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Entry: All Soul's Day Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/all_souls_day#8359 Post contents: RE: the St. Bart's Day massacre. What happened had nothing to do with "forcing" anyone to accept the faith against their will. It had everthing to do with the queen of France (and some others) taking action to preserve, at least as they saw it, the integrity of the French nation. For anyone interested in reading about the massacre and the position of the Church and the pope regarding it, I recommend, once again, The Catholic Encyclopedia (older version) entry remains unsurpassed. It may be found at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13333b.htm (Just so Sid will know in advance, The Wikepedia entry is horribly tendentious and omits some very important details; it cannot be relied on at all.) It is infallible teaching of the Church that Our Lord is Lord of all creation, and thus indirectly of all nations and states, and that, according to Quas primas (Pius XI), societies and nations should in their laws assist in creating an environment where free-will conversions are made easier. This Pope Pius XI called "the social reign of Christ the King." By the same measure, NO one may be legitimately forced to accept the faith. If you will carefully read the pastorial declartion,Dignitatis humane, you will find that, in the first section there is a ringing endorsement of the traditional doctrine of the Church regarding the injunction that not only all men but also all states publicly recognize that personal AND social sovereignty. More, this is the consistent teaching of the Church over centuries, and most recently of Greogory XVI, Blessed Pius IX, Leo XIII (several times), St. Pius X, Pius XI, and Pius XII. The problem is that Dignitatis humanae also, later in the doucment, seems to set error on equal footing with truth. The Church has constantly tuaght over the centuries that there is no metaphysical "right to believe erroneaously." That is, as Pius XII put in in 1953, "error has no rights." "Error" may be on occasion tolerated for a great (social, political) good. But, and this is of signal importance, error can found no "rights." I think Sid misunderstands the doctrine here. Once again, I repeat, we are NOT talking about forcing anyone against his or her conscience to embrace the Faith. Conscience is inviolate. But, by the same token, we cannot found a true "right" on or in an erroneous conscience. And just as all men are subject to the sovereignty of their Creator, thus human institutions, states, nations, and society as a whole are subject to Our Lord's sovereignty. To deny this is to, at least indirectly, to deny the Lordship of Christ. Every individual has an obligation to believe as his or her conscience instructs; but he or she also has a solemn obligation to search for the truth and correct and erroneous conscience. Back to St. Bart's: much has been written derogatorially about the Church and Pope Gregory XIII. Wiki repeats those same half-truths and outright errors. The well-researched article in The Catholic Encylopedia corrects those lacunae and errors. In any case, my original use of the phrase was simply meant in a quasi-humorous way...but since additional comment was made, I wanted to clarify this. And Charles, I did greatly appreciate the translation of the essay by Maurras. Sent at: 2008 11 20