ON DOCTRINAL

INTOLERANCE
By Cardinal PIE
Introduction
STATUS QUAESTIONIS =
Truth and virtue are inseparable.
Any wound to intellectual order has consequences in moral and even material order.
Evil therefore has to be fought in its source, in the ideas.
Today's problem =
Many atholics are tired of battle ready to yield in points that do not appear to them as
very important imprudent wea!ness"
Today everybody tal!s about tolerance but nobody ma!es distinctions, or !nows the
truth.
Two !inds of tolerance#
ivil not the sub$ect of this conference, but about which a further distinction has
to be made#
%f 'tolerance& implies that the law recogni'es all religions as equally good or
that the (tate is incompetent to decide in this matter law is impious and
atheistic.
%f &tolerance& only means that the law, while ac!nowledging only one religion
as true, allows the peaceful e)ercise of other religions for reasons of
political prudence law may be wise and necessary.
Theological our sub$ect, on which two principles will be e)posed.
Amidst confusion of false ideas and opinions, we &priests of the incorruptible
Truth& have to $ump into the fray and protest with the infle)ibility of our teaching.
THESIS#
True religion is intolerant regarding the doctrines.
True religion is tolerant regarding the persons.
First part
TRUE RELIGION IS INTOLERANT REGARDING DOCTRINES
IT IS OF THE ESSENCE OF TRUTH NOT TO TOLERATE ITS CONTRADICTION = the
affirmation of a proposition e)cludes the negation of the same proposition.
A principle to follow# in dubiis libertas in necessariis unitas.
%n doubtful things, where there is no certitude or definition, freedom of opinion is
permissible.
*ut when truth is certainly !nown, it becomes necessary and intolerant.
Truth is intolerant tolerance is equivalent to suicide.
%ntolerance is its preservation in e)istence truth cannot coe)ist with its negation.
+eligious truth, being the most absolute ,= taught and revealed by -od. and important
,= involving the eternal salvation of soul. of all truths, is in consequence the most
intolerant and e)clusive.
THE INTOLERANCE OF UNITY =
Unus Dominus, una fides, unum baptisma ,Eph /#0..
1ne 2ord in 3eaven unus Dominus,
-od, whose greatest attribute is 3is unity, has given the world only one doctrine, only
one faith una fides,
This faith has been entrusted to only one visible society, only one hurch whose
children are mar!ed by the same character and regenerated by the same
water unum baptisma.
&%n this manner, the divine unity, residing from all eternity amidst the splendors of glory, has
been produced on earth by the unity of the evangelical dogma, whose deposit has been
given by 4esus hrist in guardianship to the hierarchical unity of the priesthood& one
-od, one faith, one hurch.
THE INTOLERANCE OF CHRIST =
A positive e)clusion = if someone is not baptized in water and Spirit, if someone refuses to
eat m bod and drin! m blood t"at one will not "a#e part in m !in$dom.
Apostles sent to teach all nations = to bring down all e)isting religions, to establish
everywhere the unique hristian religion, to replace the inherited beliefs of the nations for
the unity of atholic dogma.
And foreseeing the opposition and divisions that this doctrine will e)cite, 3e declared that 3e
has brought not peace, but t"e sword war, not onl amon$ t"e nations, but also in t"e
bosom of t"e same famil, to separate belie#in$ wife from unbelie#in$ "usband, %"ristian
son from pa$an fat"er.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH HAS BEEN A MODEL WORK OF
RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE =
5hen the preaching of the Apostles started, the entire world possessed that dogmatic
tolerance so much praised today#
All religions were equally false and equally irrational so they didn't fight one another6
All gods were equally demons so they weren't e)clusive and tolerated one another =
(atan is not divided against himself.
5hen hristianity appeared, it was not immediately opposed but only later#
+ome, used to accept all religions, accepted this new faith without any inconvenience.
7ersecution only started when it was clear that this new -od was the irreconcilable foe
of all other gods that the hristians whose cult was so quietly accepted refused to
accept quietly the cults of +ome in a word, only when the intolerance of the
hristian faith was made clear"
The history of the hurch is no more than the history of this intolerance#
Martyrs = men intolerant in matters of faith, who preferred torture to the profession of
error,
(ymbols ,reeds. = formulas of intolerance, which establish what has to be believed
and which force reason to acquiesce to necessary mysteries,
7apacy = an institution of doctrinal intolerance, which maintains the unity of faith by
means of the hierarchical unity,
ouncils = more institutions of intolerance, convened to stop the spread of false thought,
to condemn the false interpretations of dogma, to anathemati'e the propositions
contrary to the faith.
WE ARE INTOLERANT, EXCLUSIVE, IN MATTERS OF DOCTRINE WE MAKE PROFESSION
OF INTOLERANCE AND WE ARE PROUD OF IT.
%f we are not, it means that we do not possess the Truth because Truth is one and therefore
intolerant.
The Author of the hristian religion, descending from 3eaven, has said E$o sum
&eritas the atholic hurch preserves this incorruptible Truth.
The atholic hurch is therefore, dogmatically intolerant = she has to re$ect, e)clude
anything contrary to the Truth, anything that could destroy it.
The sophism of the sects = other churches are tolerant of the atholic hurch, why can't
she be a bit as tolerant8 the lac! of compromise, conciliation, tolerance of the
atholic hurch arises from the fact hat only through her men can attain their
end and she !nows it 'T"e t"orn bus" ma ac!nowled$e t"at t"e #ine produces
$rapes, but t"e #ine cannot be obli$ed to ac!nowled$e to t"e t"orn bus" t"e same
propert'(
CAUSES OF THE ERRORS ON TOLERANCE.
Passions:
9estruction of dogma prepares easy morals if all religions and gods are considered
equally true, it means that all are false then, there is no religion, no
-od morality loses its foundation.
Education = pre$udices transmitted by those in whose hands is today's education#
+ousseau = absolute religious tolerance.
(emi:7rotestant, semi:rationalist syncretism = all opinions and religions can be
reconciled, as all are different aspects of truth.
Present extension of error:
;ew forms appear every day to the point of madness logical conclusion of re$ection
of the unity and intolerance of truth.
All errors can coe)ist and tolerate one another because they have a common father#
(atan &os e) patre diabolo estis ,4n <#//..
Second part
TRUE RELIGION IS TOLERANT REGARDING PERSONS
IT IS CHARACTERISTIC OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TO BE FIRM, IMMOVABLE IN HER
PRINCIPLES BUT GENTLE AND INDULGENT IN THEIR APPLICATION.
The hurch is li!e a mother invariably teaching truth and virtue, never consenting to
error and evil but ta!ing pains to ma!e her teaching lovable, treating with
indulgence the wanderings provo!ed by wea!ness.
The Church affirms only what is certain and defined giving latitude for the rest.
The hurch affirms with quiet ma$esty what is certain but with moderation and reserve,
she leaves to free opinion what is not defined.
9ifferent manner of acting#
Men, when they invent a system, uphold it with absolute obstinacy without
yielding on any point, without accepting arguments against any of their
ideas almost all wor!s proceeding from the hands of men are tainted with this
e)aggeration, this tyranny.
As the hurch has not invented the truth, but only received it in deposit, there are
no passion or e)cess in her teachings.
hrist, in whom resided the plenitude of Truth, has clearly revealed certain
aspects of the truth, and has left others in shadows.
The hurch does not push her ministry beyond what her Master has done =
content with having upheld the principles which are certain and necessary,
she leaves her children to reason freely on the doubtful points.

Some examples:
(t. Augustine = *itte, Domine, miti$ationes in cor meum, ut c"aritate #eritatis not
amittam #eritatem c"aritatis &1 2ord, send into my heart the sweetness, the
softening of Thy spirit, so that while carried away by the love of truth, % will not come
to lose the truth of love&.
(t. =rancis of (ales = T"e trut" t"at is not c"aritable ceases to be t"e trut", because in
+od, ,"o is t"e supreme source of Trut", c"arit is inseparable from trut"(
Tertullian = defended the truth as if it were his own system and one day his wounded
pride abandoned the cause that his bitter 'eal had upheld.
2amennais = his 'eal loo!ed li!e hatred, his adversary was treated as foe, his forceful
words had neither the unction of charity nor the accents of love charity would have
maintained him in the truth>
THE CHURCH IS TOLERANT REGARDING THE PERSONS.
The hurch applies her principles to our behavior with condescension and goodness.
%ncapable of enduring evil doctrines, the hurch is nevertheless incommensurably
tolerant with the persons.
The hurch neve !"n#$%e% e" &'() *+n 'n e", nor the sin with the
sinner she condemns the error, but continues to love the erring man she
fights sin, but pursues the sinner with her tenderness, she desires to ma!e him
whole, to reconcile him with -od, to bring his heart bac! to peace and virtue.
%f some of her laws are too hard for us, she accommodates them to our
wea!ness her rigor yields before our infirmity.
(he cannot yield in the application of divine laws, but condescension is not difficult when
it is question of ecclesiastical laws, because suavity is the basis of her government
= propter suave regimen Ecclesiae ,(t. Thomas Aquinas..
The world preaches us tolerance, but it is more intolerant than us = we re$ect only principles,
the world re$ects persons we absolve, and the world !eeps condemning many times
we have chosen to forget the past, but the world always remembers.



Conclusion
TRUE PEACE IS TE FRUIT OF DOCTRINAL INTOLERANCE!
?nity of dogma is the only bond of peace on earth ()e $n'"n "# %,''(% '% ()e #'%( !"n-'('"n
#" ()e $n'"n "# )e+(% ,icero..
According to icero, even friendship is to be defined by this unanimity of thought = eadem de
rebus di#inis et "umanis cum summa c"aritate -uncta concordia(
7resent divisions and selfishness arise from our isolation in our own thought then, "n./ "ne
%".$('"n = e($n (" ()e !"**"n ,"#e%%'"n "# ()e Cee-, and concord and charity will be
restored.