therefore, any other union of man and woman among Christians, except the sacramental union, even if contracted under the power of any civil law, is nothing else than a disgraceful and death-bringing concubinage very frequently condemned by the Church, and, hence, that the sacrament can never be separated from the conjugal agreement. (Denzinger 1600 – Pius IX, Allocution Acerbissimum vobiscum, September 27, 1857)

…judges Francis’ idea on the liberty of conscience

• Despite invincible ignorance, it is unlawful to proceed further in inquiry

For, it must be held by faith that outside the Apostolic Roman Church, no one can be savd; that this is the only ark of salvation; that he who shall not have entered therein will perish in the flood; but, on the other hand, it is necessary to hold for certain that they who labor in ignorance of the true religion, if this ignorance is invincible, are not stained by any guilt in this matter in the eyes of God. Now, in truth, who would arrogate so much to himself as to mark the limits of such an ignorance, because of the nature and variety of peoples, regions, innate dispositions, and of so many other things? For, in truth, when released from these corporeal chains ‘we shall see God as He is’ (1 John 3:2), we shall understand perfectly by how close and beautiful a bond divine mercy and justice are united; but, as long as we are on earth, weighed down by this mortal mass which blunts the soul, let us hold most firmly that, in accordance with Catholic teaching, there is ‘one God, one faith, one baptism’ [Eph. 4:5]; it is unlawful to proceed further in inquiry. Despite invincible ignorance, it is unlawful to proceed further in inquiry. (Pius IX. Allocution Singulari quadam, December 9, 1854)

…judges Francis’ idea on First Holy Communion

• The necessity to anathematize those who separate from the faith of Christ

Ever since the origins of the early Church, due to the necessity that the faith of the elect be proven like gold in the fire, the Apostle, vessel of election, wished to warn the faithful that if someone arise, of those who alter and amend the Gospel of Christ, spreading false doctrines and betraying the depository of the faith, even if it was an angel who evangelized something other than he had, it would be necessary to anathemize him. (Pius IX. Apostolic Letter Ad Apostolicae Sedis, August 22, 1851)

…judges Francis’ idea on the harmony of all christian faiths

• To compare the Religion revealed by God with other ‘religions’ is to seek agreement between Christ and Belial

It is with no less deceit, venerable brothers, that other enemies of divine revelation, with reckless and sacrilegious effrontery, want to import the doctrine of human progress into the Catholic religion. […] Also perverse is the shocking theory that it makes no difference to which religion one belongs, a theory which is greatly at variance even with reason. By means of this theory, those crafty men remove all distinction between virtue and vice, truth and error, honorable and vile action. They pretend that men can gain eternal salvation by the practice of any religion, as if there could ever be any sharing between justice and iniquity, any collaboration between light and darkness, or any agreement between Christ and Belial. (Pius IX. Encyclical Qui Pluribus, November 9, 1846)

• It is deceitful to say that one may please God in Protestantism just as in the Catholic Faith

You are aware indeed, that the goal of this most iniquitous plot is […] to draw the Italian people over to Protestantism, which in their deceit they repeatedly declare to be only another form of the same true religion of Christ, thereby just as pleasing to God. Meanwhile they know full well that the chief principle of the Protestant tenets, i.e., that the holy scriptures are to be understood by the personal judgment of the individual, will greatly assist their impious cause. They are confident that they can first misuse the Holy Scriptures by wrong interpretation to spread their errors and claim God’s authority while doing it. Then they can cause men to call into doubt the common principles of justice and honor. (Pius IX. Encyclical Noscitis et nobiscum, December 8, 1849)

• Religious societies separated visibly from the Church are not part of it

Now, whoever carefully considers  and meditates on the state in which the diverse religious societies are found, divided among themselves, and separated from the Catholic Church… will easily be convinced that none of these societies, nor even all of them together, may in any way constitute nor be recognized as that Church, One and Catholic, that Christ the Lord founded and established, and that by His will exists. Nor may they in any way be considered branches or a part of this same Church; since they are visibly separated from the Catholic unity. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2998. Pius IX. Apostolic Letter Iam vos omnes, September 13, 1868)

• Condemnation of the doctrine that considers Protestantism as just a variant of the only true Religion

[Condemned:] 5. Divine revelation is imperfect, and therefore subject to a continual and indefinite progress, corresponding with the advancement of human reason.

[Condemned:] 18. Protestantism is nothing else than a different form of the same true Christian religion, in which it is possible to serve God as well as in the Catholic Church – (Denzinger-Hünermann 2905, 2916. Pius IX. Syllabus of Modern Errors, December 8, 1864)

• Those that live separated from the true Faith do not attain eternal life

 We should mention again and censure a very grave error in which some Catholics are unhappily engaged, who believe that men living in error, and separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life [see n. 1717]. Indeed, this is certainly quite contrary to Catholic teaching. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2865. Pius IX. Encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863)

…judges Francis’ idea on who decides what is good and evil

• Condemned errors regarding natural and Christian ethics

 [Error condemned:] 56. The laws of morals by no means need divine sanction, and there is not the least need that human laws conform to the natural law, or receive the power of binding from God.

[Error condemned:] 57.The science of philosophy and of morals, likewise the civil laws, can and should ignore divine and ecclesiastical authority. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2956-2957. The Syllabus of errors condemned by Pius IX, December 8, 1864)

…judges Francis’ idea on clarity and doctrinal security

• Condemned: the proposition opposed to former theological methods

[Condemned proposition:] The method and principles according to which the ancient scholastic doctors treated theology are by no means suited to the necessities of our times and to the progress of the sciences . (Denzinger-Hünermann 2913. Pius IX, Syllabus of the errors of our times, December 8, 1864)

…judges Francis’ idea on all being saved

• Catholic faith is necessary in order to reach eternal life

In particular, ensure that the faithful are deeply and thoroughly convinced of the truth of the doctrine that the Catholic faith is necessary for attaining salvation. The Catholic laity and clergy should repeatedly offer special thanks to God in public prayers for the priceless gift of the Catholic religion. They should also beseech God to protect the profession of this faith in our country and to keep it unharmed. (Pius IX. Encyclical Noscitis et Nobiscum, December 8, 1849)

• A very grave error of some Catholics: to believe that men living in error can attain eternal life

And here, beloved Sons and Venerable Brothers, We should mention again and censure a very grave error in which some Catholics are unhappily engaged, who believe that men living in error, and separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life. Indeed, this is certainly quite contrary to Catholic teaching. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2865-2867. Pius IX, Encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863)

• No one will be chastised if not guilty of deliberate faults

It is known to Us and to you that they who labor in invincible ignorance of our most holy religion and who, zealously keeping the natural law and its precepts engraved in the hearts of all by God, and being ready to obey God, live an honest and upright life, can, by the operating power of divine light and grace, attain eternal life, since God who clearly beholds, searches, and knows the minds, souls, thoughts, and habits of all men, because of His great goodness and mercy, will by no means suffer anyone to be punished with eternal torment who has not the guilt of deliberate sin.
But, the Catholic dogma that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church is well-known; and also that those who are obstinate toward the authority and definitions of the same Church, and who persistently separate themselves from the unity of the Church, and from the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, to whom ‘the guardianship of the vine has been entrusted by the Savior’, cannot obtain eternal salvation. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2865-2867. Pius IX, Encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863)

• The condemnation of obstinate sinners is an act of justice

[Condemned error:] Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which he, led by the light of reason, thinks to be the true religion. In the worship of any religion whatever, men can find the way to eternal salvation, and can attain eternal salvation.
[Condemned error:] We must have at least good hope concerning the eternal salvation of all those who in no wise are in the true Church of Christ. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2915 – 2917. Pius IX, Syllabus of errors of our age – III Indifferentism, Latitudinarianism, 15-17)

• An impious idea to be removed from the minds of all: eternal salvation can be found in any religion

As Our Apostolic duty, we wish your Episcopal solicitude and vigilance to be aroused, so that you will strive as much as you can to drive from the mind of men that impious and equally fatal opinion, namely, that the way of eternal salvation can be found in any religion whatsoever. May you demonstrate with that skill and learning in which you excel, to the people entrusted to your care that the dogmas of the Catholic faith are in no wise opposed to divine mercy and justice. (Pius IX, Allocution Singulari Quadam, December 9, 1854)

…judges Francis’ idea on the Pope

• Mission to guard the flock from poisoned pastures

With how great care and pastoral vigilance the Roman Pontiffs, our predecessors, fulfilling the duty and office committed to them by the Lord Christ Himself in the person of most Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, of feeding the lambs and the sheep, have never ceased sedulously to nourish the Lord’s whole flock with words of faith and with salutary doctrine, and to guard it from poisoned pastures, is thoroughly known to all, and especially to you, Venerable Brethren. (Pius IX. Encyclical Quanta Cura, no.1, December 8, 1864)

…judges Francis’ idea that the Church should not be a Point of Reference

• It is necessary to anathemize those who spread false doctrines

We believe it our duty and office to cut and uproot the noxious weeds we perceive growing, so that they do not take root and spread damage in the field of the Lord. Certainly, ever since the origins of the early Church, due to the necessity that the faith of the elect be proven like gold in the fire, the Apostle, vessel of election, wished to warn the faithful that if someone arise, of those who alter and amend the Gospel of Christ, spreading false doctrines and betraying the depository of the faith, even if it was an angel who evangelized something other than he had, it would be necessary to anathemize him. (Pius IX, Apostolic Letter Ad Apostolicae Sedis, August 22, 1851)

…judges Francis’ idea on the Re-reading of the Gospel

• The great danger of seeking accord between the Church and the world

In these times of confusion and disorder, it is not unusual to see Christians, Catholics —even within the secular clergy and cloisters— who constantly have a word of conformity, of conciliation and negotiation on their lips. Very well! I do not hesitate to declare: these men are in error, and do not consider them to be the lesser enemies of the Church. We live in a corrupt and pestilent atmosphere and we must know how to preserve ourselves from it. Let us not allow ourselves to be contaminated by false doctrines, which lose all things under the pretext of saving all. (Pius IX. Speech in the Church of Aracoeli, September 17, 1861)

• Condemnation of the doctrines that advocate an alliance with modernity

[Proposition condemned:] The Roman Pontiff can and should reconcile and adapt himself to progress, liberalism, and the modern civilization. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2980. Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors Condemned, no. 80: Errors related to modern liberalism, December 8, 1864)

…judges Francis’ idea on Ascetism and silence in the Spiritual Exercises…

•  Those who perform the Exercises should be free from exterior occupations

Furthermore, you realize that spiritual exercises contribute greatly to the preservation of the dignity and holiness of ecclesiastical orders. Therefore do not neglect to promote this work of salvation and to advise and exhort all clergy to often retreat to a suitable place for making these exercises. Laying aside external cares and being free to meditate zealously on eternal divine matters, they will be able to wipe away stains caused by the dust of the world and renew their ecclesiastical spirit. (Pius IX, Encyclical Qui Pluribus, no. 29, November 9, 1846)

…judges Francis’ idea on proselytism

• Conciliators are enemies of the Church

In these times of confusion and disorder, it is not unusual to see Christians, Catholics – even within the secular clergy and cloisters –who constantly have a word of conformity, of conciliation and negotiation on their lips. Very well! I do not hesitate to declare: these men are in error, and do not consider them to be the lesser enemies of the Church. We live in a corrupt and pestilent atmosphere and we must know how to preserve ourselves from it. Let us not allow ourselves to be contaminated by false doctrines, which lose all things under the pretext of saving all.  (Pius IX, Speech in the Church of Aracoeli, September 17, 1861)

…judges Francis’ idea on fraternal love

• He who lacks interior virtues is unfit for the apostolate

Those who lack or do not practice the interior virtues […] may not be considered sufficiently prepared or armed against the dangers and battles of life, nor able to dedicate themselves to the apostolate; rather, just as a ‘a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal’ (1 Cor 13,1), they either do not benefit an any way, or perhaps even damage the very cause which they seek to sustain and defend, as has notoriously occurred, and not on only one occasion, in the past. (Pius XI. Apostolic Letter Singulare Illud, June 13, 1926)

…judges Francis’ ideas on Peace…

• The Word of Perpetual Conciliation Loses all Things under the Pretext of Saving All

In these times of confusion and disorder, it is not unusual to see Christians, Catholics – even within the secular clergy and cloisters – who constantly have a word of conformity, of conciliation and negotiation on their lips. Very well! I do not hesitate to declare: these men are in error, and do not consider them to be the lesser enemies of the Church. We live in a corrupt and pestilent atmosphere and we must know how to preserve ourselves from it. Let us not allow ourselves to be contaminated by false doctrines, which lose all things under the pretext of saving all. (Pius IX, Speech in the Church of Aracoeli, September 17, 1861)

…judges Francis’ ideas on all being children of God…

• No one May be Saved Outside of the Catholic Church

And here, beloved Sons and Venerable Brothers, We should mention again and censure a very grave error in which some Catholics are unhappily engaged, who believe that men living in error, and separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life. Indeed, this is certainly quite contrary to Catholic teaching. It is known to Us and to you that they who labor in invincible ignorance of our most holy religion and who, zealously keeping the natural law and its precepts engraved in the hearts of all by God, and being ready to obey God, live an honest and upright life, can, by the operating power of divine light and grace. […] But, the Catholic dogma that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church is well-known; and also that those who are obstinate toward the authority and definitions of the same Church, and who persistently separate themselves from the unity of the Church, and from the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, to whom “the guardianship of the vine has been entrusted by the Savior”. (Denzinger-Hünermann 2865-2867. Pius IX, Encyclical Quanto Conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863)

• Dangerous Enemies of the Church

 In these times of confusion and disorder, it is not unusual to see Christians, Catholics – even within the secular clergy and cloisters – who constantly have a word of conformity, of conciliation and negotiation on their lips. Very well! I do not hesitate to declare: these men are in error, and do not consider them to be the lesser enemies of the Church. We live in a corrupt and pestilent atmosphere and we must know how to preserve ourselves from it. Let us not allow ourselves to be contaminated by false doctrines, which lose all things under the pretext of saving all. (Pius IX, Speech in the Church of Aracoeli, September 17, 1861)