You mean to say “the liberty of having no conscience”, or, what is much the same thing, “the liberty of corrupting or poisoning one's conscience!” You are right; the Pope is the mortal enemy of a liberty so shocking. What good father would leave his son the liberty of poisoning himself?
It was Protestantism which invented, and it is the Revolution which has perfected, what unbelievers call liberty of conscience. It has become an essential part of progress, of that anti-Catholic progressof which we were speaking just now, and which has insinuated itself into all modern constitutions....
The liberty of following one's conscience, even when it is misguided, is not the liberty of conscience condemned by the Encyclical Letter. Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and all men, of whatever denomination or sect they may be, are obliged to follow the dictates of their conscience; as long as they are misled fairly, it is but a misfortune; what the Church demands is that all men may escape this misfortune, and have full liberty of embracing truth, when once they have discovered it. The Pope condemns liberty of conscience, and not liberty of consciences. The one is very different from the other.
In Condemning Liberty Of Worship, The Pope Wishes To Oblige Governments To Persecute Unbelievers, Protestants, Jews.
The Pope desires nothing of all that, and those who say so, do not believe a word of what they advance. Pius IX. says simply to Catholic governments (and it is to them that he addresses himself): “There is but one true religion, because there is but one God, one Christ, one faith, one baptism, and this only true religion is that of the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church of Rome. If, in consequence of unfortunate circumstances, a Catholic government is obliged to put the Church on the same footing with false religions, such as Protestants, Jews, Mahometans, etc., it should bitterly regret such an unhappy state of things, and never consider it as permanent or lasting. Such conduct would be putting truth on a line with error, and despising faith.
“It is the duty of a really Catholic government to facilitate, as much as possible, to bishops and priests, the free exercise of their holy ministry, in order that they may, by the zeal and persuasion of their charity, work more efficaciously for the conversion of heretics and other dissenters. It must hinder, as much as circumstances and the laws of prudence will permit, the extension of heresy; finally, it must [pg 399]endeavour, for its own interest, as well as for that of the Church, to procure the inestimable advantages of religious unity and peace to its subjects”.
These are the matters that Pius IX. speaks of. He simply engages Catholic sovereigns to do for their subjects what every good father would do for his children and his servants; he does all in his power to render the knowledge and practice of religion easy for them; he removes as much as he can all that is capable of weakening their faith or of corrupting their morals; he tolerates the evil that he cannot prevent, but he never lets an opportunity pass without blaming this evil, and repressing that which he cannot extirpate entirely.
The Church employs gentleness and mildness in order to gain souls to God. Who would have ever thought of using violent measures to impose faith on men? Although the Catholic Church pities those who are misguided, and does all in her power to enlighten them, she respects their faith, when she knows them to be upright and honest. Intolerant and absolute in matter of doctrine, she is full of tender solicitude for her children.
III.
St. Patrick's Cathedral: How it was Restored. By a Catholic Clergyman. Dublin: Duffy, 1865