The Catholic people as individual souls and peoples, wherever we may be, may adapt and make our own the profession, pledge and spirit found in the salutary Preamble of the 1937 Irish Constitution which once restored* the Holy Trinity to absolute centrality and ultimacy, above all mere politics, for all humankind:
“In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred,
We, the people
Humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial,
Gratefully remembering their heroic and unremitting struggle to regain the rightful spiritual independence of our Nation,
And seeking to promote the common good, with due observance of Prudence, Justice and Charity, so that the dignity and freedom of the individual may be assured, true social order attained, the unity of our country restored, and concord established with other nations.” [end of excerpt]
“Once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony.” – Pope Pius XI
And from Poland,
Real Liberty
Adapting, almost word for word, the salutary declaration of the Polish Bishops in 2016 vis a vis all ideologies to the contrary which may object to and contradict its profession and mandate of everlasting allegiance,
“We profess in face of God and Earth, that we need your rule to prosper spiritually and materially. We profess, that you and only you have holy rights to us that never expired. Therefore with humility we bend our heads to you, The Lord of the Universe, and we recognize your rule over [us] that live in the motherland and away in the wide world. Hereby [we] solemnly recognize the rule of Jesus Christ.” [end of excerpt]
Catholics, knowing and believing that which is professed by St. Paul on real freedom:
“Now the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)
Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches the relationship between truth and genuine liberty when He said,
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” –John 8:32.
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Pope Leo XIII, 1881: Excerpt from On Government Authority
Human Authority Must Conform with God’s Law
The one only reason which men have for not obeying is when anything is demanded of them which is openly repugnant to the natural or the divine law, for it is equally unlawful to command and to do anything in which the law of nature or the will of God is violated.
If, therefore, it should happen to any one to be compelled to prefer one or the other, viz., to disregard either the commands of God or those of rulers, he must obey Jesus Christ, who commands us to “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God, the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:21), and must reply courageously after the example of the Apostles, “We ought to obey God, rather than men.” (Acts 5:29).
And yet there is no reason why those who so behave themselves should be accused of refusing obedience; for if the will of rulers is opposed to the will and the laws of God, they themselves exceed the bounds of their own power and pervert justice; nor can their authority then be valid, which, when there is no justice, is null.
Political Power for the Common Good
But in order that justice may be retained in government it is of the highest importance that those who rule States should understand that political power was not created for the advantage of any private individual; and that the administration of the State must be carried on to the profit of those who have been committed to their care, not to the profit of those to whom it has been committed. Let princes take example from the Most High God, by whom authority is given to them; and, placing before themselves His model in governing the State, let them rule over the people with equity and faithfulness, and let them add to that severity, which is necessary, a paternal charity.
On this account they are warned in the oracles of the Sacred Scriptures that they will have themselves some day to render an account to the King of kings and Lord of lords; if they shall fail in their duty, that it will not be possible for them in any way to escape the severity of God:
The most High “will examine your works, and search out your thoughts: because being ministers of his kingdom, you have not judged rightly . . . Horribly and speedily will he appear to you: for a most severe judgment shall be for them that bear rule. . . . For God will not except any man’s person, neither will he stand in awe of any man’s greatness: for he made the little and the great, and he hath equally care of all. But a greater punishment is ready for the more mighty.” (Wis. 6:4-6, 8-9).
Security of the State and Dignity of the Citizen
And if these precepts protect the State, all cause or desire for seditions is removed; the honor and security of rulers, the quiet and well-being of States will be secure. The dignity also of the citizen is best provided for; for to them it has been permitted to retain even in obedience that greatness which conduces to the excellence of man. For they understand that, in the judgment of God, there is neither slave nor free man; that there is one Lord of all, rich “unto all that call upon Him” (Rom. 10:12), but that they on this account submit to and obey their rulers, because these in a certain sort bring before them the image of God, “whom to serve is to reign.”
Christian Principles of Civic Obedience
But the Church has always so acted that the Christian form of civil government may not only dwell in the minds of men, but that it may be exhibited also in the life and habits of nations. As long as there were at the helm of the States pagan emperors, who were prevented by superstition from rising to that form of imperial government which We have sketched, she studied how to instill into the minds of subjects, immediately on their embracing the Christian institutions, the teaching that they must be desirous of bringing their lives into conformity with them. Therefore, the pastors of souls, after the example of the Apostle Paul, were accustomed to teach the people with the utmost care and diligence “to be subject to princes and powers, to obey at a word” (Titus 3:1), and to pray to God for all men and particularly “for kings, and for all that are in high station . . . For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.” (1 Tim. 2:2-3).
And the Christians of old left the most striking proofs of this; for when they were harassed in a very unjust and cruel way by pagan emperors, they nevertheless at no time omitted to conduct themselves obediently and submissively; so that, in fact, they seemed to vie with each other, those in cruelty, and these in obedience.
For the Feast of Christ the King, an Act of Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by Pope Pius XI
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Christ the King. The political implications must be made our own as believers.
Traditionally, the Sunday preceding the Feast of All Saints is the feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ. One may gain a plenary indulgence by the public recitation of the Act of Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and so all faithful Catholics are exhorted to offer, or renew, their consecration to the Sacred Heart of our Sovereign Lord.
“The kingship and empire of Christ have been recognized in the pious custom, practiced by many families, of dedicating themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; not only families have performed this act of dedication, but nations, too, and kingdoms. In fact, the whole of the human race was at the instance of Pope Leo XIII, in the Holy Year 1900, consecrated to the Divine Heart.
We institute the Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ to be observed yearly throughout the whole world on the last Sunday of the month of October–the Sunday, that is, which immediately precedes the Feast of All Saints. We further ordain that the dedication of mankind to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which Our predecessor of saintly memory, Pope Pius X, commanded to be renewed yearly, be made annually on that day.”
– Quas Primas,
Encyclical of Pope Pius XI, December 11, 1925
…and forevermore, everywhere. Amen.
Roughly speaking, law and morality are not exactly identical since one (law) pertains by definition first and most substantially to the public domain affecting all, and the other pertains more substantially to the personal domain. But they should almost always overlap and certainly inform each other always. It is judges in Christian realms who are appointed to determine how and to what degree they overlap in each specific case. “Thou shalt not kill (murder)” applies in each domain but even here judges are needed to define murder in specific contexts and circumstances, and the degrees of it, together with personal culpability in specific instances.
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