INSCRUTABILE (On The Problems
Of The Pontificate)
Pope
Pius VI
Encyclical
promulgated on 25 December 1775.
To the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops and
Bishops of the Entire Catholic Church.
Venerable Brothers, We give you Greeting and
Our Apostolic Blessing.
The mysterious design of divine wisdom, whose
works are always marvelous, did not despise Our
lowliness but willed instead to make Us the head of the bishops and to honor Us
as the guide of His entire Church. Just as He chose the young David from among
a thousand and raised him from herding sheep to rule His people on a glorious
throne, and make them acceptable to God by means of the rod of guidance, so He
chose Us. Others seemed more worthy of the papal tiara, especially since We had
just been appointed to the college of cardinals and occupied the last place
there.
As We gratefully reflect on His infinite
kindness towards Us, We cannot refrain from tears at His beneficent mercy and
omnipotence in conferring His graces so generously on one who was not
recommended by his own merits. Despite Our lack of strength and merit, He
established Us as leader of the peoples in order that, as representative on
earth of the Eternal Shepherd, We should feed
Since it is most fitting for Us
to show Our obedience and devotion as consecrated Pope by offering praise to
the Lord, We cannot stifle Our exclamations of exultation as We praise Him and
cry with the prophet: "Let Our mouth speak the praise of the Lord and Our
soul, spirit, flesh and tongue bless His holy name."[1] "But if it is
religious conduct to rejoice at a grace, it is also necessary to be anxious
about deserving it. For what is so fearful as toil to the weak, height to the
lowly and rank to one who does not deserve it?"[2]
2. Who would not be fearful at the present
condition of the Christian people? The divine love by which we abide in God and
God in us grows very cold as sins and wickedness increase every day. Who would
not be shocked when considering that We have undertaken the task of guarding
and protecting the Church at a time when many plots are laid against orthodox
religion, when the safe guidance of the sacred canons is rashly despised, and
when confusion is spread wide by men maddened by a monstrous desire of
innovation, who attack the very bases of rational nature and attempt to
overthrow them? Assuredly "with such reason for fear, we would have no hope
of escaping slavery except that the Guardian of Israel, who does not sleep,
says to His disciples: 'Behold I am with you all days even to the consummation
of the world.' He deigned to be not merely the guardian of the sheep, but the
shepherd of the shepherds as well."[3]
3. Now since divine graces descend on us most
generously when Our prayer ascends to God, We make this special request of you,
Our helpers and advisers, in this Our first address to you, for the love by
which we are one in the Lord and for the faith by which we grow into one body.
Beseech God every day to strengthen Us by His power
and to pour out on Us the Spirit of counsel and of courage, in order that We
may both decide what measures We should take in these difficult circumstances
and that We may have the strength to carry through Our decisions. Therefore
pray in the Spirit, and let your prayer be the surest proof of your love for Us
and your brotherly union. Invoke the merits of the most holy Mary, mother of
God, Our special patroness, and of all the heavenly court, that We may quickly
obtain the help We need. Request for Us especially the protection and defense
of St. Peter the Apostle. "We rejoice more to serve his See than to occupy
it, in the hope that his prayers will make the God of mercies regard the time
of Our ministry with kindness and deign to guard and feed the shepherd of his
sheep."[4]
4. We urge you to show that you are faithful
stewards of the mysteries of God. As the Lord is your portion, you know well
what you should do and endure for the
Therefore, since you know that the Church's
chief good derives from admitting only those who are fully qualified into the
clergy, We do not have to remind you to observe carefully the sanctions
established in this matter by the canons. Prevent from entering the Church's
service all who lack exceptional moral holiness, who
are uninstructed in the law of the Lord, and who give little or no promise of
becoming energetic members of the clergy. For instead of proving helpers to you
in feeding and guiding your flock, they will increase your toil and troubles.
They will hinder you from ensuring that the Lord receives from his workers the
fruits of the vineyard which Christ in strictest justice will expect from you
at the final judgment. A man who is going to be a priest should excel in
holiness and learning. For God rejects as priests those who have rejected knowledge, and only the man who unites moral piety with the
pursuit of knowledge can be a suitable worker in the Lord's harvest. Since this
cannot occur without careful education, it has been decreed accordingly that
each diocese should establish a college for clerics in accordance with its
means; if such a college already exists, it should be carefully preserved. For
how would young men, whose age impels them down the easy path, persevere in
ecclesiastical training or make such progress in humane and sacred studies
unless they were instructed in piety and religion from their early years and
practiced in the interpretation of literature?
Such colleges have been established and
carefully equipped with suitable regulations and even greatly expanded in
individual dioceses as Benedict XIV recommended to each of you as an
indispensable part of your office.[6] So just as We
must praise the outstanding labor and concern shown in founding and expanding
these colleges, We must also urge on strongly those in whose diocese a college
has not been established or completed.
5. For the same reason you should undoubtedly
always give special attention to the beauty of the house of God and the
splendor and dignity of objects dedicated to the divine service. Such beauty
and splendor often greatly inspire the faithful, and draw them to the
veneration of sacred realities. It would be very improper for the bishop's
house to be cleaner and furnished more tastefully than the abode of holiness,
the palace of the living God. It would make no sense to see holy vestments,
adornments for the altar and all the furniture in the church worn out with age
and torn or dirty, while the bishop's table is well laden, the priest's
clothing very clean and finely coordinated. St. Peter Damian expressed this
well: "It is an accusation which brings great confusion on us that some
men both offer and lay the Lord's Body on a dirty altar cloth and that they
fearlessly place the Body of the Savior in a vessel which no lord, worm though
he is, would put to his own lips!"[7] But We know that you are far from
committing this sin of negligence of which the holy cardinal accuses those who
spend the goods acquired by the Church "not in buying books or ornaments
and utensils for their churches" but for their own use as "necessary
expenses."
6. We thought it useful to speak to you
lovingly on these matters in order to strengthen your excellent resolve. But a
much more serious subject demands that We speak of it, or rather mourn over it.
We refer to the pestilent disease which the wickedness of our times brings
forth. We must unite our minds and strength in treating this plague before it
grows rife and becomes incurable in the Church through Our oversight. For in
recent days, the dangerous times foretold by the Apostle Paul have clearly
arrived, when there will be "men who love themselves, who are lifted up,
proud, blasphemous, traitors, lovers of pleasure instead of God, men who are
always learning but never arriving at the knowledge of truth, possessing indeed
the appearance of piety but denying its power, corrupt in mind, reprobate about
the faith."[8] These men raise themselves up into "lying"
teachers, as they are called by Peter the prince of the Apostles, and bring in
sects of perdition. They deny the Lord who bought them and bring upon
themselves swift destruction. They say they are wise and they have become
fools, and their uncomprehending heart is darkened.
You yourselves, established as scouts in the
house of
But those deceitful sages soften and conceal
the wickedness of their doctrine with seductive words and statements; in this
way, they attract and wretchedly ensnare many of the weak into rejecting their
faith or allowing it to be greatly shaken. While they pur
sue a remarkable knowledge, they open their eyes to behold a false light which
is worse than the very darkness. Naturally our enemy, desirous of harming us
and skilled in doing so, just as he made use of the serpent to deceive the
first human beings, has armed the tongues of those men with the poison of his
deceitfulness in order to lead astray the minds of the faithful. The prophet
prays that his soul may be delivered from such deceitful tongues.[10] In this way these men by their speech "enter in
lowliness, capture mildly, softly bind and kill in secret."[11] This
results in great moral corruption, in license of thought and speech, in
arrogance and rashness in every enterprise.
7. When they have spread this darkness abroad
and torn religion out of men's hearts, these accursed philosophers proceed to
destroy the bonds of union among men, both those which unite them to their
rulers, and those which urge them to their duty. They keep proclaiming that man
is born free and subject to no one, that society accordingly is a crowd of
foolish men who stupidly yield to priests who deceive them and to kings who
oppress them, so that the harmony of priest and ruler is only a monstrous
conspiracy against the innate liberty of man.
Everyone must understand that such ravings and
others like them, concealed in many deceitful guises, cause
greater ruin to public calm the longer their impious originators are
unrestrained. They cause a serious loss of souls redeemed by Christ's blood
wherever their teaching spreads, like a cancer; it forces its way into public
academies, into the houses of the great, into the palaces of kings, and even
enters the sanctuary, shocking as it is to say so.
8. Consequently, you who are the salt of the
earth, guardians and shepherds of the Lord's flock, whose business it is to
fight the battles of the Lord, arise and gird on your sword, which is the word
of God, and expel this foul contagion from your lands. How long are we to
ignore the common insult to faith and Church? Let the words of Bernard arouse
us like a lament of the spouse of Christ: "Of old was it foretold and the
time of fulfillment is now at hand: Behold, in peace is my sorrow most
sorrowful. It was sorrowful first when the martyrs died; afterwards it was more
sorrowful in the fight with the heretics and now it is most sorrowful in the
conduct of the members of the household.... The Church is struck within and so
in peace is my sorrow most sorrowful.
But what peace? There is peace and there is no
peace. There is peace from the pagans and peace from the heretics, but no peace
from the children. At that time the voice will lament: Sons did I rear and
exalt, but they despised me. They despised me and defiled me by a bad life,
base gain, evil traffic, and business conducted in the dark."[12] Who can
hear these tearful complaints of our most holy mother without feeling a strong
urge to devote all his energy and effort to the Church, as he has promised?
Therefore cast out the old leaven, remove the evil from your midst. Forcefully
and carefully banish poisonous books from the eyes of your flock, and at once
courageously set apart those who have been infected, to prevent them harming
the rest. The holy Pope Leo used to say, "We can rule those entrusted to
us only by pursuing with zeal for the Lord's faith those who destroy and those
who are destroyed and by cutting them off from sound minds with the utmost
severity to prevent the plague spreading."[13] In doing this We exhort and
advise you to be all of one mind and in harmony as you strive for the same object,
just as the Church has one faith, one baptism, and one spirit. As you are
joined together in the hierarchy, so you should unite equally with virtue and
desire.
The affair is of the greatest importance since
it concerns the Catholic faith, the purity of the Church, the teaching of the
saints, the peace of the empire, and the safety of nations.
Since it concerns the entire body of the
Church, it is a special concern of yours because you are called to share in Our
pastoral concern, and the purity of the faith is particularly entrusted to your
watchfulness. "Now therefore, Brothers, since you are overseers among
God's people and their soul depends on you, raise their hearts to your
utterance,"[14] that they may stand fast in faith and achieve the rest
which is prepared for believers only. Beseech, accuse, correct, rebuke and fear
not: for ill-judged silence leaves in their error those who could be taught,
and this is most harmful both to them and to you who should have dispelled the
error. The holy Church is powerfully refreshed in the truth as it struggles
zealously for the truth. In this divine work you should not fear either the
force or favor of your enemies. The bishop should not fear since the anointing
of the Holy Spirit has strengthened him: the shepherd should not be afraid
since the prince of pastors has taught him by his own example to despise life
itself for the safety of his flock: the cowardice and depression of the
hireling should not dwell in a bishop's heart. Our great predecessor Gregory,
in instructing the heads of the churches, said with his usual excellence:
"Often imprudent guides in their fear of losing human favor are afraid to
speak the right freely. As the word of truth has it, they guard their flock not
with a shepherd's zeal but as hirelings do, since they flee when the wolf
approaches by hiding themselves in silence.... A shepherd fearing to speak the
right is simply a man retreating by keeping silent."[15] But if the wicked
enemy of the human race, the better to frustrate your efforts, ever brings it
about that a plague of epidemic proportions is hidden from the religious powers
of the world, please do not be terrified but walk in God's house in harmony,
with prayer, and in truth, the three arms of our service. Remember that when
the people of Juda were defiled, the best means of
purification was the public reading to all, from the least to the greatest, of
the book of the law lately found by the priest Helcias
in the Lord's temple; at once the whole people agreed to destroy the
abominations and seal a covenant in the Lord's presence to follow after the
Lord and observe His precepts, testimonies and ceremonies with their whole
heart and soul."[16] For the same reason Josaphat
sent priests and Levites to bring the book of the law throughout the cities of Juda and to teach the people.[17] The proclamation of the
divine word has been entrusted to your faith by divine, not human, authority.
So assemble your people and preach to them the gospel of Jesus Christ. From
that divine source and heavenly teaching draw draughts of true philosophy for
your flock. Persuade them that subjects ought to keep faith and show obedience
to those who by God's ordering lead and rule them. To those who are devoted to
the ministry of the Church, give proofs of faith, continence, sobriety,
knowledge, and liberality, that they may please Him to whom they have proved
themselves and boast only of what is serious, moderate, and religious. But
above all kindle in the minds of everyone that love for one another which
Christ the Lord so often and so specifically praised. For this is the one sign of Christians and the bond of perfection.
9. These are the chief matters on which We
wanted to address you in the Lord, Venerable Brothers. We urgently ask that We
may personally experience the pleasure of us all harmoniously preserving
faithfully the deposit entrusted to Our keeping. But Our sins prevent Us from
obtaining this without the prior help of the Lord's mercies.
May He favorably aid Us
first with his blessings. So, may He forgive Us and strengthen Our weakness in
order that Our common prayer may more speedily come into His presence. At the
same time as We send you this letter, We are sending another letter granting a
jubilee to all the faithful, hoping in God who is merciful and pities us, that
as He gave Us the power of binding and loosing on earth for the building up of
His Body, He may grant to you also and to your flocks for salvation that you
may advance from virtue to virtue, strangers to every error. This is Our
heartfelt prayer as We impart most lovingly to you, and to the peoples
entrusted to your care, the Apostolic Blessing.
Given at
ENDNOTES
1. Ps 144.21.
2. St. Leo the Great, serm.
1, chap. 2, and serm. 2, chap. 1 (ed. Ballerin,
3. Ibid., serm. 5
(4), chap. 2.
4. Ibid., chap. 5.
5. Eph 4.16.
6. Encyclical epistle of 1741.
7. Bk. 4, ep. 14
(Works, vol. 1,
8. 2 Tm 3.
9. Lactant, <divin. instit.>, bk. 3, chap.
28 (
10. Ps 119.
11. St. Leo the Great, serm.
16 (15), chap. 3.
12. Serm. 33 on the
Canticle, vol. 4, no. 16,
13. Epistles 7-8, chap. 2, to the bishops
throughout
14. Jdt 8.21.
15. Reg. Pastor.
11, <Operum,> vol. 2, chap. 4, Paris.
16. 4 Kgs 22-23.
17. 2 Paralip. 17.7f.