When Pope Pius XI promulgated Quas Primas in 1925, Christ the King had, to all intents and purposes, been dethroned throughout what was once referred to as Christendom. In October, 1941, in an article in The Dublin Review, Christopher Dawson described Europe as a secularized Christendom, its character having been largely destroyed by 200 years of secularization. "The resultant culture," he wrote, "the culture of the Liberal 19th century and of western democracy, may be described as post-Christian, i.e., it was built on Christian foundations and Christian values, but it was divorced from an organic union with Christian faith and practice."

When he wrote Quas Primas, Pope Pius XI had no illusions concerning the state of what had once been Christendom. He anticipated Christopher Dawson's analysis in the opening paragraph of the encyclical, noting that the manifold evils of the world are due to the exclusion of Jesus Christ and His holy law from the private lives of individuals and from the political life of almost every state.

It was the insistence of the Pope upon the social reign of Christ the King ----- on the fact that states, as well as individuals, must submit themselves to His rule ----- which caused such embarrassment to the bishops of the world [and nowhere more so than in the United States], which has resulted, as Hamish Fraser expressed it, in Quas Primas becoming the greatest non-event in the history of the Church.

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE?

We are all familiar with the saying that "Everyone has the right to his own opinion,".  It is not unusual to hear a Catholic state that while he disagrees with the beliefs of a member of another religion, he would give his life to defend that person's right to hold these beliefs. I would be surprised if most Catholics today did not agree with these sentiments, but they are both untrue and reflect the classic Liberal position on liberty of conscience, which has been condemned frequently and forcefully by the Popes.

Pope Leo XIll warned in Libertas that there are certain so-called liberties which modern society takes for granted that every man possesses as a right. These are the liberties, the Pope explained, "which the followers of Liberalism so eagerly advocate and proclaim."

WHAT IS LIBERALISM?

The essence of Liberalism is the view that the individual human being has the right to decide for himself the norms by which he will regulate his life; that he has the right to be his own arbiter as to what is right and what is wrong; and that he is under no obligation to submit himself to any external authority. In the Liberal sense, "liberty of conscience" is the right of an individual to think and believe whatsoever he wants, even in religion and morality. He has the right to choose any religion, or to have no religion; and he has the right to express his views publicly and to persuade others to adopt them, using word of mouth, the public press, or any other means.

A dramatic and depressing instance of this Liberal thesis being translated into practice is the campaign for so-called "Gay Rights" in the United States and in Great Britain. Here with a vengeance are so-called "liberties," which modern society takes for granted that every man possesses as a right. In the United States you are witnessing the scarcely credible spectacle of Catholic bishops taking it for granted that homosexuals have a right to indulge in and to propagandize in favor of their unnatural vice, and even, in some cases, helping them actively in their campaign. In Connecticut in 1991 a so-called "Gay Rights Bill" was passed, primarily due to the support of the Catholic Bishops in that state. The bill even allows homosexuals to adopt or to become foster parents of young children. Dom Prosper Gueranger wrote, at a time when such an act on the part of Catholic bishops would have been unthinkable, that when the shepherd becomes a wolf, the flock has a right to defend itself. There cannot be the least doubt that the faithful in Connecticut need to defend themselves against wolves masquerading under the guise of Catholic bishops.