The few important points which the Pope's letter contains, are:
1st, A theory on authority: and 2nd, A doctrine respecting the evils of the poverty and ignorance which afflict the people in Italy, and in a great degree elsewhere. Both these deny God, the Word of Christ, and human nature.
... The Israel (of Italy) is the revolutionary party, the national party, who say to Italians, You are not a race born to be slaves of the Pope, or of the Austrian whip; you are twenty-six millions of people, created free, equal, brethren, all children of God, and servants of nothing but his law.
The theory of the Pope's letter is this: "That the poor exist in consequence of things which cannot and ought not to be changed; that the Catholic religion preaches to the rich to have charity, which will obtain from God treasures of grace and eternal rewards; that the poor should thank the Providence which keeps them in misery, and that they know how to bear it in peace and a light mind, as an easier way of salvation in heaven."...
And to this theory is superadded the other, respecting authority: "Every authority comes from God; every government, de facto, is a government of right. Obey, or, resisting, be condemned."
In other words, or comprehending the two theories in one: Earth and heaven constitute a perpetual antagonism—-Right, equality and truth reign in heaven; fact, force and inevitable evil reign upon earth. There are two human races: the race of the rich and powerful, and the race of the poor and servants. The poor exist for the benefit of the rich, in order that the latter may obtain heaven by exercising charity; and the servants, in order that the masters can govern with clemency and the spirit of love. When this is not done, God will give punishments and rewards in heaven; but, every attempt at melioration on earth, by the efforts of the poor and servile race, is sin.
And this is the religious doctrine which the church of the Pope teaches to mankind in the nineteenth century; and she teaches it in the name of the Gospel of Christ, confronting it to the words—
"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven:"
the only prayer which Jesus taught to believers; confronting it to the command, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve;" confronting it to, "That all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee."
No—it is not true that heaven and earth are in antagonism; it is not true, that, while in heaven the truth and justice of God reign, submission to fact and reverence for brute force are a law of the earth. It is not true that the salvation of human creatures is secured, as if by expiation, by means of resignation or indifference. The earth is the Lord's; the earth, on which, and for which, Jesus, first, and after him all the holy martyrs of mankind, shed their tears and their blood.