Victor Manuel Fernandez's Anthropocentric Decree on Human Dignity, part two

As noted in part one of this series, Dignitatis Infinita is based on a number of false premises, not the least of which is the fact that human beings have infinite dignity. They do not. Only the true God of Divine Revelation, the Most Holy Trinity, has infinite dignity. While we must always treat others with the respect and dignity that is due to our fellow redeemed creatures, men can efface their dignity by casting themselves out of a state of Sanctifying Grace by the commission of what are Mortal Sins in the objective order of things. God alone has infinite dignity, not human beings.

Thus, Dignitatis Infinita, despite its review of Catholic teaching about man, highlights a Judeo-Masonic spirit of brotherhood based on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was praised as follows by Karol Josef Wojtyla/John Paul II in his address to the General Assembly of the United Nations on October 2, 1979:

 I would like to express the wish that, in view of its universal character, the United Nations Organization will never cease to be the forum, the high tribune from which all man's problems are appraised in truth and justice. It was in the name of this inspiration, it was through this historic stimulus, that on 26 June 1945, towards the end of the terrible Second World War, the Charter of the United Nations was signed and on the following 24 October your Organization began its life. Soon after, on 10 December 1948, came its fundamental document, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the rights of the human being as a concrete individual and of the human being in his universal value. This document is a milestone on the long and difficult path of the human race. The progress of humanity must be measured not only by the progress of science and technology, which shows man's uniqueness with regard to nature, but also and chiefly by the primacy given to spiritual values and by the progress of moral life. In this field is manifested the full dominion of reason, through truth, in the behaviour of the individual and of society, and also the control of reason over nature ; and thus human conscience quietly triumphs, as was expressed in the ancient saying: Genus humanum arte et ratione vivit.

It was when technology was being directed in its one-sided progress towards goals of war, hegemony and conquest, so that man might kill man and nation destroy nation by depriving it of its liberty and the right to exist—and I still have before my mind the image of the Second World War in Europe, which began forty years ago on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland and ended on 9 May 1945—it was precisely then that the United Nations Organization arose. And three years later the document appeared which, as I have said, must be considered a real milestone on the path of the moral progress of humanity—the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The governments and States of the world have understood that, it they are not to attack and destroy each other, they must unite. The real way, the fundamental way to this is through each human being, through the definition and recognition of and respect for the inalienable rights of individuals and of the communities of peoples. (Karol Josef Wojtyla/John Paul II, Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations, October 2, 1979.)

One will note that the Polish Phenomenologist made the incredible claim that the United Nations “will never cease to be the forum, the high tribune from which all man's problems are appraised in truth and justice.” If this assertion was true, then, the “high tribune” praised by Wojtyla/John Paul II would have to be endowed with a character of near-infallibility to such an extent that it would impossible to dissent from his appraisals, which in recent decades have included full support for perversity, human mutilation (transgenderism), “family planning” (contraception, sterilization, etc.), the chemical and surgical slaughter of innocent preborn children, and outright licentiousness as “human rights” decreed by a “high tribune” that bases its decisions in “truth and justice.” The “pro-life” “pope” was very mistaken in his praise of the United Nations and its commitment to respect the “dignity of each human person.

Pope Pius XI, by way of contrast, understood the farcical, utopian nature of naturalistic means to produce world peace and “universal brotherhood” as he brushed aside the League of Nations as follows in Ubi Arcano Dei Consilio, December 23, 1922:

When, therefore, governments and nations follow in all their activities, whether they be national or international, the dictates of conscience grounded in the teachings, precepts, and example of Jesus Christ, and which are binding on each and every individual, then only can we have faith in one another's word and trust in the peaceful solution of the difficulties and controversies which may grow out of differences in point of view or from clash of interests. An attempt in this direction has already and is now being made; its results, however, are almost negligible and, especially so, as far as they can be said to affect those major questions which divide seriously and serve to arouse nations one against the other. No merely human institution of today can be as successful in devising a set of international laws which will be in harmony with world conditions as the Middle Ages were in the possession of that true League of Nations, Christianity. It cannot be denied that in the Middle Ages this law was often violated; still it always existed as an ideal, according to which one might judge the acts of nations, and a beacon light calling those who had lost their way back to the safe road.

There exists an institution able to safeguard the sanctity of the law of nations. This institution is a part of every nation; at the same time it is above all nations. She enjoys, too, the highest authority, the fullness of the teaching power of the Apostles. Such an institution is the Church of Christ. She alone is adapted to do this great work, for she is not only divinely commissioned to lead mankind, but moreover, because of her very make-up and the constitution which she possesses, by reason of her age-old traditions and her great prestige, which has not been lessened but has been greatly increased since the close of the War, cannot but succeed in such a venture where others assuredly will fail. (Pope Pius XI, Ubi Arcano Dei Consilio, December 23, 1922.)

Karol Josef Wojtyla/John Paul II’s praise for the United Nations, which was also tinged with somewhat veiled criticisms of the organization for not living up to a “potential” that was never within its meansto realize in the first place, especially as regards the “human dignity” that was near and dear to his own heart, was cited in the text of Dignitatis Infinita:

As Pope Francis has recalled, “In modern culture, the closest reference to the principle of the inalienable dignity of the person is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Saint John Paul II defined as a ‘milestone on the long and difficult path of the human race,’ and as ‘one of the highest expressions of the human conscience.’”[38] To resist attempts to alter or annul the profound meaning of that Declaration, it is worth recalling some essential principles that must always be honored.

Thus, despite Dignitatis Infinita’s citations of Catholic sources that take discussions of human dignity out of their proper context in order to make it appear that the document’s own treatment of the subject is nothing other than a “legitimate development of doctrine,” there is little that is authentically Catholic about its treatment of specific moral issues, especially when one considers the fact that there are no references at all to the Ten Commandments nor the fact that the Catholic Church is in the infallible interpreter of its precepts and is also the authoritative teacher of all that is contained in the Natural Law, which is entirely omitted within the text of Dignitatis Infinita. There is only one reference to the “Deuteronomic Code,” but is to its “law of love” and not to the specific commandments decreed by God to do certain things and not to do others. Trying to discuss moral issues without referring to the Divine Positive Law and the Natural Law is an absurd exercise in Pelagianism.

Dignitatis Infinita’s principal point of departure for its treatment of contemporary moral issues from the perspective of “human dignity” rather than the law of God is Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s own Fratelli Tutti, October 3, 2020, which is reference twenty-four times among the one hundred nineteen citations, many of which are to others of Bergoglio’s speeches, exhortations, encyclicals, addresses, and screeds. Fratelli Tutti, which was Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s effort to “canonize” the Document on Human Fraternity and Living Together, February 4, 2019, which itself made it appear that human problems could be “resolved” without regard to belief in Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in general or adherence to the teaching of His true Church, contained the following telling passage that could have been underwritten by George Soros or Klaus Schwab:

97. Some peripheries are close to us, in city centres or within our families. Hence there is an aspect of universal openness in love that is existential rather than geographical. It has to do with our daily efforts to expand our circle of friends, to reach those who, even though they are close to me, I do not naturally consider a part of my circle of interests. Every brother or sister in need, when abandoned or ignored by the society in which I live, becomes an existential foreigner, even though born in the same country. They may be citizens with full rights, yet they are treated like foreigners in their own country. Racism is a virus that quickly mutates and, instead of disappearing, goes into hiding, and lurks in waiting.

98. I would like to mention some of those “hidden exiles” who are treated as foreign bodies in society. [76] Many persons with disabilities “feel that they exist without belonging and without participating”. Much still prevents them from being fully enfranchised. Our concern should be not only to care for them but to ensure their “active participation in the civil and ecclesial community. That is a demanding and even tiring process, yet one that will gradually contribute to the formation of consciences capable of acknowledging each individual as a unique and unrepeatable person”. I think, too, of “the elderly who, also due to their disability, are sometimes considered a burden”. Yet each of them is able to offer “a unique contribution to the common good through their remarkable life stories”. Let me repeat: we need to have “the courage to give a voice to those who are discriminated against due to their disability, because sadly, in some countries even today, people find it hard to acknowledge them as persons of equal dignity”. [77]

Inadequate understandings of universal love

99. A love capable of transcending borders is the basis of what in every city and country can be called “social friendship”. Genuine social friendship within a society makes true universal openness possible. This is a far cry from the false universalism of those who constantly travel abroad because they cannot tolerate or love their own people. Those who look down on their own people tend to create within society categories of first and second class, people of greater or lesser dignity, people enjoying greater or fewer rights. In this way, they deny that there is room for everybody.

100. I am certainly not proposing an authoritarian and abstract universalism, devised or planned by a small group and presented as an ideal for the sake of levelling, dominating and plundering. One model of globalization in fact “consciously aims at a one-dimensional uniformity and seeks to eliminate all differences and traditions in a superficial quest for unity… If a certain kind of globalization claims to make everyone uniform, to level everyone out, that globalization destroys the rich gifts and uniqueness of each person and each people”. [78] This false universalism ends up depriving the world of its various colours, its beauty and, ultimately, its humanity. For “the future is not monochrome; if we are courageous, we can contemplate it in all the variety and diversity of what each individual person has to offer. How much our human family needs to learn to live together in harmony and peace, without all of us having to be the same!” [79] (Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Fratelli, Tutti, October 3, 2020.)

One will see in later installments of this series how Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s naturalism, expressed so clearly throughout his false pontificate, including in Fratelli Tutti, colors Dignitatis Infinita’s treatment of the “drama of poverty,” the “plight of migrants,” abortion, and war. It is not without justification that some viewed Fratelli Tutti’s issuance during the 2020 presidential campaign in the United States of America as Bergoglio’s effort to criticize Donald John Trump’s policies while, in essence, endorsing the “social justice” platform of the pro-abort Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. Regardless, though, Fratelli Tutti’s ideological predilections are the basis for Dignitatis Infinita’s treatment of moral problems through the lens of “human dignity.”

Moreover, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who knows exactly what he is doing, specifically used the “liberty, equality, fraternity” phrase in Fratelli Tutti that, of course, had been coined by the bloodthirsty anti-Theistic, anticlerical French Revolutionaries themselves:

103. Fraternity is born not only of a climate of respect for individual liberties, or even of a certain administratively guaranteed equality. Fraternity necessarily calls for something greater, which in turn enhances freedom and equality. What happens when fraternity is not consciously cultivated, when there is a lack of political will to promote it through education in fraternity, through dialogue and through the recognition of the values of reciprocity and mutual enrichment? Liberty becomes nothing more than a condition for living as we will, completely free to choose to whom or what we will belong, or simply to possess or exploit. This shallow understanding has little to do with the richness of a liberty directed above all to love.

104. Nor is equality achieved by an abstract proclamation that “all men and women are equal”. Instead, it is the result of the conscious and careful cultivation of fraternity. Those capable only of being “associates” create closed worlds. Within that framework, what place is there for those who are not part of one’s group of associates, yet long for a better life for themselves and their families?

105. Individualism does not make us more free, more equal, more fraternal. The mere sum of individual interests is not capable of generating a better world for the whole human family. Nor can it save us from the many ills that are now increasingly globalized. Radical individualism is a virus that is extremely difficult to eliminate, for it is clever. It makes us believe that everything consists in giving free rein to our own ambitions, as if by pursuing ever greater ambitions and creating safety nets we would somehow be serving the common good. (Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Fratelli Tutti, October 3, 2020.)

As I have noted so many times previously on this website, conciliarism’s worldview is that of The Sillon, whose endorsement of the slogans of the French Revolution came in for scathing criticism by Pope Saint Pius X in Notre Charge Apostolique, August 15, 1910:

In these democratic practices and in the theories of the Ideal City from which they flow, you will recognize, Venerable Brethren, the hidden cause of the lack of discipline with which you have so often had to reproach the Sillon. It is not surprising that you do not find among the leaders and their comrades trained on these lines, whether seminarists or priests, the respect, the docility, and the obedience which are due to your authority and to yourselves; not is it surprising that you should be conscious of an underlying opposition on their part, and that, to your sorrow, you should see them withdraw altogether from works which are not those of the Sillon or, if compelled under obedience, that they should comply with distaste. You are the past; they are the pioneers of the civilization of the future. You represent the hierarchy, social inequalities, authority, and obedience – worn out institutions to which their hearts, captured by another ideal, can no longer submit to. Occurrences so sad as to bring tears to Our eyes bear witness to this frame of mind. And we cannot, with all Our patience, overcome a just feeling of indignation. Now then! Distrust of the Church, their Mother, is being instilled into the minds of Catholic youth; they are being taught that after nineteen centuries She has not yet been able to build up in this world a society on true foundations; She has not understood the social notions of authority, liberty, equality, fraternity and human dignity; they are told that the great Bishops and Kings, who have made France what it is and governed it so gloriously, have not been able to give their people true justice and true happiness because they did not possess the Sillonist Ideal!

The breath of the Revolution has passed this way, and We can conclude that, whilst the social doctrines of the Sillon are erroneous, its spirit is dangerous and its education disastrous.

But then, what are we to think of its action in the Church? What are we to think of a movement so punctilious in its brand of Catholicism that, unless you embrace its cause, you would almost be regarded as an internal enemy of the Church, and you would understand nothing of the Gospel and of Jesus Christ! We deem it necessary to insist on that point because it is precisely its Catholic ardor which has secured for the Sillon until quite recently, valuable encouragements and the support of distinguished persons. Well now! judging the words and the deeds, We feel compelled to say that in its actions as well as in its doctrine, the Sillon does not give satisfaction to the Church.

In the first place, its brand of Catholicism accepts only the democratic form of government which it considers the most favorable to the Church and, so to speak, identifies it with her. The Sillon, therefore, subjects its religion to a political party. We do not have to demonstrate here that the advent of universal Democracy is of no concern to the action of the Church in the world; we have already recalled that the Church has always left to the nations the care of giving themselves the form of government which they think most suited to their needs. What We wish to affirm once again, after Our Predecessor, is that it is an error and a danger to bind down Catholicism by principle to a particular form of government. This error and this danger are all the greater when Religion is associated with a kind of Democracy whose doctrines are false. But this is what the Sillon is doing. For the sake of a particular political form, it compromises the Church, it sows division among Catholics, snatches away young people and even priests and seminarists from purely Catholic action, and is wasting away as a dead loss part of the living forces of the nation. (Pope Saint Pius X, Notre Charge Apostolique, August 15, 1910.)

It is interesting to note in this regard that Dignitatis Infinita, despite its apparent summary of Catholic teaching, is really based upon a reliance of non-Catholic, globalist sources whose use in justified as follows in footnote twenty-five:

[25] Some great Christian thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—such as St. J.H. Newman, Bl. A. Rosmini, J. Maritain, E. Mounier, K. Rahner, H.‑U. von Balthasar, and others—have succeeded in proposing a vision of the human person that can validly dialogue with all the currents of thought present in the early twenty-first century, whatever their inspiration, even Postmodernism. (Dignitatis Infinita, April 2, 2024, Footnote 25.)

Other than John Henry Cardinal Newman, whose openness to non-Catholic sources is a subject of debate among Catholic scholars despite his own piety and deep devotion to Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and Our Lady, this is a veritable rogue’s gallery of Modernists.

Jacques Maritain was impressed with none other than Saul Alinsky, and it was through Maritain that Alinsky was introduced to Archbishop Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini.

Father Antonio Rosmini-Serbati, who was personally pious—and humble enough to submit to the authority of Holy Mother Church, had forty of his propositions denounced by Pope Leo XIII on December 14, 1887:

1. In the order of created things there is immediately manifested to the human intellect something of the divine in its very self, namely, such as pertains to divine nature.

2. When we speak of the divine in nature, we do not use the word divine to signify a nondivine effect of a divine cause; nor, is it our mind to speak of a certain thing as divine because it is such through participation.

3. In the nature of the universe, then, that is in the intelligences that are in it, there is something to which the term of divine not in a figurative but in a real sense is fitting.–The actuality is not distinct from the est of divine actuality.

4. Indeterminate being, which without doubt is known to all intelligences, is that divine thing which is manifest to man in nature.

5. Being, which man observes, must be something of the necessary and eternal being, the creating cause, the determining and final cause of all contingent beings: and this is God.

6. In the being which prescinds from creatures and from God, which is indeterminate being, and in God, not indeterminate but absolute being, the essence is the same.

7. The indeterminate being of intuition, initial being, is something of the Word, which the mind of the Father distinguishes, not really, but according to reason from the Word. (As found in Henry Denzinger, Enchirdion Symbolorum, thirteenth edition, translated into English by Roy Deferrari and published in 1955 as The Sources of Catholic Dogma–referred to as “Denziger,” by B. Herder Book Company of St. Louis, Missouri, and London, England, Nos. 2183-2185, pp. 475-476. A very good analysis of Rosmini’s propositions was written well over a decade over now by an anti-sedevacantist writer, the late Mr. James Larson: The Rosmini Rehabilitation – When To Be is Not To Be. Those who believe that a true pope can be in error and is need of “correction” from members of the laity, however, have to realize that such a position is false. Pope Leo XIII made this very clear in EPISTOLA TUA, June 17, 1885, and EST SANE MOLESTUM,  December 17, 1888. To “be” a true pope one must be a Catholic, and to be a Catholic means that one cannot defect from even a single tenet of the Holy Faith. Not one.  See also Bishop Sanborn’s response to Bp. Williamson on Sedevacantism.)

As has been discussed om this site, the posthumous condemnation of Father Rosmini-Serbati’s errors was “overturned” in 2002 by a disciple of the Hegelian Hans Urs von Balthasar, Joseph Alois “Cardinal” Ratzinger in a concrete manifestation of his “hermeneutic of continuity” by which yesterday’s errors can become today’s “truths.” Throw in Karl Rahner and his “anonymous Christian” heresy that is the basis of what is called “universal salvation” and you have quite a collection of “sources” upon which Dignitatis Infinita seeks to justify its reliance upon non-Catholic authors for its “treatment” of some contemporary “offenses” to “human dignity.”

Dignitatis Infinita’s entire agenda is Judeo-Masonic and globalist that is most sympathetic to the concept of a one world governance system that is consonant with its own false presuppositions, most of which were anticipated by and condemned as follows by Pope Leo XIII in Custodi di Quella Fede, December 8, 1892:

Jorge Mario Bergoglio is the very personification of the Masonic spirit of “toleration” condemned by numerous popes, including Pope Leo XIII in Custodi di Quella Fede, December 8, 1892:

The road is very short from religious to social ruin. The heart of man is no longer raised to heavenly hopes and loves; capable and needing the infinite, it throws itself insatiably on the goods of this earth. Inevitably there is a perpetual struggle of avid passions to enjoy, become rich, and rise. Then we encounter a large and inexhaustible source of grudges, discords, corruptions, and crimes. In our Italy there was no lack of moral and social disorders before the present events — but what a sorrowful spectacle we see in our days! That loving respect which forms domestic harmony is substantially diminished; paternal authority is too often unrecognized by children and parents alike. Disagreements are frequent, divorce common. Civil discords and resentful anger between the various orders increase every day in the cities. New generations which grew up in a spirit of misunderstood freedom are unleashed in the cities, generations which do not respect anything from above or below. The cities teem with incitements to vice, precocious crimes, and public scandals. The state should be content with the high and noble office of recognizing, protecting, and helping divine and human rights in their harmonious universality. Now, however, the state believes itself almost a judge and disowns these rights or restricts them at will. Finally, the general social order is undermined at its foundations. Books and journals, schools and universities, clubs and theaters, monuments and political discourse, photographs and the fine arts, everything conspires to pervert minds and corrupt hearts. Meanwhile the oppressed and suffering people tremble and the anarchic sects arouse themselves. The working classes raise their heads and go to swell the ranks of socialism, communism, and anarchy. Characters exhaust themselves and many souls, no longer knowing how to suffer nobly nor how to redeem themselves manfully, take their lives with cowardly suicide.

8. Such are the fruits which the masonic sect has borne to us Italians. And after that it yearns to come before you, extolling its merits towards Italy. It likewise yearns to give Us and all those who, heeding Our words, remain faithful to Jesus Christ, the calumnious title of enemies of the state. The facts reveal the merits of this guilty sect toward our peninsula, “merits” which bear repeating. The facts say that masonic patriotism is no less than sectarian egotism which yearns to dominate everything, particularly the modern states which unite and concentrate everything in their hands. The facts say that in the plans of masonry, the names of political independence, equality, civilization, and progress aimed to facilitate the independence of man from God in our country. From them, license of error and vice and union of faction at the expense of other citizens have grown. The easy and delicious enjoyment of life by the world’s fortunate is nurtured in the same source. A people redeemed by divine blood have thus returned to divisions, corruptions, and the shames of paganism.

9. That does not surprise Us. — After nineteen centuries of Christian civilization, this sect tries to overthrow the Catholic Church and to cut off its divine sources. It absolutely denies the supernatural, repudiating every revelation and all the means of salvation which revelation shows us. Through its plans and works, it bases itself solely and entirely on such a weak and corrupt nature as ours. Such a sect cannot be anything other than the height of pride, greed, and sensuality. Now, pride oppresses, greed plunders, and sensuality corrupts. When these three concupiscences are brought to the extreme, the oppressions, greed, and seductive corruptions spread slowly. They take on boundless dimensions and become the oppression, plundering and source of corruption of an entire people.

10. Let Us then show you masonry as an enemy of God, Church, and country. Recognize it as such once and for all, and with all the weapons which reason, conscience, and faith put in your hands, defend yourselves from such a proud foe. Let no one be taken in by its attractive appearance or allured by its promises; do not be seduced by its enticements or frightened by its threats. Remember that Christianity and masonry are essentially irreconcilable, such that to join one is to divorce the other. You can no longer ignore such incompatibility between Catholic and mason, beloved children: you have been warned openly by Our predecessors, and We have loudly repeated the warning.

11. Those who, by some supreme misfortune, have given their name to one of these societies of perdition should know that they are strictly bound to separate themselves from it. Otherwise they must remain separated from Christian communion and lose their soul now and for eternity. Parents, teachers, godparents, and whoever has care of others should also know that a rigorous duty binds them to keep their wards from this guilty sect or to draw them from it if they have already entered.

12. In a matter of such importance and where the seduction is so easy in these times, it is urgent that the Christian watch himself from the beginning. He should fear the least danger, avoid every occasion, and take the greatest precautions. Use all the prudence of the serpent, while keeping in your heart the simplicity of the dove, according to the evangelical counsel. Fathers and mothers should be wary of inviting strangers into their homes or admitting them to domestic intimacy, at least insofar as their faith is not sufficiently known. They should try to first ascertain that an astute recruiter of the sect does not hide himself in the guise of a friend, teacher, doctor or other benefactor. Oh, in how many families has the wolf penetrated in sheep’s clothing!

13. It is beautiful to see the varied groups which arise everywhere today in every order of social life: worker groups, groups of mutual aid and social security, organizations to promote science, arts, letters, and other similar things. When they are inspired by a good moral and religious spirit, these groups certainly prove to be useful and proper. But because the masonic poison has penetrated and continues to penetrate here also, especially here, any groups that remove themselves from religious influence should be generally suspect. They can easily be directed and more or less dominated by masons, becoming the sowingground and the apprenticeship of the sect in addition to providing assistance to it.

14. Women should not join philanthropic societies whose nature and purpose are not well-known without first seeking advice from wise and experienced people. That talkative philanthropy which is opposed to Christian charity with such pomp is often the passport for masonic business.

15. Everyone should avoid familiarity or friendship with anyone suspected of belonging to masonry or to affiliated groups. Know them by their fruits and avoid them. Every familiarity should be avoided, not only with those impious libertines who openly promote the character of the sect, but also with those who hide under the mask of universal tolerance, respect for all religions, and the craving to reconcile the maxims of the Gospel with those of the revolution. These men seek to reconcile Christ and Belial, the Church of God and the state without God

16. Every Christian should shun books and journals which distill the poison of impiety and which stir up the fire of unrestrained desires or sensual passions. Groups and reading clubs where the masonic spirit stalks its prey should be likewise shunned.

17. In addition, since we are dealing with a sect which has pervaded everything, it is not enough to remain on the defensive. We must courageously go out into the battlefield and confront it. That is what you will do, beloved children, opposing press to press, school to school, organization to organization, congress to congress, action to action.

18. Masonry has taken control of the public schools, leaving private schools, paternal schools, and those directed by zealous ecclesiastics and religious of both sexes to compete in the education of Christian youth. Christian parents especially should not entrust the education of their children to uncertain schools. Masonry has confiscated the inheritance of public charity; fill the void, then, with the treasure of private relief. It has placed pious works in the hands of its followers, so you should entrust those that depend on you to Catholic institutions. It opens and maintains houses of vice, leaving you to do what is possible to open and maintain shelters for honesty in danger. An anti-Christian press in religious and secular matters militates at its expense, so that your effort and money are required by the Catholic press. Masonry establishes societies of mutual help and credit unions for its partisans; you should do the same not only for your brothers but for all the indigent. This will show that true and sincere charity is the daughter of the One who makes the sun to rise and the rain to fall on the just man and sinner alike.

19. May this struggle between good and evil extend to everything, and may good prevail. Masonry holds frequent meetings to plan new ways to combat the Church, and you should hold them frequently to better agree on the means and order of defense. It multiplies its lodges, so that you should multiply Catholic clubs and parochial groups, promote charitable associations and prayer organizations, and maintain and increase the splendor of the temple of God. The sect, having nothing to fear, today shows its face to the light of day. You Italian Catholics should also make open profession of your faith and follow the example of your glorious ancestors who confessed their faith bravely before tyrants, torture, and death. What more? Does the sect try to enslave the Church and to put it at the feet of the state as a humble servant? You must then demand and claim for it the freedom and independence due it before the law. Does masonry seek to tear apart Catholic unity, sowing discord even in the clergy itself, arousing quarrels, fomenting strife, and inciting insubordination, revolt, and schism? By tightening the sacred bond of charity and obedience, you can thwart its plans, bring to naught its efforts, and disappoint its hopes. Be all of one heart and one mind, like the first Christians. Gathered around the See of Peter and united to your pastors, protect the supreme interests of Church and papacy, which are just as much the supreme interests of Italy and of all the Christian world. The Apostolic See has always been the inspirer and jealous guardian of Italian glory. Therefore, be Italians and Catholics, free and non-sectarian, faithful to the nation as well as to Christ and His visible Vicar. An anti-Christian and antipapal Italy would truly be opposed to the divine plan, and thus condemned to perish.

20. Beloved children, faith and state speak to you at this time through Us. Listen to their cry, arise together and fight manfully the battles of the Lord. May the number, boldness, and strength of the enemy not frighten you, because God is stronger than they; if God is for you, who can be against you?

21. Redouble your prayers so that God might be with you in a greater abundance of grace, fighting and triumphing with you. Accompany your prayers with the practice of the Christian virtues, especially charity toward the needy. Seek God’s mercies with humility and perseverance, renewing every day the promises of your baptism. (Pope Leo XIII, Custodi di Quella Fede, December 8, 1892.)

Dignitatis Infinita is opposed to the Social Reign of Christ the King, His Catholic Church, and eternal good of souls upon which the entirety of a just social order depends.

The next segment will deal with Digntatis Infinita’s treatment of what it calls “the drama of poverty” and the “plight of migrants.”

We trust, as always, in the intercessory protection of Our Lady, especially through her Most Holy Rosary, to help us persevere in the daily effort to sanctify and thus save our immoral souls by means of the graces she sends us that were won for us by her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, during His Passion and Death on the Holy Cross on Good Friday.

Our Lady will also help us to persevere in our adherence to the simply truth that the Catholic Church can never be spotted by error and pray for a restoration of a true pope on the Throne of Saint Peter so that the Principle of Unity may be embraced and reverenced anew by all Catholics so that the errors of Modernity and the remnants of Modernism that might remain thereafter will be vanquished by her, who has destroyed all heresies.