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 atheisticcommunist doctrine to be excommunicated as apostates from the Christian faith. It did not prohibit membership in communist parties per se, but applied to Catholic communists who 'abandoned their faith'.[1] The decree was issued in response to pro-communist and state-sponsored Catholic associations being founded in the socialist Eastern Bloc, which prompted fears of schism. The Vatican stopped enforcing the decree after reaching compromises with the socialist states, starting with an agreement reached with the Polish People's Republic in 1950.[2] The decree has since been abrogated, and is no longer valid.[3]
Socialism and communism in Catholic social teaching had been already addressed in the teachings of popes since the encyclicalsNostis et nobiscum (1849), Quanta cura (1864), and Rerum novarum (1891).[4][5][6] Interpretations of these encyclical and the stance towards socialism expressed in them varied. Catholic philosopher G. K. Chesterton, who formulated distributism based on his interpretation of Rerum Novarum, believed that the Catholic encyclicals condemned socialism and postulated an alternative economic system that would be neither capitalist nor socialist.[7]
Others, like Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé, argued that the papal encylicals only consituted a condemnation of some, anti-clerical, forms of socialism.[8]Andrew Collier believed that Chesterton misinterpreted Rerum Novarum as the Catholic argument against socialism, and instead interpreted Rerum Novarum as an argument for Catholic socialism, arguing that "the aim of Rerum Novarum can only be achieved via Marxist methods".[7] Costa Rican Archbishop Víctor Manuel Sanabria Martínez also argued: "The Rerum Novarum [is not] anti-socialist, anti-communist, anti-red. [It is] pro social justice, pro workers, pro social obligations."[9]
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.[10] 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",[10] 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.[11]
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.[11][12]
On July 15, 1948, L'Osservatore Romano published a decree which excommunicated those who propagate "the materialistic and anti-Christian teachings of Communism".[13] 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".[10]
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.[11]
Form of the document
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.
Publication and reception
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.[11]
The decree was published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano on July 16, 1949.[14] 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.[15]
The decree met with some surprising public support from non-Catholics 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 ConstantinopleAthenagoras, who supported the decree, to issue a similar document for the Eastern Orthodox world.[11]
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.[11] The party itself was "not disturbed by the decree, and predicted that it would be rescinded".[16]
Repercussions
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.[11] The Holy Office issued later documents condemning communism:
Membership in communist youth organizations, September 28, 1950,[19]
Usurpation of Church functions by the State, June 29, 1950,[20]
Illegitimate state ordered ordinations of bishops, April 9, 1951,[21]
Publications favouring totalitarian Communism, June 28 and July 22, 1955,[22]
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.[10]
However, the decree itself did not prohibit membership in a communist party. Priest Richard J. Murphy, considered an authority on the Church canonic law,[23] clarified that the decree applied to Catholic communists who "abandoned the faith"; in contrast, a Catholic that is a member of a communist party but "does fulfill his religious obligations", would not be excommunicated. He also noted that the decree did not apply to non-atheist communist parties, and for the decree to apply to the party "would require that the organisation profess atheism as its principle foundation".[1]
Aftermath
A portion of clergy as well as Catholic laymen criticized the decree. Primo Mazzolari openly defied the decree and advocated dialogue between Catholics and Communists instead. Giuseppe Dossetti, a Catholic priest who represented the left-wing faction of the Democrazia Cristiana, also protested the decree and argued for neutrality in the Cold War instead. Communist parties at large were unaffected by the decree, and the Vatican's anti-communist stance "then gradually subsided."[16]
Historian Peter C. Kent wrote that the decree "was prompted by fears of schism in eastern Europe". The socialist governments of the Eastern Bloc founded associations of priests that either supported communism or were willing to cooperate with the state; clergy belonging to such organizations received favours by being appointed to administrative positions. This development "raised the terrible spectre of attempts to found schismatic ‘national’ churches" in Pope Pius XII. In 1950, the archbishop of Warsaw Stefan Wyszyński was able to reach an agreement with the Polish socialist government - in exchange for the passive support of the Polish Catholic Church for communist rule and policies, the state would permit religious classes in schools, maintain theology faculties in state universities, maintain chaplains in the army and preserve the independence of Catholic universities and religious orders.[2]
Following the 1950 agreement with communist Poland, the Church started gradually pursuing a path of compromise with communist authorities instead. An anti-communist cardinal August Hlond, considered the "most loyal of prelates", admitted that he "supported what would become the Polish hierarchy’s policy by suggesting that the Vatican should have played a more subtle game with the new Communist regime".[2]
Validity
The decree was amended in 1966 when Pope Paul VI abrogated Canon 1399 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law.[24] While some have argued that such Decree has been tacitly abrogated by the implementation of the Second Council of the Vatican,[25] this has never been confirmed by the Holy See and the pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes has explicitly condemned materialistic and atheistic ideologies.[26] 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",[27] and no new decrees on excommunication of communists were introduced.[3]
Related Research Articles
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.
The relations between the Catholic Church and the state have been constantly evolving with various forms of government, some of them controversial in retrospect. In its history, the Church has had to deal with various concepts and systems of governance, from the Roman Empire to the medieval divine right of kings, from nineteenth- and twentieth-century concepts of democracy and pluralism to the appearance of left-wing and right-wing dictatorial regimes. The Second Vatican Council's decree Dignitatis humanae stated that religious freedom is a civil right that should be recognized in constitutional law.
Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe capitalism to be idolatrous and rooted in the sin of greed. Christian socialists identify the cause of social inequality to be the greed that they associate with capitalism. Christian socialism became a major movement in the United Kingdom beginning in the 19th century. The Christian Socialist Movement, known as Christians on the Left since 2013, is one formal group, as well as a faction of the Labour Party.
Rerum novarum, or Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor, is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, passed to all Catholic patriarchs, primates, archbishops and bishops, that addressed the condition of the working classes.
Quadragesimo anno is an encyclical issued by Pope Pius XI on 15 May 1931, 40 years after Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum novarum, further developing Catholic social teaching. Unlike Leo XIII, who addressed the condition of workers, Pius XI discusses the ethical implications of the social and economic order. He describes the major dangers for human freedom and dignity arising from unrestrained capitalism, from socialism, and from communism as practised in Russia. He also calls for the reconstruction of the social order based on the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity.
Catholic social teaching (CST) is an area of Catholic doctrine which is concerned with human dignity and the common good in society. It addresses oppression, the role of the state, subsidiarity, social organization, social justice, and wealth distribution. CST's foundations are considered to have been laid by Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical, Rerum novarum, which advocated distributism. Its roots can be traced to Catholic theologians such as Thomas Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo. CST is also derived from the Bible and cultures of the ancient Near East.
Humanum genus is a papal encyclical promulgated on 20 April 1884 by Pope Leo XIII.
Divini Redemptoris is an anti-communist encyclical issued by Pope Pius XI. It was published on 19 March 1937. In this encyclical, the pope sets out to "expose once more in a brief synthesis the principles of atheistic Communism as they are manifested chiefly in Bolshevism".
The Church policies after World War II of Pope Pius XII focused on material aid to war-torn Europe, the internationalization of the Roman Catholic Church, its persecution in Eastern Europe, China and Vietnam, and relations with the United States and the emerging European Union.
Significant doctrinal and diplomatic developments involving the Holy See and Chinese Catholics occurred during the Papacy of Pius XII (1939-1958). The Vatican recognized Chinese rites in 1939, elevated the first Chinese cardinal in 1946, and established a Chinese hierarchy.
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.
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.
Under Pope Pius XII, there were the several reforms of Catholic Eastern canon law applying to the Eastern Catholic Churches.
Eastern Catholic victims of Soviet persecutions include bishops and others among the tens of thousands of victims of Soviet persecutions from 1918 to approximately 1980, under the state ideology of Marxist–Leninist atheism.
Social teachings of the papacy encompass papal views described in social encyclicals and other papal communications, beginning with Rerum novarum, Pope Leo XIII's encyclical of 1891.
The Roman Catholic Church in the 20th century entered into a period of renewal, responding to the challenge of increasing secularization of Western society and persecution resulting from great social unrest and revolutions in several countries. A major event in the period was the Second Vatican Council, which took place between 1962 and 1965. The church instituted reforms, especially in the 1970s after the conclusion of the Council, to modernize practices and positions. On taking office part way through the Council, Pope Paul VI referred to "an impatient struggle for renewal".
Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. Political decisions should be taken at a local level if possible, rather than by a central authority. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level.
The relationship between Catholicism and socialism has been debated by various experts and theologians over the years. While some argue for the incompatibility of the two, movements like liberation theology argue for the compatibility of them, and forms like Latin American Liberation Theology have synthesized Christian theology with Marxian socio-economic analysis.
↑ Stephen Schlosser (2015). "Reproach vs. Rapprochement". In David Schultenover (ed.). 50 Years On: Probing the Riches of Vatican II. Liturgical Press. p.xlviii. ISBN9780814683019. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Catholicismportal 
