ATHEISTIC

COMMUNISM



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in 2016

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ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM

Encyclical Letter

of

HIS HOLINESS POPE PIUS XI

(With Discussion Club Outline)

New York

THE PAULIST PRESS

401 West 59th Street



2 ENCYCLICAL

I

ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH TOWARDS

COMMUNISM

PREVIOUS CONDEMNATIONS

4. In the face of such a threat the Catholic Church could

not and does not remain silent. This Apostolic See, above all,

has not refrained from raising its voice, for it knows that its

proper and special mission is to defend truth, justice and all those

eternal values which Communism ignores or attacks. Ever since

the days when groups of “intellectuals” were formed in an arro-

gant attempt to free civilization from the bonds of morality and

religion, Our Predecessors overtly and explicitly drew the atten-

tion of the world to the consequences of the de-Christianization of

human society. With reference to Communism, Our venerable

Predecessor, Pius IX, of holy memory, as early as 1846 pro-

nounced a solemn condemnation, which he confirmed in the words

of the Syllabus directed against “that infamous doctrine of so-

called Communism which is absolutely contrary to the natural

law itself, and if once adopted would utterly destroy the rights,

property and possessions of all men, and even society itself.”
1

Later on, another of Our Predecessors, the immortal Leo XIII,

in his Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris, defined Communism

as “the fatal plague which insinuates itself into the very marrow

of human society only to bring about its ruin.” 2 With clear in-

tuition he pointed out that the atheistic movements existing among

the masses of the Machine Age had their origin in that school

of philosophy which for centuries had sought to divorce science

from the life of the Faith and of the Church.

ACTS OF PRESENT PONTIFICATE

5. During Our Pontificate We, too, have frequently and with

urgent insistence denounced the current trend to atheism which

is alarmingly on the increase. In 1924 when Our relief-mission

returned from the Soviet Union We condemned Communism in a
special Allocution

3 which We addressed to the whole world. In

1 Encycl. Qui Pluribus, Nov. 9, 1846 (Acta Pii IX, Vol. I, p. 13). Cf. Syllabus,

IV (A. A. S., Vol. Ill, p. 170).

2 Encycl. Quod Apostolici Muneris, Dec. 28, 1878 (Acta Leonis XIII, Vol. I, p. 46).

8 Dec. 18, 1924: A. A. S., Vol. XVI (1924), pp. 494, 495.



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 3

Our Encyclicals Miserentissimus Redemptor,
4 Quadragesinto

Anno,5 Caritate Christi* Acerba Animi,
7 Dilectissimo Nobis,

8 We
raised a solemn protest against the persecutions unleashed in

Russia, in Mexico and now in Spain. Our two Allocutions of last

year, the first on the occasion of the opening of the International

Catholic Press Exposition, and the second during Our audience

to the Spanish refugees, along with Our message of last Christmas,

have evoked a world-wide echo which is not yet spent. In fact,

the most persistent enemies of the Church who from Moscow are

directing the struggle against Christian civilization, themselves

bear witness, by their unceasing attacks in word and act, that

even to this hour the Papacy has continued faithfully to protect

the sanctuary of the Christian religion, and that it has called

public attention to the perils of Communism more frequently and

more effectively than any other public authority on earth.

NEED OF ANOTHER SOLEMN PRONOUNCEMENT

6. To Our great satisfaction, Venerable Brethren, you have,

by means of individual and even joint pastoral Letters, accurately

transmitted and explained to the Faithful these admonitions. Yet

despite Our frequent and paternal warnings the peril only grows

greater from day to day because of the pressure exerted by clever

agitators. Therefore We believe it to be Our duty to raise Our
voice one more, in a still more solemn missive, in accord with the

tradition of this Apostolic See, the Teacher of Truth, and in

accord with the desire of the whole Catholic world, which makes

the appearance of such a document but natural. We trust that
the echo of Our voice will reach every mind free from prejudice

and every heart sincerely desirous of the good of mankind. We
wish this the more because Our words are now receiving sorry

confirmation from the spectacle of the bitter fruits of subversive

ideas, which We foresaw and foretold, and which are in fact multi-
plying fearfully in the countries already stricken, or threatening

every other country of the world.

7. Hence We wish to expose once more in a brief synthesis the
principles of Atheistic Communism as they are manifested chiefly

in Bolshevism. We wish also to indicate its method of action and
to contrast with its false principles the clear doctrine of the

4 May 8, 1928: A. A. S. ( Vol. XX (1928), pp. 165-178.
5 May 15, 1931: A. A. S.. Vol. XXIII (1931), pp. 177-228.
6 May 3, 1932: A. A. S., Vol. XXIV (1932), pp. 177-194.
7 Sept. 29, 1932: A. A. S., Vol. XXIV (1932), pp. 321-332.
8 June 3, 1933: A. A. S., Vol. XXV (1933), pp. 261-274.



4 ENCYCLICAL

Church, in order to inculcate anew and with greater insistence

the means by which the Christian civilization, the true civitas

humana, can be saved from the satanic scourge, and not merely

saved, but better developed for the well-being of human society.

II

COMMUNISM IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

DOCTRINE
False Ideal

8. The Communism of today, more emphatically than similar

movements in the past, conceals in itself a false messianic idea.

A pseudo-ideal of justice, of equality and fraternity in labor im-
pregnates all its doctrine and activity with a deceptive mysticism,

which communicates a zealous and contagious enthusiasm to the

multitudes entrapped by delusive promises. This is especially

true in an age like ours, when unusual misery has resulted from

the unequal distribution of the goods of this world. This pseudo-

ideal is even boastfully advanced as if it were responsible for a

certain economic progress. As a matter of fact, when such prog-

ress is at all real, its true causes are quite different, as for in-

stance the intensification of industrialism in countries which were

formerly almost without it, the exploitation of immense natural

resources, and the use of the most brutal methods to insure the

achievement of gigantic projects with a minimum of expense.

Marxist Evolutionary Materialism

9. The doctrine of modern Communism, which is often con-

cealed under the most seductive trappings, is in substance based

on the principles of dialectical and historical materialism pre-

viously advocated by Marx, of which the theorecians of Bolshe-

vism claim to possess the only genuine interpretaton. According

to this doctrine there is in the world only one reality, matter, the

blind forces of which evolve into plant, animal and man. Even

human society is nothing but a phenomenon and form of matter,

evolving in the same way. By a law of inexorable necessity and

through a perpetual conflict of forces, matter moves towards the

final synthesis of a classless society. In such a doctrine, as is

evident, there is no room for the idea of God; there is no differ-

ence between matter and spirit, between soul and body; there

is neither survival of the soul after death nor any hope in a future

life. Insisting on the dialectical aspect of their materialism, the



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 5

Communists claim that the conflict which carries the world to-

wards its final synthesis can be accelerated by man. Hence they

endeavor to sharpen the antagonisms which arise between the

various classes of society. Thus the class-struggle with its conse-

quent violent hate and destruction takes on the aspect of a cru-

sade for the progress of humanity. On the other hand, all other

forces whatever, as long as they resist such systematic violence,

must be annihilated as hostile to the human race.

Man and the Family Under Communism

10. Communism moreover, strips man of his liberty, robs

human personality of all its dignity, and removes all the moral

restraints that check the eruptions of blind impulse. There is no

recognition of any right of the individual in his relations to the

collectivity; no natural right is accorded to human personality,

which is a mere cogwheel in the Communist system. In man’s

relations with other individuals, besides, Communists hold the

principle of absolute equality, rejecting all hierarchy and divinely-

constituted authority, including the authority of parents. What

men call authority and subordination is derived from the com-

munity as its first and only font. Nor is the individual granted

any property rights over material goods or the means of produc-

tion, for inasmuch as these are the source of further wealth, their

possession would give one man power over another. Precisely

on this score, all forms of private property must be eradicated,

for they are at the origin of all economic enslavement.

11. Refusing to human life any sacred or spiritual character,

such a doctrine logically makes of marriage and the family a

purely artificial and civil institution, the outcome of a specific

economic system. There exists no matrimonial bond of a juridico-

moral nature that is not subject to the whim of the individual or

of the collectivity. Naturally, therefore, the notion of an indis-

soluble marriage-tie is scouted. Communism is particularly char-

acterized by the rejection of any link that binds woman to the
family and the home, and her emancipation is proclaimed as a

basic principle. She is withdrawn from the family and the care

of her children, to be thrust instead into public life and collective

production under the same conditions as man. The care of home

and children then devolves upon the collectivity. Finally, the

right of education is denied to parents, for it is conceived as the

exclusive prerogative of the community, in whose name and by
whose mandate alone parents may exercise this right.



6 ENCYCLICAL

Communist Society

12. What would be the condition of a human society based

on such materialistic tenets? It would be a collectivity with no

other hierarchy than that of the economic system. It would have

only one mission: the production of material things by means of

collective labor, so that the goods of this world might be en-

joyed in a paradise where each would “give according to his

powers” and would “receive according to his needs.” Communism

recognizes in the collectivity the right, or rather, unlimited dis-

cretion, to draft individuals for the labor of the collectivity with

no regard for their personal welfare; so that even violence could

be legitimately exercised to dragoon the recalcitrant against their

wills. In the Communistic commonwealth morality and law would

be nothing but a derivation of the existing economic order, purely

earthly in origin and unstable in character. In a word, the Com-

munists claim to inaugurate a new era and a new civilization

which is the result of blind evolutionary forces culminating in a

humanity without God.

13. When all men have finally acquired the collectivist men-

tality in this Utopia of a really classless society, the political

State, which is now conceived by Communists merely as the in-

strument by which the proletariat is oppressed by the capitalists,

will have lost all reason for its existence and will “wither away.”

However, until that happy consummation is realized, the State

and the powers of the State furnish Communism with the most

efficacious and most extensive means for the achievement of its

goal.

14. Such, Venerable Brethren, is the new gospel which Bolshe-

vistic and Atheistic Communism offers the world as the glad tid-

ings of deliverance and salvation! It is a system full of errors

and sophisms. It is in opposition both to reason and to divine

Revelation. It subverts the social order, because it means the

destruction of its foundations; because it ignores the true origin

and purpose of the State; because it denies the rights, dignity

and liberty of human personality.

SPREAD OF COMMUNISM EXPLAINED

Alluring Promises

15. How is it possible that such a system, long since rejected

scientifically and now proved erroneous by experience, how is it,

We ask, that such a system could spread so rapidly in all parts



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 7

of the world? The explanation lies in the fact that too few have

been able to grasp the nature of Communism. The majority in-

stead succumb to its deception, skillfully concealed by the most

extravagant promises. By pretending to desire only the better-

ment of the condition of the working-classes, by urging the re-

moval of the very real abuses chargeable to the liberalistic eco-

nomic order, and by demanding a more equitable distribution of

this world’s goods (objects entirely and undoubtedly legitimate),

the Communist takes advantage of the present world-wide eco-

nomic crisis to draw into the sphere of his influence even those

sections of the populace which on principle reject all forms of

materialism and terrorism. And as every error contains its ele-

ment of truth, the partial truths to which we have referred are

astutely presented according to the needs of time and place, to

conceal, when convenient, the repulsive crudity and inhumanity

of Communistic principles and tactics. Thus the Communist

ideal wins over many of the better-minded members of the com-

munity. These in turn become the apostles of the movement among

the younger intelligentsia who are still too immature to recognize

the intrinsic errors of the system. The preachers of Communism

are also proficient in exploiting racial antagonisms and political

divisions and oppositions. They take advantage of the lack of

orientation characteristic of modern agnostic science in order to

burrow into the universities where they bolster up the principles

of their doctrine with pseudo-scientific arguments.

Liberalism Prepares the Way

16 . If we would explain the blind acceptance of Communism

by so many thousands of workmen, we must remember that the

way had been already prepared for it by the religious and moral

destitution in which wage-earners had been left by liberal eco-

nomics. Even on Sundays and holy days, labor-shifts were given

no time to attend to their essential religious duties. No one
thought of building churches within convenient distance of fac-

tories, nor of facilitating the work of the priest. On the contrary,
laicism was actively and persistently promoted, with the result

that we are now reaping the fruits of the errors so often denounced

by Our Predecessors and by Ourselves. It can surprise no one that

the Communistic fallacy should be spreading in a world already

to a large extent de-Christianized.



8 ENCYCLICAL

Shrewd and Widespread Propaganda

17. There is another explanation for the rapid diffusion of the

Communistic ideas now seeping into every nation, great and small,

advanced and backward, so that no corner of the earth is free from

them. This explanation is to be found in a propaganda so truly

diabolical that the world has perhaps never witnessed its like be-

fore. It is directed from one common center. It is shrewdly

adapted to the varying conditions of diverse peoples. It has at

its disposal great financial resources, gigantic organizations, inter-

national congresses and countless trained workers. It makes use

of pamphlets and reviews, of cinema, theater and radio, of schools

and even universities. Little by little it penetrates into all classes of

the people and even reaches the better-minded groups of the com-

munity with the result that few are aware of the poison which in-

creasingly pervades their minds and hearts.

Silence of the Press

18. A third powerful factor in the diffusion of Communism

is the conspiracy of silence on the part of a large section of the non-

Catholic press of the world. We say conspiracy, because it is
impossible otherwise to explain how a press usually so eager to

exploit even the little daily incidents of life has been able to re-

main silent for so long about the horrors perpetrated in Russia,

in Mexico and even in a great part of Spain; and that it should

have relatively so little to say concerning a world organization as

vast as Russian Communism. This silence is due in part to short-

sighted political policy, and is favored by various occult forces

which for a long time have been working for the overthrow of the

Christian Social Order.

SAD CONSEQUENCES

Russia and Mexico

19.

Meanwhile the sorry effects of this propaganda are be-

fore our eyes. Where Communism has been able to assert its

power—and here We are thinking with special affection of the
people of Russia and Mexico—it has striven by every possible
means, as its champions openly boast, to destroy Christian civi-

lization and the Christian religion by banishing every remem-

brance of them from the hearts of men, especially of the young.



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 9

Bishops and priests were exiled, condemned to forced labor, shot

and done to death in inhuman fashion; laymen suspected of de-

fending their religion were vexed, persecuted, dragged off to trial

and thrown into prison.

Horrors of Communism in Spain

20. Even where the scourge of Communism has not yet had

time enough to exercise to the full its logical effect, as witness Our

beloved Spain, it has, alas, found compensation in the fiercer vio-

lence of its attack. Not only this or that church or isolated monas-

tery was sacked, but as far as possible every church and every

monastery was destroyed. Every vestige of the Christian religion

was eradicated, even though intimately linked with the rarest

monuments of art and science! The fury of Communism has not

confined itself to the indiscriminate slaughter of bishops, of thou-

sands of priests and religious of both sexes; it searches out above

all those who have been devoting their lives to the welfare of the

working-classes and the poor. But the majority of its victims

have been laymen of all conditions and classes. Even up to the

present moment, masses of them are slain almost daily for no

other offense than the fact that they are good Christians or at least

opposed to Atheistic Communism. And this fearful destruction

has been carried out with a hatred and a savage barbarity one

would not have believed possible in our age. No man of good
sense, nor any statesman conscious of his responsibility can fail

to shudder at the thought that what is happening today in Spain

may perhaps be repeated tomorrow in other civilized countries.

Logical Result of System

21. Nor can it be said that these atrocities are a transitory

phenomenon, the usual accompaniment of all great revolutions,

the isolated excesses common to every war. No, they are the

natural fruit of a system which lacks all inner restrait. Some

restraint is necessary for man considered either as an individual

or in society. Even the barbaric peoples had this inner check

in the natural law written by God in the heart of every man.

And where this natural law was held in higher esteem, ancient

nations rose to a grandeur that still fascinates—more than it
should!—certain superficial students of human history. But tear
the very idea of God from the hearts of men, and they are neces-

sarily urged by their passions to the most atrocious barbarity.



10 ENCYCLICAL

Struggle Against All That Is Divine

22. This, unfortunately, is what we now behold. For the first

time in history we are witnessing a struggle, cold-blooded in pur-

pose and mapped out to the least detail, between man and “all

that is called God.”
9 Communism is by its nature anti-religious.

It considers religion as “the opiate of the people” because the

principles of religion which speak of a life beyond the grave dis-

suade the proletariat from the dream of a Soviet paradise which is

of this world.

Terrorism

23. But the law of nature and its Author cannot be flouted

with impunity. Communism has not been able, and will not be

able, to achieve its objectives even in the merely economic sphere.

It is true that in Russia it has been a contributing factor in

rousing men and materials from the inertia of centuries, and in

obtaining by all manner of means, often without scruple, some

measure of material success. Nevertheless We know from reliable
and even very recent testimony that not even there, in spite of

slavery imposed on millions of men, has Communism reached its

promised goal. After all, even the sphere of economics needs

some morality, some moral sense of responsibility, which can find

no place in a system so thoroughly materialistic as Communism.

Terrorism is the only possible substitute, and it is terrorism that

reigns today in Russia, where former comrades in revolution are

exterminating each other. Terrorism, having failed despite all to

stem the tide of moral corruption, cannot even prevent the disso-

lution of society itself.

FATHERLY CONCERN FOR OPPRESSED RUSSIANS

24. In making these observations it is no part of Our inten-

tion to condemn en masse the peoples of the Soviet Union. For

them We cherish the warmest paternal affection. We are well
aware that not a few of them groan beneath the yoke imposed

on them by men who in very large part are strangers to the real

interests of the country. We recognize that many others were
deceived by fallacious hopes. We blame only the system, with its
authors and abettors who considered Russia the best-prepared

field for experimenting with a plan elaborated decades ago, and

who from there continue to spread it from one end of the world

to the other.

# Cf. Thessalonians

,

II. 4



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 11

m
DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH IN CONTRAST

25. We have exposed the errors and the violent, deceptive
tactics of Bolshevistic and Atheistic Communism. It is now time,

Venerable Brethren, to contrast with it the true notion, already

familiar to you, of the “civitas humana” or human society, as

taught by reason and Revelation through the mouth of the Church,

“Magistra gentium”

God the Supreme Reality

26. Above all other reality there exists one supreme Being:

God, the omnipotent Creator of all things, the all-wise and just

Judge of all men. This supreme reality, God, is the absolute con-

demnation of the impudent falsehoods of Communism. In truth,

it is not because men believe in God that He exists; rather be-

cause He exists do all men whose eyes are not deliberately closed

to the truth believe in Him and pray to Him.

Man and Family According to Reason and Faith

27. In the Encyclical on Christian Education
10 We explained

the fundamental doctrine concerning man as it may be gathered

from reason and Faith. Man has a spiritual and immortal soul.
He is a person, marvelously endowed by his Creator with gifts

of body and mind. He is a true “microcosm,” as the ancients

said, a world in miniature, with a value far surpassing that of the

vast inanimate cosmos. God alone is his last end, in this life and

the next. By sanctifying grace he is raised to the dignity of a

son of God, and incorporated into the Kingdom of God in the

Mystical Body of Christ. In consequence he has been endowed

by God with many and varied prerogatives: the right to life, to

bodily integrity, to the necessary means of existence; the right to

tend toward his ultimate goal in the path marked out for him by

God; the right of association and the right to possess and use

property.

28. Just as matrimony and the right to its natural use are of

divine origin, so likewise are the constitution and fundamental

prerogatives of the family fixed and determined by the Creator.

In the Encyclical on Christian Marriage 11 and in Our other En-

10 Encycl. Divini Illius Magistri, Dec. 31, 1929 (A. A. S., Vol. XXII, 1930, pp.
49-86).

11 Encycl. Casti Connubii, Dec. 31, 1930 (A. A. S., Vol. XXII, 1930, pp. S39-S92).



12 ENCYCLICAL

cyclical on Education, cited above, we have treated these topics at

considerable length.

NATURE OF SOCIETY

Mutual Rights and Duties

29. But God has likewise destined man for civil society ac-

cording to the dictates of his very nature. In the plan of the

Creator, society is a natural means which man can and must use

to reach his destined end. Society is for man and not vice versa.

This must not be understood in the sense of liberalistic individ-

ualism, which subordinates society to the selfish use of the indi-

vidual; but only in the sense that by means of an organic union

with society and by mutual collaboration the attainment of earthly

happiness is placed within the reach of all. In a further sense,

it is society which affords the opportunities for the development of

all the individual and social gifts bestowed on human nature.

These natural gifts have a value surpassing the immediate in-

terests of the moment, for in society they reflect the divine per-

fection, which would not be true were man to live alone. But on

final analysis, even in this latter function society is made for

man, that he may recognize this reflection of God’s perfection,

and refer it in praise and adoration to the Creator. Only man,

the human person, and not society in any form is endowed with

reason and a morally free will.

30. Man cannot be exempted from his divinely-imposed obli-

gations toward civil society, and the representatives of authority

have the right to coerce him when he refuses without reason to do

his duty. Society, on the other hand, cannot defraud man of his

God-granted rights, the most important of which We have indi-
cated above. Nor can society systematically void these rights by

making their use impossible. It is therefore according to the

dictates of reason that ultimately all material things should be

ordained to man as a person, that through his mediation they may

find their way to the Creator. In this wise we can apply to man,

the human person, the words of the Apostle of the Gentiles, who

writes to the Corinthians on the Christian economy of salvation:

“All things are yours, and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.”
21

While Communism impoverishes human personality by inverting

the terms of the relation of man to society, to what lofty heights

is man not elevated by reason and Revelation!

12 1 Corinthians iii. 23.



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 13

Social-Economic Order

31. The directive principles concerning the social-economic

order have been expounded in the social Encyclical of Leo XIII

on the question of labor.
18 Our own Encyclical on the Recon-

struction of the Social Order
14

adapted these principles to present

needs. Then, insisting anew on the age-old doctrine of the Church

concerning the individual and social character of private property,

We explained clearly the right and dignity of labor, the relations
of mutual aid and collaboration which should exist between those

who possess capital and those who work, the salary due in strict

justice to the worker for himself and for his family.

32. In this same Encyclical of Ours We have shown that the
means of saving the world of today from the lamentable ruin into

which amoral liberalism has plunged us, are neither the class-

struggle nor terror, nor yet the autocratic abuse of State power,

but rather the infusion of social justice and the sentiment of

Christian love into the social-economic order. We have indicated
how a sound prosperity is to be restored according to the true prin-

ciples of a sane corporative system which respects the proper

hierarchic structure of society; and how all the occupational

groups should be fused into a harmonious unity inspired by the

principle of the common good. And the genuine and chief func-

tion of public and civil authority consists precisely in the effi-

cacious furthering of this harmony and coordination of all social

forces.

Social Hierarchy and State Prerogative

33. In view of this organized common effort towards peaceful

living, Catholic doctrine vindicates to the State the dignity and

authority of a vigilant and provident defender of those divine and

human rights on which the Sacred Scriptures and the Fathers of

the Church insist so often. It is not true that all have equal rights

in civil society. It is not true that there exists no lawful social

hierarchy. Let it suffice to refer to the Encyclicals of Leo XIII

already cited, especially to that on State powers
15
and to the other

on the Christian Constitution of States.
16

In these documents the

Catholic will find the principles of reason and the Faith clearly

explained, and these principles will enable him to defend himself

against the errors and perils of a Communistic conception of the

13 Encycl. Rerum Novarum, May 15, 1891 (Acta Leonis XIII, Vol. IV, pp. 177-209).
14 Encycl. Quadragesimo Anno, May 15, 1931 (A. A. S., Vol. XXIII, 1931, pp.

177-228).

15 Encycl. Diuturnum Illud, June 20, 1881 (Acta Leonis XIII, Vol. I, pp. 210-222).
*a Encycl. Immortale Dei, Nov. 1, 1885 (Acta Leonis XIII, Vol. II, pp. 146-168).



14 ENCYCLICAL

State. The enslavement of man despoiled of his rights, the denial

of the transcendental origin of the State and its authority, the

horrible abuse of public power in the service of a collectivistic

terrorism, are the very contrary of all that corresponds with nat-

ural ethics and the will of the Creator. Both man and civil society

derive their origin from the Creator, Who has mutually ordained
them one to the other. Hence neither can be exempted from their

correlative obligations, nor deny or diminish each other’s rights.

The Creator Himself has regulated this mutual relationship in its

fundamental lines, and it is by an unjust usurpation that Com-

munism arrogates to itself the right to enforce, in place of the

divine law based on the immutable principles of truth and charity,

a partisan political program which derives from the arbitrary

human will and is replete with hate.

BEAUTY OF CHURCH DOCTRINE

34. In teaching this enlightening doctrine the Church has no

other intention than to realize the glad tidings sung by the Angels

above the cave of Bethlehem at the Redeemer’s birth: “Glory to

God . . . and . . . peace to men . . . ,”
17

true peace and true hap-

piness, even here below as far as is possible, in preparation for the

happiness of heaven—but to men of good will. This doctrine is
equally removed from all extremes of error and all exaggerations

of parties or systems which stem from error. It maintains a con-

stant equilibrium of truth and justice, which it vindicates in

theory and applies and promotes in practice, bringing into har-

mony the rights and duties of all parties. Thus authority is

reconciled with liberty, the dignity of the individual with that of

the State, the human personality of the subject with the divine

delegation of the superior; and in this way a balance is struck

between the due dependence and well-ordered love of a man for

himself, his family and country, and his love of other families

and other peoples, founded on the love of God, the Father of all,

their first principle and last end. The Church does not separate

a proper regard for temporal welfare from solicitude for the eter-

nal. If she subordinates the former to the latter according to

the words of her divine Founder, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of

God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto

you,”
18

she is nevertheless so far from being unconcerned with

human affairs, so far from hindering civil progress and material

advancement, that she actually fosters and promotes them in the

17 St. Luke ii. 14. 18 St. Matthew vi. 33.



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 15

most sensible and efficacious manner. Thus even in the sphere of

social-economics, although the Church has never proposed a defi-

nite technical system, since this is not her field, she has neverthe-

less clearly outlined the guiding principles which, while susceptible

of varied concrete applications according to the diversified condi-

tions of times and places and peoples, indicate the safe way of

securing the happy progress of society.

35. The wisdom and supreme utility of this doctrine are

admitted by all who really understand it. With good reason out-

standing statesmen have asserted that, after a study of various

social systems, they have found nothing sounder than the prin-

ciples expounded in the Encyclicals Rerum Novarum and Quad-

ragesimo Anno. In non-Catholic, even in non-Christian countries,

men recognize the great value to society of the social doctrine of

the Church. Thus, scarcely a month ago, an eminent political

figure of the Far East, a non-Christian, did not hesitate to affirm

publicly that the Church, with her doctrine of peace and Chris-

tian brotherhood, is rendering a signal contribution to the difficult

task of establishing and maintaining peace among the nations.

Finally, We know from reliable information that flows into this
Center of Christendom from all parts of the world, that the Com-

munists themselves, where they are not utterly depraved, recog-

nize the superiority of the social doctrine of the Church, when

once explained to them, over the doctrines of their leaders and

their teachers. Only those blinded by passion and hatred close

their eyes to the light of truth and obstinately struggle against it.

ALLEGED CONFICT BETWEEN DOCTRINE
AND PRACTICE

36. But the enemies of the Church, though forced to acknowl-

edge the wisdom of her doctrine, accuse her of having failed to act

in conformity with her principles, and from this conclude to the

necessity of seeking other solutions. The utter falseness and in-

justice of this accusation is shown by the whole history of Chris-

tianity. To refer only to a single typical trait, it was Christianity

that first affirmed the real and universal brotherhood of all men

of whatever race and condition. This doctrine she proclaimed by

a method, and with an amplitude and conviction, unknown to pre-

ceding centuries; and with it she potently contributed to the abo-

lition of slavery. Not bloody revolution, but the inner force of her

teaching made the proud Roman matron see in her slave a sister
in Christ. It is Christianity that adores the Son of God, made



16 ENCYCLICAL

Man for love of man, and become not only the “Son of a Car-

penter” but Himself a “Carpenter.”
19

It was Christianity that

raised manual labor to its true dignity, whereas it had hitherto

been so despised that even the moderate Cicero did not hesitate

to sum up the general opinion of his time in words of which any

modern sociologist would be ashamed: “All artisans are engaged

in sordid trades, for there can be nothing ennobling about a

workshop.”
20

37. Faithful to these principles, the Church has given new

life to human society. Under her influence arose prodigious

charitable organizations, great guilds of artisans and workingmen

of every type. These guilds, ridiculed as “medieval” by the lib-

eralism of the last century, are today claiming the admiration of

our contemporaries in many countries who are endeavoring to re-

vive them in some modern form. And when other systems hin-

dered her work and raised obstacles to the salutary influence of

the Church, she was never done warning them of their error.

We need but recall with what constant firmness and energy Our
Predecessor, Leo XIII, vindicated for the workingman the right

to organize, which the dominant liberalism of the more powerful

States relentlessly denied him. Even today the authority of this

Church doctrine is greater than it seems; for the influence of

ideas in the realm of facts, though invisible and not easily meas-

ured, is surely of predominnant importance.

38. It may be said in all truth that the Church, like Christ,

goes through the centuries doing good to all. There would be to-

day neither Socialism nor Communism if the rulers of the nations

had not scorned the teachings and maternal warnings of the

Church. On the bases of liberalism and laicism they wished to

build other social edifices which, powerful and imposing as they

seemed at first, all too soon revealed the weakness of their founda-

tions, and today are crumbling one after another before our eyes,

as everything must crumble that is not grounded on the one comer

stone which is Christ Jesus.

IV

DEFENSIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRAM

URGENT NEED FOR ACTION

39. This, Venerable Brethren, is the doctrine of the Church,

which alone in the social as in all other fields can offer real light

19 Cf. St. Matthew xiii. SS; St. Mark vi. 3.
20 Cicero, Dt Offictis, Book I, c. 42.



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 17

and assure salvation in the face of Communistic ideology. But

this doctrine must be consistently reduced to practice in every-

day life, according to the admonition of St. James the Apostle:

“Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your

own selves.” 21 The most urgent need of the present day is there-

fore the energetc and timely application of remedies which will

effectively ward off the catastrophe that daily grows more threat-

ening. We cherish the firm hope that the fanaticism with which
the sons of darkness work day and night at their materialistic

and atheistic propaganda will at least serve the holy purpose of

stimulating the sons of light to a like and even greater zeal for the

honor of the Divine Majesty.

40. What then must be done, what remedies must be em-

ployed to defend Christ and Christian civilization from this per-

nicious enemy? As a father in the midst of his family, We should
like to speak quite intimately of those duties which the great

struggle of our day imposes on all the children of the Church

;

and We would address Our paternal admonition even to those
sons who have strayed far from her.

RENEWAL OF CHRISTIAN LIFE

Fundamental Remedy

41. As in all the stormy periods of the history of the Church,

the fundamental remedy today lies in a sincere renewal of pri-

vate and public life according to the principles of the Gospel by

all those who belong to the Fold of Christ, that they may be in

truth the salt of the earth to preserve human society from total

corruption.

42. With heart deeply grateful to the Father of Light, from

Whom descends “every best gift and every perfect gift,” 22 We
see on all sides consoling signs of this spiritual renewal. We see it
not only in so many singularly chosen souls who in these last

years have been elevated to the sublime height of sanctity, and in

so many others who with generous hearts are making their way

towards the same luminous goal, but also in the new flowering of

a deep and practical piety in all classes of society even the most

cultured, as We pointed out in Our recent Motu proprio In Multis
Solacis of October 28th last, on the occasion of the reorganization

of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.23

43. Nevertheless We cannot deny that there is still much to
21 St. James i. 22. 22 St. James i. 17.
28 A. A. S.. Vol. XXVIII (19361. pp. 421-424



18 ENCYCLICAL

be done in the way of spiritual renovation. Even in Catholic

countries there are still too many who are Catholics hardly more

than in name. There are too many who fulfill more or less faith-

fully the more essential obligations of the religion they boast of

professing, but have no desire of knowing it better, of deepening

their inward conviction, and still less of bringing into conformity

with the external gloss the inner splendor of a right and unsullied

conscience, that recognizes and performs all its duties under the

eye of God. We know how much Our Divine Savior detested this
empty pharisaic show, He Who wished that all should adore the

Father “in spirit and in truth.”
24 The Catholic who does not live

really and sincerely according to the Faith he professes will not

long be master of himself in these days when the winds of strife

and persecution blow so fiercely, but will be swept away defense-

less in this new deluge which threatens the world. And thus,

while he is preparing his own ruin, he is exposing to ridicule the

very name of Christian.

Detachment from Worldly Goods

44. And here We wish, Venerable Brethren, to insist more
particularly on two teachings of Our Lord which have special

bearing on the present condition of the human race: detachment

from earthly goods and the precept of charity. “Blessed are the

poor in spirit” were the first words that fell from the lips of the

Divine Master in His sermon on the mount.
25

This lesson is

more than ever necessary in these days of materialism athirst for

the goods and pleasures of this earth. All Christians, rich or

poor, must keep their eye fixed on heaven, remembering that

“we have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to

come.”
26 The rich should not place their happiness in things of

earth nor spend their best efforts in the acquisition of them.

Rather, considering themselves only as stewards of their earthly

goods, let them be mindful of the account they must render of

them to their Lord and Master, and value them as precious means

that God has put into their hands for doing good; let them not

fail, besides, to distribute of their abundance to the poor, accord-

ing to the evangelical precept.
27

Otherwise there shall be verified

of them and their riches the harsh condemnation of St. James the

Apostle: “Go to now, ye rich men; weep and howl in your miseries

which shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your

24 St. John iv. 23.

26 Hebrews xiii. 14.

26 St. Matthew v. 3.

27 St. Luke xi *1



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 19

garments are moth-eaten; your gold and silver is cankered; and

the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you and shall eat

your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath

against the last days. . . .”
28

45. But the poor, too, in their turn, while engaged, according

to the laws of charity and justice in acquiring the necessities of life

and also in bettering their condition, should always remain “poor

in spirit,”
29 and hold spiritual goods in higher esteem than earthly

property and pleasures. Let them remember that the world will

never be able to rid itself of misery, sorrow and tribulation, which

are the portion even of those who seem most prosperous. Patience,

therefore, is the need of all, that Christian patience which com-

forts the heart with the divine assurance of eternal happiness.

“Be patient, therefore, brethren,” We repeat with St. James “un-
til the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waiteth for

the precious fruit of the earth, patiently bearing until he receive

the early and the later rain. Be you therefore also patient and

strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
30

Only thus will be fulfilled the consoling promise of the Lord:

“Blessed are the poor!” These words are no vain consolation, a

promise as empty as those of the Communists. They are the

words of life, pregnant with a sovereign reality. They are fully

verified here on earth, as well as in eternity. Indeed, how many

of the poor, in anticipation of the Kingdom of Heaven already

proclaimed their own: “for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven,” 81

find in these words a happiness which so many of the wealthy,

uneasy with their riches and ever thirsting for more, look for in

vain!

Christian Charity

46. Still more important as a remedy for the evil we are con-

sidering, or certainly more directly calculated to cure it, is the

precept of charity. We have in mind that Christian charity,
“patient and kind,” 32 which avoids all semblance of demeaning

paternalism, and all ostentation
;
that charity which from the very

beginning of Christianity won to Christ the poorest of the poor,

the slaves. And We are grateful to all those members of charitable
associations, from the conferences of St. Vincent de Paul to the

recent great relief-organizations, which are perseveringly prac-

ticing the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The more the

workingmen and the poor realize what the spirit of love animated

28 St. James v. 1-3. 29 St. Matthew v. 3.
80 St. James v. 7, 8. 81 St. Luke vi. 20.
82 1 Corinthians xiii. 4 .



20 ENCYCLICAL

by the virtue of Christ is doing for them, the more readily will

they abandon the false persuasion that Christianity has lost its

efficacy and that the Church stands on the side of the exploiters

of their labor.

47. But when on the one hand We see thousands of the needy,
victims of real misery for various reasons beyond their control,

and on the other so many round about them who spend huge sums

of money on useless things and frivolous amusement, We cannot
fail to remark with sorrow not only that justice is poorly ob-

served, but that the precept of charity also is not sufficiently ap-

preciated, is not a vital thing in daily life. We desire therefore.
Venerable Brethren, that this divine precept, this precious mark

of identification left by Christ to His true disciples, be ever more

fully explained by pen and word of mouth; this precept which

teaches us to see in those who suffer Christ Himself, and would

have us love our brothers as Our Divine Savior has loved us, that

is, even at the sacrifice of ourselves, and, if need be, of our very

life. Let all then frequently meditate on those words of the final

sentence, so consoling yet so terrifying, which the Supreme Judge

will pronounce on the day of the Last Judgment: “Come, ye

blessed of My Father ... for I was hungry and you gave Me to
eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink . . . Amen, I say to
you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren you
did it to Me.” 33 And the reverse: “Depart from Me, you cursed,

into everlasting fire ... for I was hungry and you gave Me not
to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me not to drink . . . Amen, I
say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither

did you do it to Me.” 34

48. To be sure of eternal life, therefore, and to be able to help

the poor effectively, it is imperative to return to a more moderate

way of life, to renounce the joys, often sinful, which the world

today holds out in such abundance; to forget self for love of the

neighbor. There is a divine regenerating force in this “new pre-

cept” (as Christ called it) of Christian charity.
35

Its faithful

observance will pour into the heart an inner peace which the

world knows not, and will finally cure the ills which oppress

humanity.

Duties of Strict Justice

49. But charity will never be true charity unless it takes jus-

tice into constant account. The Apostle teaches that “he that

S3 St. Matthew xxv. 34-40. 34 St. Matthew xxv. 41-43.

35 St. John xiii. 34.



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 21

loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law” and gives the reason:

“For, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou

shalt not steal . . . and if there be any other commandment, it is

comprised in this word: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy-

self

”

36
According to the Apostle, then, all the commandments,

including those which are of strict justice, as those which forbid

us to kill or to steal, may be reduced to the single precept of true

charity. From this it follows that a “charity” which deprives the

workingman of the salary to which he has a strict title in justice,

is not charity at all, but only its empty name and hollow sem-

blance. The wage-earner is not to receive as alms what is his due

in justice. And let no one attempt with trifling charitable dona-

tions to exempt himself from the great duties imposed by justice.

Both justice and charity often dictate obligations touching on the

same subject-matter, but under different aspects; and the very

dignity of the workingman makes him justly and acutely sensitive

to the duties of others in his regard.

50. Therefore We turn again in a special way to you, Chris-
tian employers and industrialists, whose problem is often so diffi-

cult for the reason that you are saddled with the heavy heritage

of an unjust economic regime whose ruinous influence has been

felt through many generations. We bid you be mindful of your
responsibility. It is unfortunately true that the manner of acting

in certain Catholic circles has done much to shake the faith of

the working-classes in the religion of Jesus Christ. These groups

have refused to understand that Christian charity demands the

recognition of certain rights due to the workingman, which the

Church has explicitly acknowledged. What is to be thought of

the action of those Catholic employers who in one place succeeded

in preventing the reading of Our Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno,

in their local churches? Or of those Catholic industrialists who

even to this day have shown themselves hostile to a labor move-

ment that We Ourselves recommended? Is it not deplorable that
the right of private property defended by the Church should so

often have been used as a weapon to defraud the workingman of

his just salary and his social rights?

Social Justice

51. In reality, besides commutative justice, there is also social

justice with its own set obligations, from which neither employ-

ers nor workingmen can escape. Now it is of the very essence of

36 Romans xiii. 8, 9.



22 ENCYCLICAL

social justice to demand from each individual all that is necessary

for the common good. But just as in the living organism it is

impossible to provide for the good of the whole unless each single

part and each individual member is given what it needs for the

exercise of its proper functions, so it is impossible to care for the

social organism and the good of society as a unit unless each single

part and each individual member—that is to say, each individual
man in the dignity of his human personality—is supplied with all
that is necesary for the exercise of his social functions. If social

justice be satisfied, the result will be an intense activity in eco-

nomic life as a whole, pursued in tranquillity and order. This

activity will be proof of the health of the social body, just as the

health of the human body is recognized in the undisturbed regu-

larity and perfect efficiency of the whole organism.

52. But social justice cannot be said to have been satisfied

as long as workingmen are denied a salary that will enable them

to secure proper sustenance for themselves and for their families;

as long as they are denied the opportunity of acquiring a modest

fortune and forestalling the plague of universal pauperism
;
as long

as they cannot make suitable provision through public or private

insurance for old age, for periods of illness and unemployment.

In a word, to repeat what has been said in Our Encyclical Quad-

ragesimo Anno : “Then only will the economic and social order

be soundly established and attain its ends, when it offers, to all

and to each, all those goods which the wealth and resources of

nature, technical science and the corporate organization of social

affairs can give. These goods should be sufficient to supply all

necessities and reasonable comforts, and to uplift men to that

higher standard of life which, provided it be used with prudence,

is not only not a hindrance but is of singular help to virtue.”
37

53. It happens all too frequently, however, under the salary

system, that individual employers are helpless to ensure justice

unless, with a view to its practice, they organize institutions the

object of which is to prevent competition incompatible with fair

treatment for the workers. Where this is true, it is the duty of

contractors and employers to support and promote such necessary

organizations as normal instruments enabling them to fulfill their

obligations of justice. But the laborers, too, must be mindful of

their duty to love and deal fairly with their employers, and per-

suade themselves that there is no better means of safeguarding

their own interests.

37 Encycl. Quadrazesimo Anno, May IS, 1931 (A. A. S., Vol. xxiii, 1931, p. 202).



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 23

54. If, therefore, We consider the whole structure of eonomic

life, as We have already pointed out in Our Encyclical Quadra-

gesinto Anno, the reign of mutual collaboration between justice

and charity in social-economic relations can only be achieved by

a body of professional and inter-professional organizations, built

on solidly Christian foundations, working together to effect, under

forms adapted to different places and circumstances, what has

been called the Corporation.

SOCIAL STUDY AND PROPAGANDA

55. To give to this social activity a greater efficacy, it is neces-

sary to promote a wider study of social problems in the light of

the doctrine of the Church and under the aegis of her constituted

authority. If the manner of acting of some Catholics in the social-

economic field has left much to be desired, this has often come

about because they have not known and pondered sufficiently the

teachings of the Sovereign Pontiffs on these questions. Therefore,

it is of the utmost importance to foster in all classes of society

an intensive program of social education adapted to the varying

degrees of intellectual culture. It is necessary with all care and

diligence to procure the widest possible diffusion of the teachings

of the Church, even among the working-classes. The minds of

men must be illuminated with the sure light of Catholic teaching,

and their wills must be drawn to follow and apply it as the norm

of right living in the conscientious fulfillment of their manifold

social duties. Thus they will oppose that incoherence and dis-

continuity in Christian life which We have many times lamented.
For there are some who, while exteriorly faithful to the practice

of their religion, yet in the field of labor and industry, in the pro-

fessions, trade and business, permit a deplorable cleavage in their

conscience, and live a life too little in conformity with the clear

principles of justice and Christian charity. Such lives are a

scandal to the weak, and to the malicious a pretext to discredit the

Church.

56. In this renewal the Catholic press can play a prominent

part. Its foremost duty is to foster in various attractive ways an

ever better understanding of social doctrine. It should, too, sup-

ply accurate and complete information on the activity of the

enemy and the means of resistance which have been found most

effective in various quarters. It should offer useful suggestions

and warn against the insidious deceits with which Communists en-

deavor, all too successfully, to attract even men of good faith.



24 ENCYCLICAL

DISTRUST OF COMMUNIST TACTICS

57. On this point We have already insisted in Our Allocution
of May 12 th of last year, but We believe it to be a duty of special
urgency, Venerable Brethren, to call your attention to it once

again. In the beginning Communism showed itself for what it

was in all its perversity; but very soon it realized that it was thus

alienating the people. It has therefore changed its tactics, and

strives to entice the multitudes by trickery of various forms, hiding

its real designs behind ideas that in themselves are good and at-

tractive. Thus, aware of the universal desire for peace, the leaders

of Communism pretend to be the most zealous promoters and

propagandists in the movement for world amity. Yet at the same

time they stir up a class-warfare which causes rivers of blood to

flow, and, realizing that their system offers no internal guarantee

of peace, they have recourse to unlimited armaments. Under vari-

ous names which do not suggest Communism, they establish or-

ganizations and periodicals with the sole purpose of carrying their

ideas into quarters otherwise inaccessible. They try perfidiously

to worm their way even into professedly Catholic and religious or-

ganizations. Again, without receding an inch from their sub-

versive principles, they invite Catholics to collaborate with them

in the realm of so-called humanitarianism and charity; and at times

even make proposals that are in perfect harmony with the Chris-

tian spirit and the doctrine of the Church. Elsewhere they carry

their hypocrisy so far as to encourage the belief that Commu-

nism, in countries where faith and culture are more strongly en-

trenched, will assume another and much milder form. It will not

interfere with the practice of religion. It will respect liberty of

conscience. There are some even who refer to certain changes

recently introduced into Soviet legislation as a proof that Com-

munism is about to abandon its program of war against God.

58. See to it, Venerable Brethren, that the Faithful do not

allow themselves to be deceived! Communism is intrinsically

wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may col-

laborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever. Those who per-

mit themselves to be deceived into lending their aid towards the

triumph of Communism in their own country, will be the first to

fall victims of their error. And the greater the antiquity and

grandeur of the Christian civilization in the regions where Com-

munism successfully penetrates, so much more devastating will be

the hatred displayed by the Godless.



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 25

PRAYER AND PENANCE

59. But “unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain

that keepeth it.”
38 And so, as a final and most efficacious remedy,

We recommend, Venerable Brethren, that in your dioceses you
use the most practical means to foster and intensify the spirit of

prayer joined with Christian penance. When the Apostles asked

the Savior why they had been unable to drive the evil spirit from

a demoniac, Our Lord answered: “This kind is not cast out but

by prayer and fasting.”
39

So, too, the evil which today torments

humanity can be conquered only by a world-wide holy crusade

of prayer and penance. We ask especially the contemplative
Orders, men and women, to redouble their prayers and sacrifices

to obtain from heaven efficacious aid for the Church in the present

struggle. Let them implore also the powerful intercession of the

Immaculate Virgin who, having crushed the head of the serpent

of old, remains the sure protectress and invincible “Help of

Christians.”

y

MINISTERS AND CO-WORKERS IN CATHOLIC

SOCIAL ACTION

PRIESTS

60. To apply the remedies thus briefly indicated to the task

of saving the world as We have traced it above, Jesus Christ, our
Divine King, has chosen priests as the first-line ministers and

messengers of His gospel. Theirs is the duty, assigned to them

by a special vocation, under the direction of their bishops and in

filial obedience to the Vicar of Christ on earth, of keeping alight

in the world the torch of Faith, and of filling the hearts of the

Faithful with that supernatural trust which has aided the Church

to fight and win so many other battles in the name of Christ:

“This is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith.” 40

61. To priests in a special way We recommend anew the old-
repeated counsel of Our Predecessor, Leo XIII, to go to the work-

ingman. We make this advice Our own, and faithful to the teach-
ing of Jesus Christ and His Church, We thus complete it: “Go
to the workingman, especially where he is poor; and in general,

go to the poor.” The poor are obviously more exposed than others

to the wiles of agitators who, taking advantage of their extreme

88 Psalms cxxvi. 1. 39 St. Matthew xvii. 20.
40 1 Epistle St. John v. 4.



26 ENCYCLICAL

need, kindle their hearts to envy of the rich and urge them to

seize by force what fortune seems to have denied them unjustly.

If the priest will not go to the workingman and to the poor, to

warn them or to disabuse them of prejudice and false theory, they

will become an easy prey for the apostles of Communism.

62. Indisputably much has been done in this direction, espe-

cially after the publication of the Encyclicals Rerum Novarum

and Quadragesimo Anno. We are happy to voice Our paternal
approval of the zealous pastoral activity manifested by so many

bishops and priests who have with due prudence and caution been

planning and applying new methods of apostolate more adapted

to modern needs. But for the solution of our present problem, all

this effort is still inadequate. When our country is in danger,

everything not strictly necessary, everything not bearing directly

on the urgent matter of unified defense, takes second place. So

we must act in today’s crisis. Every other enterprise, however

attractive and helpful, must yield before the vital need of protect-

ing the very foundation of the Faith and of Christian civilization.

Let our parish priests, therefore, while providing of course for the

normal needs of the Faithful, dedicate the better part of their

endeavors and their zeal to winning back the laboring masses

to Christ and to His Church. Let them work to infuse the Chris-

tian spirit into quarters where it is least at home. The willing re-

sponse of the masses, and results far exceeding their expectations,

will not fail to reward them for their strenuous pioneer labor.

This has been and continues to be our experience in Rome and in

other capitals, where zealous parish communities are being formed

as new churches are built in the suburban districts, and real

miracles are being worked in the conversion of people whose hos-

tility to religion has been due solely to the fact that they did not

know it.

63. But the most efficacious means of apostolate among the

poor and lowly is the priest’s example, the practice of all those

sacerdotal virtues which We have described in Our Encyclical
Ad Catholici Sacerdotti .4

1

Especially needful, however, for the

present situation is the shining example of a life which is humble,

poor and disinterested, in imitation of a Divine Master Who could
say to the world with divine simplicity: “The foxes have holes

and the birds of the air nests, but the Son of Man hath not where

to lay His head.”
42 A priest who is really poor and disinterested

in the Gospel sense may work among his flock marvels recalling

41 Dec. 20, 1935; A. A. S., Vol. XXVIII, 1936, pp. 5-53.
42 St. Matthew viii. 20.



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 27

a St. Vincent de Paul, a Cure of Ars, a Cottolengo, a Don Bosco

and so many others; while an avaricious and selfish priest, as We
have noted in the above-mentioned Encyclical, even though he

should not plunge with Judas to the abyss of treason, will never

be more than empty “sounding brass” and useless “tinkling cym-

bal.”
43 Too often, indeed, he will be a hindrance rather than an

instrument of grace in the midst of his people. Furthermore,

where a secular priest or religious is obliged by his office to ad-

minister temporal property, let him remember that he is not only

to observe scrupulously all that charity and justice prescribe,

but that he has a special obligation to conduct himself in very

truth as a father of the poor.

CATHOLIC ACTION

64. After this appeal to the clergy, We extend Our paternal
invitation to Our beloved sons among the laity who are doing

battle in the ranks of Catholic Action. On another occasion 44

We have called this movement so dear to Our heart “a particularly
providential assistance” in the work of the Church during these

troublous times. Catholic Action is in effect a social apostolate

also, inasmuch as its object is to spread the Kingdom of Jesus

Christ not only among individuals, but also in families and in

society. It must, therefore, make it a chief aim to train its mem-

bers with special care and to prepare them to fight the battles of the

Lord. This task of formation, now more urgent and indispensable

than ever, which must always precede direct action in the field,

will assuredly be served by study-circles, conferences, lecture

courses and the various other activities undertaken with a view

to making known the Christian solution of the social problem.

65. The militant leaders of Catholic Action, thus properly

prepared and armed, will be the first and immediate apostles oi

their fellow workmen. They will be an invaluable aid to the

priest in carrying the torch of truth, and in relieving grave spir-

itual and material suffering, in many sectors where inveterate anti-

clerical prejudice or deplorable religious indifference has proved

a constant obstacle to the pastoral activity of God’s ministers. In

this way they will collaborate, under the direction of especially

qualified priests, in that work of spiritual aid to the laboring

classes on which We set so much store, because it is the means
best calculated to save these, Our beloved children, from the

snares of Communism.

43 1 Corinthians xiii. 44 May 12, 1936.



28 ENCYCLICAL

66. In addition to this individual apostolate which, how-

ever useful and efficacious, often goes unheralded, Catholic Action

must organize propaganda on a large scale to disseminate knowl-

edge of the fundamental principles on which, according to the

Pontifical documents, a Christian Social Order must build.

Auxiliary Organizations

67. Ranged with Catholic Action are the groups which We
have been happy to call its auxiliary forces. With paternal affec-

tion We exhort these valuable organizations also to dedicate them-
selves to the great mission of which We have been treating, a
cause which today transcends all others in vital importance.

Homogeneous Groups

68. We are thinking likewise of those associations of work-
men, farmers, technicians, doctors, employers, students and others

of like character, groups of men and women who live in the same

cultural atmosphere and share the same way of life. Precisely

these groups and organizations are destined to introduce into

society that order which We have envisaged in Our Encyclical
Quadragesimo Anno, and thus to spread in the vast and various

fields of culture and labor the recognition of the Kingdom of

Christ.

69. Even where the State, because of changed social and eco-

nomic conditions, has felt obliged to intervene directly in order to

aid and regulate such organizations by special legislative enact-

ments, supposing always the necessary respect for liberty and

private initiative, Catholic Action may not urge the circum-

stance as an excuse for abandoning the field. Its members should

contribute prudently and intelligently to the study of the prob-

lems of the hour in the light of Catholic doctrine. They should

loyally and generously participate in the formation of the new

institutions, bringing to them the Christian spirit which is the

basic principle of order wherever men work together in fraternal

harmony.

Appeal to Catholic Workers

70. Here We should like to address a particularly affectionate
word to Our Catholic workingmen, young and old. They have

been given, perhaps as a reward for their often heroic fidelity in

these trying days, a noble and an arduous mission. Under the

guidance of their bishops and priests, they are to bring back to

the Church and to God those immense multitudes of their brother-

workmen who, because they were not understood or treated with



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 29

the respect to which they were entitled, in bitterness have strayed

far from God. Let Catholic workingmen show these their wan-

dering brethren by word and example that the Church is a tender

Mother to all those who labor and suffer, and that she has never

failed, and never will fail, in her sacred maternal duty of protect-

ing her children. If this mission, which must be fulfilled in mines,

in factories, in shops, wherever they may be laboring, should at

times require great sacrifices, Our workmen will remember that

the Savior of the world has given them an example not only of toil

but of self-immolation.

Need of Unity Among Catholics

71. To all Our children, finally, of every social rank and every

nation, to every religious and lay organization in the Church, We
make another and more urgent appeal for union. Many times

Our paternal heart has been saddened by the divergencies

—

often idle in their causes, always tragic in their consequences

—

which array in opposing camps the sons of the same Mother

Church. Thus it is that the radicals, who are not so very numer-

ous, profiting by this discord are able to make it more acute, and

end by pitting Catholics one against the other. In view of the

events of the past few months, Our warning must seem superfluous.

We repeat it nevertheless once more, for those who have not un-
derstood, or perhaps do not desire to understand. Those who make

a practice of spreading dissension among Catholics assume a ter-

rible responsibility before God and the Church.

Invitation to All Believers

72. But in this battle joined by the powers of darkness against

the very idea of Divinity, it is Our fond hope that, besides the host

which glories in the name of Christ, all those—and they com-
prise the overwhelming majority of mankind—who still believe in
God and pay Him homage may take a decisive part. We there-
fore renew the invitation extended to them five years ago in Our

Encyclical Caritate Ckristi, invoking their loyal and hearty col-

laboration “in order to ward off from mankind the great danger

that threatens all alike.” Since, as We then said, “belief in God is
the unshakable foundation of all social order and of all responsi-

bility on earth, it follows that all those who do not want anarchy

and terrorism ought to take energetic steps to prevent the enemies

of religion from attaining the goal they have so brazenly pro-

claimed to the world.”
45

45 Encycl. Caritate Ckristi, May 3, 1932 (A. A. S., Vol. XXIV, p. 184).



30 ENCYCLICAL

DUTIES OF THE CHRISTIAN STATE

Aid to the Church

73. Such is the positive task, embracing at once theory and

practice, which the Church undertakes in virtue of the mission,

confided to her by Christ, of constructing a Christian society, and,

in our own times, of resisting unto victory the attacks of Com-

munism. It is the duty of the Christian State to concur actively

in this spiritual enterprise of the Church, aiding her with the means

at its command, which although they be external devices, have

nonetheless for their prime object the good of souls.

74. This means that all diligence should be exercised by

States to prevent within their territories the ravages of an anti-

God campaign which shakes society to its very foundations. For

there can be no authority on earth unless the authority of the

Divine Majesty be recognized; no oath will bind which is not

sworn in the Name of the Living God. We repeat what We have
said with frequent insistence in the past, especially in Our Encycli-

cal Cavitate Christi : “How can any contract be maintained, and

what value can any treaty have, in which every guarantee of con-

science is lacking? And how can there be talk of guarantees of

conscience when all faith in God and all fear of God have van-

ished? Take away this basis, and with it all moral law falls, and

there is no remedy left to stop the gradual but inevitable destruc-

tion of peoples, families, the State, civilization itself.”
46

Provision for the Common Good

75. It must likewise be the special care of the State to create

those material conditions of life without which an orderly society

cannot exist. The State must take every measure necessary to

supply employment, particularly for the heads of families and for

the young. To achieve this end demanded by the pressing needs

of the common welfare, the wealthy classes must be induced to

assume those burdens without which human society cannot be

saved nor they themselves remain secure. However, measures

taken by the State with this end in view ought to be of such a

nature that they will really affect those who actually possess more

than their share of capital resources, and who continue to accu-

mulate them to the grievous detriment of others.

Prudent and Sober Administration

76. The State itself, mindful of its responsibility before God

and society, should be a model of prudence and sobriety in the

46 Encycl. Caritate Christi, May 3, 1932 (A. A. S., Vol. XXIV, 1932, p. 190)



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 31

administration of the commonwealth. Today more than ever

the acute world crisis demands that those who dispose of immense

funds, built up on the sweat and toil of millions, keep constantly

and singly in mind the common good. State functionaries and all

employees are obliged in conscience to perform their duties faith-

fully and unselfishly, imitating the brilliant example of distin-

guished men of the past and of our own day, who with unremitting

labor sacrificed their all for the good of their country. In inter-

national trade-relations let all means be sedulously employed for

the removal of those artificial barriers to economic life which are

the effects of distrust and hatred. All must remember that the

peoples of the earth form but one family in God.

Unrestricted Freedom for the Church

77. At the same time the State must allow the Church full

liberty to fulfill her divine and spiritual mission, and this in itself

will be an effectual contribution to the rescue of nations from the

dread torment of the present hour. Everywhere today there is an

anxious appeal to moral and spiritual forces; and rightly so, for

the evil we must combat is at its origin primarily an evil of the

spiritual order. From this polluted source the monstrous emana-

tions of the Communistic system flow with satanic logic. Now, the

Catholic Church is undoubtedly preeminent among the moral and

religious forces of today. Therefore the very good of humanity

demands that her work be allowed to proceed unhindered.

78. Those who act otherwise, and at the same time fondly pre-

tend to attain their objective with purely political or economic

means, are in the grip of a dangerous error. When religion is

banished from the school, from education and from public life,

when the representatives of Christianity and its sacred rites are

held up to ridicule, are we not really fostering the materialism

which is the fertile soil of Communism? Neither force, however

well organized it be, nor earthly ideals however lofty or noble,

can control a movement whose roots lie in the excessive esteem for

the goods of this world.

79. We trust that those rulers of nations, who are at all aware
of the extreme danger threatening every people today, may be
more and more convinced of their supreme duty not to hinder the

Church in the fulfillment of her mission. This is the more im-

perative since, while this mission has in view man’s happiness in

heaven, it cannot but promote his true felicity in time.



32 ENCYCLICAL

THE ERRING RECALLED80.

We cannot conclude this Encyclical Letter without ad-
dressing some words to those of Our children who are more or less

tainted with the Communist plague. We earnestly exhort them
to hear the voice of their loving Father. We pray the Lord to
enlighten them that they may abandon the slippery path which

will precipitate one and all to ruin and catastrophe, and that they

recognize that Jesus Christ, Our Lord is their only Savior: “For

there is no other name under heaven given to man, whereby we

must be saved.”
47

CONCLUSION

Saint Joseph, Model and Patron

81. To hasten the advent of that “peace of Christ in the king-

dom of Christ” 48 so ardently desired by all, We place the vast
campaign of the Church against world Communism under the

standard of St. Joseph, her mighty Protector. He belongs to the

working-class, and he bore the burdens of poverty for himself and

the Holy Family, whose tender and vigilant head he was. To him

was entrusted the Divine Child when Herod loosed his assassins

against Him. In a life of faithful performance of everyday

duties, he left an example for all those who must gain their bread

by the toil of their hands. He won for himself the title of the

Just, serving thus as a living model of that Christian justice

which should reign in social life.

82. With eyes lifted on high, our Faith sees the new heavens

and the new earth described by Our first Predecessor, St. Peter.49

While the promises of the false prophets of this earth melt away

in blood and tears, the great apocalytic prophecy of the Redeemer

shines forth in heavenly splendor: “Behold, I make all things

new.”
50

Venerable Brethren, nothing remains but to raise Our paternal

hands to call down upon you, upon your clergy and people, upon

the whole Catholic family, the Apostolic Benediction.

Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s on the Feast of St. Joseph,

Patron of the Universal Church, the nineteenth day of March in

the year 1937, the sixteenth of Our Pontificate.

PIUS PP. XI.

47 Acts iv. 12.

48 Encycl. Ubi Arcano, Dec. 23, 1922 (A. A. S., Vol. XIV, 1922, p. 691).
49 2 Epistle St. Peter iii. 13; cf. Isaias lxv. 17, and lxvi. 22; Apocalypse xxi. 1.

60 Apocalypse xxi. 5.



DISCUSSION CLUB OUTLINE

Prepared by Rev. Gerald C. Treacy, S.J.

Numerals Indicate Pages

The struggle between good and evil is ever present in human

history. It is evident today in the conflict between Bolshevistic,

Atheistic Communism and our Christian civilization which it

attacks. The Holy See as early as 1846 raised its voice against

this threat to our Christian heritage in the words of Pius IX

who condemned “that infamous doctrine called Communism

which is absolutely contrary to the Natural Law itself, and if

once adopted would utterly destroy the rights, property and

possessions of all men and even society itself.” Later on Leo

XIII defined Communism as “the fatal plague which insinuates

itself into the very marrow of human society only to bring about

its ruin.” In various encyclicals from 1924 to the present Pius

XI has protested against the Communistic attack. In this encyc-

lical the Pope wishes to explain the principles of Atheistic Com-

munism as they are evidenced in Bolshevism, and to outline its

method of action as well as to contrast with its false principles

the clear teachings of the Church. By the teachings of the

Church alone can the world be saved from this Satanic scourge

and a better world-order established (1-4).

Communism today gives a religious turn to its doctrine by

preaching a false justice, equality and fraternity to those who

are in misery in the modern world because of the unequal dis-

tribution of wealth. This false ideal is supposed to be the cause

of economic progress where Communism has a hold. The fact

is whatever economic progress has been achieved is due to

other causes, such as intense industrialism in countries hitherto

agricultural, the exploitation of immense natural resources and

the most brutal use of force to ensure cheap labor. Modem

Communism derives from the teaching of Marx. According

to this teaching there is only one reality in the world—Matter.
33



34 DISCUSSION CLUB OUTLINE

Everything evolves from Matter, plant, animal, man and

even human Society. By a blind law and the conflict of forces

constantly going on, Matter moves toward a classless Society.

In such a doctrine as is evident there is no place for God, no

difference between Matter and Spirit, soul and body, no sur-

vival of the soul after death, no future Life. This conflict of

forces may be hastened by man. Hence the Communist encour-

ages class-conflict with hate and destruction as rallying cries for

the progress of humanity. Any opposition by man or society

is to be met by violent destruction until those in opposition are

annihilated. Witness Communism in action in Russia and Red

Spain.

Communism robs man of liberty, despoils human personality

of its dignity, and removes all restraint from human passion.

No man has any natural rights. He is a cog in the Communist

machine. There is absolute equality between man and man

without any authority, even the authority of parents. No prop-

erty rights exist so all private property must be done away with.

Denying to human life any sacred or spiritual value Communism

makes the family and marriage mean only an artificial and

civil agreement, the outcome merely of some economic system.

There exists no marriage bond that may not be broken at the

whim of the individual or Communist Society. Woman is

“emancipated” by being forced out of the home and thrown

into the hopper of Communist industrial activity. The care of

home and children devolves then upon the State. Parents have

no rights over the education of children. The State alone has

the right of education and whatever parents do in the matter

of education depends utterly on the will of the State. Man is

thus reduced to slavery with the State as ruthless master (4, 5).

Questions

What two ideas today are clashing representing the age-old

forces of good and evil?

What pronouncements were made by Pius IX and Leo XIII

on Communism?

What are the false religious claims of Communism?



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 35

Where Communism claims an economic triumph what causes

are responsible instead of these claims?

Who is the father of Communism and what is his teaching

in regard to plant, animal, man and human society?

Why does Communism encourage class-conflict and what

position does it take toward any individual or group opposing

its gospel?

What does Communism teach regarding human liberty, the

human personality, authority, private property, the family, mar-

riage, woman, the child, the State?

II

In a Communistic society there would be no other order than

the economic, no values but economic values, its sole object would

be the production of material things by means of collective labor.

Each person would “give according to his powers” and would

“receive according to his needs.” Labor would be drafted for

the State without regard for the personal welfare of the indi-

vidual. Force would substitute for law, morality would disap-

pear, the so-called civilization resulting would be a humanity

without God. When all men have acquired the “collective”

mentality necessary to make Communism an accomplished fact

the State will have no reason to exist in this classless society and

so will “wither away.” In the meantime Communism will use the

State and the powers of the State to arrive at its goal. Such is

the new gospel offered to the world as the new tidings of deliv-

erance and salvation. It is a system reeking with errors and

lies, in opposition to common sense and God’s Revelation, sub-

versive of the social order whose very foundations it attacks.

It ignores the true origin and purpose of the State, and denies

the rights, dignity and liberty of human personality.

Communism has spread in all parts of the world because too

few have really grasped its meaning. By pretending to desire

only the betterment of the working people and exposing the ad-

mitted abuses of our present economic system it has drawn into

its net many who on principle reject all forms of materialism and

terrorism, the twin pillars of the Communistic idea. As every



36 DISCUSSION CLUB OUTLINE

error contains its element of truth, the partial truths proclaimed

by Communism are presented according to the needs of time

and place, to conceal the basic cruelty and inhumanity of Com-

munistic tactics and principles. Thus many of the better minds

in a community are won over and these in turn become advo-

cates and apostles of a movement whose viciousness they are una-

ware of. It exploits racial antagonisms and political differences.

It penetrates into universities where agnostic science is an easy

prey to the false science of its specious arguments. A way was

prepared for Communism by the philosophy of Liberalism which

came into the world with the machine age. Liberalism has de-

Christianized the world of Labor and Capital. Labor suffering

from injustice and deprived of a spiritual outlook on life in the

name of false efficiency, has turned to Communism for relief, not

recognizing the diabolic lie under the false promise of a better

social order. We are reaping the fruits of falsehoods denounced

by Our Predecessors and Ourselves (6, 7).

Another reason for the rapid diffusion of Communistic ideas

is found in a propaganda “so truly diabolical that the world has

perhaps never seen its like before.” It is directed from one

common center, it shrewdly adapts itself to varying conditions

of different peoples. It is backed by great financial resources,

international congresses and thousands of trained workers. It

uses the press, the radio, the moving picture, the schoolroom

from the grades to the university. Little by little it permeates

all classes and even sways better-minded groups who are all un-

conscious of the poison that has infected them. The silence of

the press is another reason why Communism has spread so fast.

The press of the world has been guilty of nothing less than a

conspiracy of silence regarding the excesses of Communism in

Russia, Mexico and Spain (8).

Questions

What would be the condition of human society under Com-

munism?

What would be the only law in the Communistic State?

How explain the rapid spread of Communism today?



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 37

How has it been able to carry its ideas into all classes and

places?

Why does it appeal especially to the working classes?

How does racial antagonism foster the Communistic idea?

What is its appeal to the better-minded and the young people?

How has “liberal economics” paved the way for Communism’s

acceptance?

What is the propaganda system back of Communism called

by the Pope diabolical?

How account for the “conspiracy of silence” maintained by

the press?

Ill

The effects of this propaganda are before our eyes. Wherever

Communism has gained a grip it has done everything to destroy

Christian civilization. Witness Russia and Mexico with bishops,

priests and religious men and women done to death with inhu-

man torture or condemned to a lingering death in prison or at

forced labor. Religion must be torn up by the roots is the Com-

munistic gospel in propaganda and fact. The minds of the young

must be turned from God and bent to the law of the jungle.

Red Spain for two and a half years testifies to the same horrors

of cruelty, bloodshed, death. Nor should this bloodstained page

of Communist history surprise anyone who is sensible enough to

see that if you tear the very idea of God from the hearts of men,

you no longer have men but only raging brutes. For the first

time in history we are witnessing a struggle between man and

“all that is called God.” Communism is of its nature anti-

religious calling religion “the opiate of the people” because the

principles of religion which speak of life beyond the grave dis-

suade the people from the Soviet dream of paradise here on

earth. Its dream is unattainable. Russia after twenty years of

terrorism and slavery has failed in its boasted objective of an

earthly paradise. It must be remembered that even the sphere

of economics needs morality. Russia without morality relies

only on terrorism where former revolutionary comrades are ex-

terminating each other. And the Russian people deserve sym-

pathy not condemnation (9, 10).



38 DISCUSSION CLUB OUTLINE

Questions

What do the excesses carried out by the Red governments in

Russia, Mexico and Spain demonstrate?

What is the effect of rooting out from the human heart the

idea of God?

Has the present struggle between Atheistic Communism and

“all that is called God” any parallel in history?

After twenty years what has Communism achieved in Russia?

Can the sphere of economics be dissociated from morality?

Are the Russian people to be blamed for accepting Com-

munism?

IV

In contrast with the errors and violent deceptive tactics of

Communism we have the teaching of the Church regarding

human society. Above all other realities there exists the Supreme

Being, God omnipotent, Creator and all-just Judge of all men.

God has endowed man with natural and supernatural gifts. God

is his goal in this life and the next. Man has been destined by

God to live as a member of a family and a State. This State

is for man. It is to help him reach his goal. He was not

created to be a mere cog in a machine called the State. He has

obligations toward the State. The State has no right to defraud

him, however, of his natural rights, called by our own Declara-

tion of Independence “inalienable.” The State through social

justice is bound to secure for man the right to hold property,

and to receive a living wage adequate for himself and family.

Capital and Labor are not to be considered antagonistic elements

(as in Communism) but as cooperative parts in the social unit

called the State. Harmony and not class warfare is the ideal.

Whatever the form of government (provided it is founded on

justice), that prevails in the State, its function is to promote

cooperation among all the elements that make up the body

politic. There should be no favored classes. All have not equal

rights in society. There exists in every real State a lawful social

hierarchy which means that there are rulers and people, brain

workers and manual workers, professional and business groups,



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 39

military, naval and civil servants. There is no such thing as

leveling down all classes. Such an idea fostered by Communism

is against the laws of human nature, reason and God’s Revela-

tion. Both man and civil society come from God. Hence neither

can deny nor diminish each other’s rights. Communism attempts

to destroy this Divine Law and substitute in its stead a partisan

political program founded on the arbitrary and perverse will of

a small group. The Church in proclaiming this sane and en-

lightening doctrine for human life is making concrete the message

of Bethlehem: “Glory to God . . . and peace to men of good

will.” It calls for liberty and authority, securing the rights and

duties of all groups and individuals. The Church does not sepa-

rate a proper regard for temporal welfare from eternal values.

She promotes human progress and happiness not by defining an

economic system which is outside her field, but by outlining the

guiding principles that must be back of any economic system if

it is to sensibly promote man’s welfare on earth. The social

doctrine of the Church while stressing man’s eternal destiny is

best for his human welfare. From the beginning it was the

doctrine of the Church on human brotherhood that mitigated and

finally abolished human slavery, and taught the true dignity of

manual labor. Today there would be none of the fatal isms

that threaten the very foundation of decent human life and rea-

sonable happiness, if the leaders of nations had hearkened to

the Voice of Christ speaking through His Vicar. Instead they

built their hopes on liberalism and laicism, foundation stones

that today are crumbling before our eyes (11-16).

Questions

What is Catholic teaching regarding human society?

What place does God hold in this teaching?

What is the origin of the State?

What are the obligations of the citizen?

What are the rights of the State over the citizen?

What are the limitations of these rights?

What must the State secure to the citizen?

How are Capital and Labor to function in the State?



40 DISCUSSION CLUB OUTLINE

What is meant by a social hierarchy?

Why cannot a classless society be brought about?

How are liberty and authority reconciled in the Catholic idea
of the State?

Is the Church merely concerned with eternal values?

Is the Church concerned with man’s temporal welfare?

Does the Church promote human happiness by her own eco-
nomic system?

How has the Church’s teaching influenced human welfare?

What two isms were the foundation of modern social dis-
aster?

V

The saving doctrine of the Church must be reduced to action

by all who wish to stave off the Communistic peril. “Be ye

doers of the Word not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” We

must take a leaf from the book of Communistic enthusiasm and

outstrip in our Christian action the children of darkness. The

first need is a renewal of Catholic life so that the Catholic Body

may in reality become the salt of the earth and so preserve

human society from total corruption. We see an encouraging

sign of this reawakening of Catholic life on all sides and among

all classes even the most cultured. Yet much remains to be

done. In Catholic countries there are still many who are merely

Catholics in name. The Catholic who does not live his religion

to the full in these days when strife and persecution are raging

will not long remain a Catholic. There are two teachings of

our Lord that have special bearing on present conditions, namely,

detachment from earthly goods and the command of charity.

In these days of materialism that breed a thirst for everything

worldly, every Christian must strive for detachment. Those

who have riches remembering that they are stewards of God

and must give an account to Him of the use they make of

their wealth. The poor too while striving to better their con-

dition should remember that earthly comfort and prosperity are

of less value than the things of the spirit. The earth can never

be Paradise and both rich and poor, but the poor especially must



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 41

in the words of Saint James, “be patient.” “We have not here

a lasting city but we seek one that is to come,” are the sane

words of Saint Paul. A still more important remedy for the

modern evil is charity in the true Christ-given sense of the

word. Charity that is patient and kind in fulfilling the spiritual

and corporal works of mercy. We are grateful to all associations

that are engaged in these works and we are all the more grieved

by people who spend great wealth on useless and frivolous amuse-

ments while thousands of the needy are in real misery beyond

their control. This is neither charity nor justice. Charity then

must be proclaimed by pen and word, charity that teaches us

that our fellow-human in need is Christ in need (17-20).

Questions

What remedies must be applied to save civilization from the

Communistic menace?

What characteristic of the Communistic apostle is to be

imitated?

What is the first duty of the Catholic in this crisis?

What has been the failure of many in so-called Catholic

countries?

What two doctrines of Christ are most important at the pres-

ent time?

How do they apply to, and how must they be applied by
rich and poor?

VI

Charity however will never be real unless it takes justice into

account. For true charity includes all the Commandments. It

follows that a “charity” denying the workman a just wage is not

charity at all but a pretense. The wage-earner is not to receive

as alms what is due him in strict justice. It is the duty of

employers to remember that they are not true Catholics if they

ignore Our teaching on the rights of a worker to a just living

wage sufficient for himself and his family. Besides this obliga-

tion of justice between man and man there is the obligation of



42 DISCUSSION CLUB OUTLINE

social justice binding alike employer and employee. This de-

mands from each individual all that is necessary for the common

good. The good of society as a unit cannot be procured unless

each in the dignity of his human personality is supplied with all

that is necessary for the exercise of his social functions. For

the worker this means a living family wage. It means more-

over the chance of securing a modest savings account that will

prevent pauperism, make provision through public or private

insurance for the time of illness, unemployment and old age.

If We consider the whole structure of economic life, as We have
pointed out in Our Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, charity and

justice will be best attained by the mutual cooperation of asso-

ciations of employers and employees. To achieve social jus-

tice, it is necessary for Catholics to learn the teachings of the

Church as explained in the Social Encyclicals. Catholic educa-

tion in social principles must permeate all classes in the Church.

Only then will the scandal be removed of Catholic employers

exteriorly faithful to their religion, yet in the field of labor, indus-

try, trade and business not acting according to the clear prin-

ciples of justice and charity. The press can play an important

educational role in this matter by explaining the truth of Cath-

olic social ideas and exposing the sophistry of Communistic

propaganda. True propaganda must conquer the false. In the

beginning Communism proclaimed itself for what it is but now

it cloaks itself behind ideas that are good and attractive. Calling

for peace the Communist foments class warfare. Democracy,

humanitarianism, the popular front are just names calculated

to deceive the unwary. Communism is intrinsically wrong and

no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate

with it in any undertaking whatsoever (21-25).

Questions

May charity cover up the failure of justice?

What does true charity imply?

What is the obligation of Christian employers?

How has the insincere attitude of Catholic industrialists

affected the worker?



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 43

What does social justice demand of each individual?

In what does the need of the human body resemble the need

of the social body?

What salary does social justice demand for the workman?

How should employers and workers regard organizations?

What type of organized social-economic life should all strive

for?

Why is there immediate need for social study based on Cath-

olic teaching?

How can the press influence the spread of right social

teaching?

How does the Communistic approach today differ from its

first approach?

Is its present position easy to identify?

May a Catholic cooperate with Communism in any under-

taking?

What is the twofold weapon necessary for the triumph of

the Christian social order?

VII

The first-line ministers of the Gospel which is to save the

world from ruin are the bishops and priests of the Church. To

the priests of the Church Our command is: “Go to the work-

ingman especially where he is poor; and in general go to the

poor.” The poor are more exposed to the deceits of agitators

who are capitalizing on their sufferings and urging the false

remedy of Communism. Much has been done by bishops and

priests but a great deal more has to be done in applying new

methods of apostolate more suitable to present needs. When

danger threatens the life of a nation everything not bearing on

united defense must take second place. So today everything

must yield before the vital need of protecting the very founda-

tion of the Faith and of Christian civilization. The big need

is for our parish priests to win back the worker to Christ and

His Church. To do this example is more effective than preach-

ment. The priest to reach the poor must be poor and disinter-



44 DISCUSSION CLUB OUTLINE

ested and unselfish while the priest who is a money-seeker even

though he may not become a Judas will only be “sounding brass

and tinkling cymbal,” a hindrance rather than a help to his

flock. But not only the priest but the laity must get into the

social battle by Catholic Action. This is the cooperation of the

laity with the hierarchy in spreading the Kingdom of Christ.

Its members must be trained first in self-conquest, then in knowl-

edge so as to become apt instruments for the work of Christ’s

apostolate. Workers above all others must be trained who can

reach their fellow-workers more easily than priests can. In

addition, propaganda must be used on a large scale to meet the

enemy on his own ground. All associated groups, workers,

farmers, students must first get the true social message of the

Gospel in their own lives and then spread it among their own.

But again it is to the Catholic workmen to whom We appeal

above all others to bring to their fellow-workers the message

that the Church is the mother of all who labor and suffer. If

this mission in mine, factory, shop, costs sacrifice, the Catholic

workman must remember Christ the Worker who not only

toiled but sacrificed Himself for others. Above all do We appeal

for Catholic unity. It is a sad sight to see the children of the

Church disunited. Dissension in our own ranks only gives com-

fort to the enemy who makes capital of it for the spread of his

poisonous teaching. We call also on all good men who believe

in God and honor Him to join with the Catholic Church “in

order to ward off from mankind the great danger that threatens

all alike.” All who do not want anarchy and terrorism to

replace decent civilization should line up with the forces of

Catholic Action. The State too must act in this crisis by stamp-

ing out an anti-God campaign that will inevitably shake society

to its very foundations. For be it remembered without God no

nation can survive. The State too must act for the common

welfare by securing those material conditions for all without

which society cannot exist in good order. Employment must be

secured for heads of families and for youth. Excessive wealth

in the hands of the few must not be tolerated, but should be

corrected by remedial legislation. In administering public funds

the common good must be the only consideration. Every public



ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM 45

office must be considered a public trust. In international rela-

tion all false economic barriers springing from distrust and hatred

must be abolished. Complete liberty must be granted the Church

to fulfill her spiritual mission. This itself will prove an effective

contribution to the rescue of nations from the present peril. The

evil today is spiritual. To meet it there is need of a spiritual

power. Such is the Catholic Church. It follows that for the

very good of humanity her work should be unimpeded. Her

task it is to promote true human happiness that eternal bliss

may be secure. States and governments that wage war against

her wage war to their own final destruction. “Unless the Lord

safeguards the city he watches in vain who keeps it.” We pray

for those who have been tainted by Communism that “they may

see.” And to hasten the coming of the “peace of Christ in the

Kingdom of Christ” We place this campaign of the Church

against world Communism under the patronage of Saint Joseph.

He belongs to the working-class and bore the burdens of poverty

for himself and the Holy Family. He is the example of faith-

fulness to everyday duties. He is called the Just and so is the

model of that Christian Justice that should reign in social life.

While the promises of false prophets of this earth melt away

in blood and tears, We see with the eyes of Faith the fulfillment

of the vision seen by Our first Predecessor, Saint Peter—the new
heavens and the new earth shining forth in splendor: “Behold

I make all things new” (25-32).

Questions

Who are the first-line torchbearers of the Light of Christ in

the world?

To what class in the State must the priest today go first?

Why is this class the special object of the Church’s solicitude?

What type of priest alone can appeal to the worker?

How is the laity to act in the modern world-crisis?

What is the meaning of Catholic Action?

What is the group apostolate?

Why is Catholic unity more necessary today than ever?



46 DISCUSSION CLUB OUTLINE

Does the Pope call on Catholics only to wage the battle

against Communism?

Has the State a duty in the present problem?

What must the State do for the worker, the capitalist, the

Church?

What should guide international relations?

Why is Saint Joseph chosen as the patron of the war against

world Communism?

What vision does our Holy Father see with the eye of Faith?

61





An exceptional book value——

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LABOR — EDUCATION — MARRIAGE
THE SOCIAL ORDER — COMMUNISM

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