{"id":145525,"date":"2023-09-17T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-17T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/ask-a-priest-does-the-church-hate-secular-democracy\/"},"modified":"2024-09-17T11:35:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T15:35:00","slug":"ask-a-priest-does-the-church-hate-secular-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/ask-a-priest-does-the-church-hate-secular-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Ask a Priest: Does the Church Hate Secular Democracy?&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<address>Q: Can you explain to me <em>Quanta Cura,<\/em> written by Pope Pius IX? I&#8217;ve been told that by other Catholics that the pope directly critiqued democracy in this document and condemned the Enlightenment as a whole, but I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s the case. The pope seems to condemn secularism. Does the Catholic Church hate secular democracy? I was surprised to see how many people on the Catholic forum seem to want a monarchy. Personally, I think monarchy is an inherently bad idea as it takes away the power of the common man and is based the unjustifiable idea that only direct descendants of the previous ruler should rule a nation. \u2013 L.J.<\/address>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A:\u00a0You are asking about the 1864 encyclical and, in effect, its appendix, the Syllabus of Errors. These became lightning rods for all sorts of criticism in the ensuing decades.<\/p>\n<p>Your question touches on a huge topic that can&#8217;t be dealt with adequately in an e-mail. Suffice it to say that the encyclical and the Syllabus should be understood in the context of their time.<\/p>\n<p>Europe was witnessing a growing nationalism and the rise of powerful secular governments that increasingly dominated aspects of daily life.<\/p>\n<p>Some people who had high hopes for the promise of secular governments were likely aided by short memories about the French Revolution and its Reign of Terror.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Syllabus,\u201d as Catholic journalist Robert P. Lockwood once <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholic.com\/magazine\/print-edition\/the-syllabus-the-controversy-and-the-context\">wrote<\/a>, \u201cattacked a burgeoning concept of state that would find its ultimate fruition in fascism and communism in the 20th century.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In any age, the art of government is a work in progress. The Church offers its insights and critiques, based on Revelation and its deep understanding of humanity.<\/p>\n<p>Pope St. John Paul II, no stranger to communist and fascist dictatorships, famously warned that &#8220;a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism&#8221; (Centesimus Annus, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/content\/john-paul-ii\/en\/encyclicals\/documents\/hf_jp-ii_enc_01051991_centesimus-annus.html#-2L\">46<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Some observers thought his words from 1991 were a bit over the top. Yet, recent history seems to vindicate his concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Think of the rise of &#8220;wokeness&#8221; and cancel culture and the\u00a0pressure to conform to all kinds of progressive agendas. All these have the scent of a rising totalitarianism.<\/p>\n<p>And then there is secularism. Wikipedia defines it as \u201cthe principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion.\u201d That last phrase implies that religion has no place in public life\u2014the kind of idea championed by communism in the 20th century, with grim results.<\/p>\n<p>To go deeper into the topic, check out the above-cited Centesimus Annus. You might also want to look at the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/roman_curia\/pontifical_councils\/justpeace\/documents\/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html#CHAPTER%20EIGHT\">Chapter 8<\/a>, &#8220;The Political Community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I hope some of this helps. Count on my prayers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Q: Can you explain to me Quanta Cura, written by Pope Pius IX? I&#8217;ve been told that by other Catholics that the pope directly critiqued democracy in this document and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":362,"featured_media":145952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3718],"tags":[3849],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-145525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ask-a-priest","tag-general"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.8 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&quot;Ask a Priest: Does the Church Hate Secular Democracy?&quot; - Regnum Christi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/ask-a-priest-does-the-church-hate-secular-democracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;Ask a Priest: Does the Church Hate Secular Democracy?&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Q: Can you explain to me Quanta Cura, written by Pope Pius IX? 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Edward McIlmail, LC","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/485147bd811c2a8642adf1f1806f85f0adef2b00ef8ccabc9b46f8420af19e16?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/485147bd811c2a8642adf1f1806f85f0adef2b00ef8ccabc9b46f8420af19e16?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/485147bd811c2a8642adf1f1806f85f0adef2b00ef8ccabc9b46f8420af19e16?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC"},"description":"Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC, ordained to the priesthood in 2001, taught theology and Scripture at the then Mater Ecclesiae College in Rhode Island and is now a part-time chaplain at Overbrook Academy in Greenville, R.I. He holds degrees from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Connecticut, the Regina Apostolorum Athenaeum in Rome, and Northwestern University in Illinois. He was an assistant publisher of the National Catholic Register and Faith &amp; Family magazine and an editor of the Zenit news agency\u2019s English edition. He has written for\u00a0SpiritualDirection.com\u00a0and\u00a0ePriest. Fr. McIlmail also worked in spiritual retreats in the Northeast, New England, the Midwest, and the South\u00a0and assisted with mission work in Mexico. Born in Philadelphia, he worked in journalism and was active in the pro-life movement before entering the novitiate of the Legion of Christ in 1992. His contributions to RCSpirituality include responding to\u00a0Ask A Priest\u00a0questions and sharing his insights in our\u00a0Weekly Newsletter.","url":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/author\/emcilmail\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/362"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145525"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=145525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}