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The Decree Against Communism was a 1949 Catholic Church document issued by the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, and approved by Pope Pius XII, which declared Catholics who professed atheistic communist doctrine to be excommunicated as apostates from the Christian faith. The decree has since been abrogated, and is no longer valid.
Opposition to socialism and communism in Catholic social teaching had already been expressed in the teachings of popes since the encyclicals Nostis et nobiscum (1849), Quanta cura (1864), and Rerum novarum (1891). [1] [2] [3]
In the earlier social encyclicals, the criticism of communism described it as a system violating human rights: e.g., the right to own property. [ citation needed ] After revolutions in Russia, China, and Mexico had been followed by religious persecution, a new theme of criticism was added, beginning with Quadragesimo anno (1931) by Pope Pius XI. This encyclical objected to what it considered to be communism's professed opposition to religion, and its threat to the freedom and the very existence of the Church. [4] In 1937, Pius XI rejected atheistic communism in an encyclical entitled Divini Redemptoris as "a system full of errors and sophisms", with a "pseudo-ideal of justice, equality, and fraternity" and "a certain false mysticism", [4] and contrasted it with a humane society (civitas humana).
After the Italian parliamentary election of April 1948, in which the communist-socialist coalition won 31% of the vote, the Holy Office began to study the issue of communism in order to give guidance to Catholic lay people and clergy with questions about support for communist parties. [5]
An additional impulse for Vatican action against communism arose in Czechoslovakia, where the communist government, installed by a coup d'état in February 1948, undertook a campaign to take control of the Catholic Church by several means. Among other measures, it created an organization of priests favorable to the regime, took control of church finances, and demanded that pastoral letters to the faithful or the clergy be approved by government ministries. [5] [6]
On July 15, 1948, L'Osservatore Romano published a decree which excommunicated those who propagate "the materialistic and anti-Christian teachings of Communism". [7] The document, however, did not mention the Italian Communist Party, which had changed its statutes in 1946, removing an explicit profession of Marxism-Leninism, and opening to participation by citizens, "independent of race, religious faith or philosophical convictions". [4]
In the spring of 1949, pressure on the Church in Czechoslovakia was increasing, and, according to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, then papal Secretary of State, Pope Pius XII, had come to feel that there would be no effective diplomatic opposition from the West. Thus, the Church had to use what means it had to confront communism, not only in the immediate situation, but for a long-term opposition. [5]
The document, as published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis , bears the date July 1, 1949 and the heading Decretum (Decree), and is presented in the form of a dubium: that is, in question-and-answer format. It presents four questions, together with the Holy Office's replies: (1) Is it licit to join or show favor to Communist parties? (2) Is it licit to publish, distribute, or read publications that support Communist doctrine or activity, or to write for them? (3) May Christians who knowingly and freely commit the acts in parts 1 and 2 be given the sacraments? (4) Do Christians who profess, defend, or promote materialistic Communist doctrine incur the penalty of excommunication as apostates from the Christian faith, with the penalty reserved so that it may only be lifted by the Holy See?
The answers in the decree were negative to the first three questions and affirmative to the fourth.
After the document was approved by Pius XII on June 30, the text of the document was delivered to printers to prepare its release. Shortly thereafter, it was leaked to the press, and so appeared in public early, with no advance notice to the clergy and no commentary to explain the document. [5]
The decree was published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano on July 16, 1949. [8] A commentary followed on July 27, 1949, explaining reasons for its condemnation of communist activity and doctrine. It also made clear the scope of the excommunication stated in the decree: it did not apply to all people who voted for communists or supported the party, but only to people who held the materialistic and atheistic doctrines of communism. [9]
The Decree met with some surprising public support despite the disorder around its publication: from Protestant countries, there was favorable commentary which recognized the decree as a response to communist pressure on the Church in Eastern Europe. The United States urged the Patriarch of Constantinople Athenagoras, who supported the decree, to issue a similar document for the Eastern Orthodox world. [5]
Response from pro-communist newspapers in Italy was sharply critical, but the Soviet press was silent. Italian Communist Party General Secretary Palmiro Togliatti was restrained in his criticism, inasmuch as many party supporters were practicing Catholics. [5]
In the wake of the Decree, Pope Pius XII encouraged efforts to develop Catholic social teaching and thus counteract the appeal of communist social doctrine. The Decree marked the beginning of a long institutional conflict between Catholicism and communism. [5] The Holy Office issued later documents condemning communism:
A further dubium dated April 4, 1959 from the Holy Office and ratified by Pope John XXIII made the provisions of the 1949 Decree more specific, stating that it implied a prohibition on voting for parties that were helping communists, even if such parties themselves had inoffensive doctrines or even called themselves Christian. [4]
The decree was amended in 1966 when Pope Paul VI abrogated Canon 1399 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law. [15] While some have argued that such Decree has been tacitly abrogated by the implementation of the Second Council of the Vatican, [16] this has never been confirmed by the Holy See and the pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes has explicitly condemned materialistic and atheistic ideologies. [17] The decree was fully abrogated with the introduction of the 1983 Code of Canon Law on 27 November 1983, as Canon 6 of the new Canon Law abrogated the 1917 code, along with "any universal or particular penal laws whatsoever issued by the Apostolic See unless they are contained in this Code" and "other universal or particular laws contrary to the prescripts of this Code unless other provision is expressly made for particular laws", [18] and no new decrees on excommunication of communists were introduced. [19]
Pope Pius XII was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his election to the papacy, he served as secretary of the Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, papal nuncio to Germany, and Cardinal Secretary of State, in which capacity he worked to conclude treaties with various European and Latin American nations, including the Reichskonkordat treaty with the German Reich.
Traditionalist Catholicism is a movement that emphasizes beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions and presentations of teaching associated with the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). Traditionalist Catholics particularly emphasize the Tridentine Mass, the Roman Rite liturgy largely replaced in general use by the post-Second Vatican Council Mass of Paul VI.
Humanum genus is a papal encyclical promulgated on 20 April 1884 by Pope Leo XIII.
Ecclesia Dei is the document Pope John Paul II issued on 2 July 1988 in reaction to the Ecône consecrations, in which four priests of the Society of Saint Pius X were ordained as bishops despite an express prohibition by the Holy See. The consecrating bishop and the four priests consecrated were excommunicated. John Paul called for unity and established the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei to foster a dialogue with those associated with the consecrations who hoped to maintain both loyalty to the papacy and their attachment to traditional liturgical forms.
Acta Apostolicae Sedis, often cited as AAS, is the official gazette of the Holy See, appearing about twelve times a year. It was established by Pope Pius X on 29 September 1908 with the decree Promulgandi Pontificias Constitutiones, and publication began in January 1909. It contains all the principal decrees, encyclical letters, decisions of Roman congregations, and notices of ecclesiastical appointments. The laws contained in it are to be considered promulgated when published, and effective three months from date of issue, unless a shorter or longer time is specified in the law.
The Declaration on Masonic Associations is a declaration by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith re-iterating the prohibition of Catholics from joining Masonic organizations. Its Latin title is Declaratio de associationibus massonicis. The document states that Catholics who join Masonic organizations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion. It was issued in 1983 by the prefect of the congregation, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI on April 19, 2005.
The Écône consecrations were Catholic episcopal consecrations in Écône, Switzerland, on 30 June 1988 performed by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer. The bishops consecrated were four priests of Lefebvre's Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX). The consecrations, performed against the explicit orders of Pope John Paul II, represented a milestone in the troubled relationship of Lefebvre and the SSPX with the Church leadership. The Holy See's Congregation for Bishops issued a decree signed by its Prefect Cardinal Bernardin Gantin declaring that Lefebvre and De Castro Mayer had incurred automatic excommunication by consecrating the bishops without papal consent, thus putting himself and his followers in schism.
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Pope Pius XII and the Church in China involves relations of the Holy See with China from 1939 to 1958. The Vatican recognized Chinese rites in 1939, elevated the first Chinese cardinal in 1946, and established a Chinese hierarchy.
Ad Apostolorum principis is an encyclical of Pope Pius XII on Communism and the Church in China. It describes systematic persecutions of bishops, priests, religious and faithful and the attempts of the government to establish a patriotic Catholic Church, independent of Rome.
Pope Pius XII and Russia describes relations of the Vatican with the Soviet Union, Russia, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Eastern Catholic Churches resulting in the eradication of the Church in most parts of the Soviet Union during the Stalinist era. Most persecutions of the Church occurred during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII.
Persecutions against the Catholic Church took place during the papacy of Pope Pius XII (1939–1958). Pius' reign coincided with World War II (1939–1945), followed by the commencement of the Cold War and the accelerating European decolonisation. During his papacy, the Catholic Church faced persecution under Fascist and Communist governments.
Pope Pius XII and Poland includes Church relations from 1939 to 1958. Pius XII became Pope on the eve of the Second World War. The invasion of predominantly Catholic Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939 ignited the conflict and was followed soon after by a Soviet invasion of the Eastern half of Poland, in accordance with an agreement reached between the dictators Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. The Catholic Church in Poland was about to face decades of repression, both at Nazi and Communist hands. The Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland was followed by a Stalinist repression which was particularly intense through the years 1946–1956. Pope Pius XII's policies consisted in attempts to avoid World War II, extensive diplomatic activity on behalf of Poland and encouragement to the persecuted clergy and faithful.
The liturgical reforms of Pope Pius XII took place mostly between 1947 and 1958.
Fulgens corona is an encyclical by Pope Pius XII, given at St. Peter's, Rome, on 8 September 1953, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the fifteenth year of his Pontificate. The encyclical proclaims a Marian year for 1954, to commemorate the centenary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
The theology of Pope Pius XII is reflected in his forty-one encyclicals, as well as speeches and nearly 1000 messages, during his almost 20-year pontificate. The encyclicals Mystici corporis and Mediator Dei advanced the understanding of membership and participation in the Catholic Church. The encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu began opening the door to historical-critical biblical studies. But his magisterium was far larger and is difficult to summarize. In numerous speeches Catholic teaching is related to various aspects of life, education, medicine, politics, war and peace, the life of saints, Mary, the mother of God, things eternal and temporal.
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The Eastern Catholic canon law is the law of the 23 Catholic sui juris (autonomous) particular churches of the Eastern Catholic tradition. Eastern Catholic canon law includes both the common tradition among all Eastern Catholic Churches, now chiefly contained in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, as well as the particular law proper to each individual sui juris particular Eastern Catholic Church. Oriental canon law is distinguished from Latin canon law, which developed along a separate line in the remnants of the Western Roman Empire, and is now chiefly codified in the 1983 Code of Canon Law.