The Popes Against Modern Errors Quotes

“the death of the soul is worse than freedom of error,” as Augustine was wont to say.14 When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the narrow path of truth, their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to ruin. Then truly “the bottomless pit” (Apoc. 9:2)”
― Pope Leo XIII, The Popes Against Modern Errors: 16 Papal Documents

“what Cyprian detested may come to pass, that what was a divine thing “may become a human church.”
― Pope Leo XIII, The Popes Against Modern Errors: 16 Papal Documents

“Pope Agatho: “Nothing of the things appointed ought to be diminished; nothing changed; nothing added; but they must be preserved both as regards expression and meaning.”
― Pope Leo XIII, The Popes Against Modern Errors: 16 Papal Documents

“It is with a similar motive that efforts are being made by some, in connection with the New Law promulgated by Christ Our Lord. Assured that there exist few men who are entirely devoid of the religious sense, they seem to ground on this belief a hope that all nations, while differing indeed in religious matters, may yet without great difficulty be brought to fraternal agreement on certain points of doctrine which will form a common basis of the spiritual life. With this object, congresses, meetings and addresses are arranged, attended by a large concourse of hearers, where all without distinction, unbelievers of every kind as well as Christians, even those who unhappily have rejected Christ and denied His divine nature or mission, are invited to join in the discussion. Now, such efforts can meet with no kind of approval among Catholics. They presuppose the erroneous view that all religions are more or less good and praiseworthy, inasmuch as all give expression, under various forms, to that innate sense which leads men to God and to the obedient acknowledgement of His rule. Those who hold such a view are not only in error; they distort the true idea of religion, and thus reject it, falling gradually into naturalism and atheism. To favor this opinion, therefore, and to encourage such undertakings is tantamount to abandoning the religion revealed by God.”
― Pope Leo XIII, The Popes Against Modern Errors: 16 Papal Documents

“These beautiful examples of the unchanging subjection to the princes necessarily proceeded from the most holy precepts of the Christian religion. They condemn the detestable insolence and improbity of those who, consumed with the unbridled lust for freedom, are entirely devoted to impairing and destroying all rights of dominion while bringing servitude to the people under the slogan of liberty.”
― Pope Leo XIII, The Popes Against Modern Errors: 16 Papal Documents

“Every law condemns deliberately doing evil simply because there is some hope that good may result. Is there any sane man who would say poison ought to be distributed, sold publicly, stored and even drunk because some antidote is available and those who use it may be snatched from death again and again?”
― Pope Leo XIII, The Popes Against Modern Errors: 16 Papal Documents

“Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities renowned for wealth, dominion and glory perished as a result of this single evil, namely, immoderate freedom of opinion, license of free speech and desire for novelty.”
― Pope Leo XIII, The Popes Against Modern Errors: 16 Papal Documents

“The branch has the same form when it has been cut off from the vine; but of what profit for it is the form, if it does not live from the root?”
― Pope Leo XIII, The Popes Against Modern Errors: 16 Papal Documents

“It is the papal responsibility to keep the canonical decrees in their place and to evaluate the precepts of previous popes so that when the times demand relaxation in order to rejuvenate the churches, they may be adjusted after diligent consideration.”
― Pope Leo XIII, The Popes Against Modern Errors: 16 Papal Documents

“St. Cyprian wrote: “He who abandons the See of Peter on which the Church was founded, falsely believes himself to be a part of the Church.”
― Pope Leo XIII, The Popes Against Modern Errors: 16 Papal Documents

“by the example of teachers, the minds of the youth are corrupted and a tremendous blow is dealt to religion and the perversion of morals is spread. So the restraints of religion are thrown off, by which alone kingdoms stand. We see the destruction of public order, the fall of principalities and the overturning of all legitimate power approaching. Indeed this great mass of calamities had its inception in the heretical societies and sects in which all that is sacrilegious, infamous and blasphemous has gathered as bilge water in a ship’s hold, a congealed mass of all filth.”
― Pope Leo XIII, The Popes Against Modern Errors: 16 Papal Documents