American Reform – Liberalism as a System of Separation Between Church and State — Ottaviani, 1935

“Moreover, even when the criteria of freedom are fully applied, nevertheless the minimum problem that follows is this: that the State ceases from its many duties toward religion, nor are those rights of the Church recognized which she ought to enjoy before the faithful even as gathered in civil society: for she cannot rightly be said to enjoy true and full freedom whose every right is not recognized.”>“This system is called impious: for its foundation is found in those very principles which are as it were the hinges of state indifferentism and atheism; and it entirely alienates civil society from that piety by which, and by itself, it ought publicly to worship God, with true worship and with the sacred ministry of the true Church.”>

Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani (1890–1979) | Source

For What is a Man Profited, if He Shall Gain the Whole World, and Lose His Own Soul?

Before introducing Cardinal Ottaviani’s 1935 treatment of the union of Church and State — its full implications, and the system of Liberalism that sets itself against this divine and natural ordering of the two powers — we pause first to recount an instructive episode from American history. Do not worry, the detour is short, and we trust it will prove worthwhile.


Originally published in The Journal of American Reform. Read original article