Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/259



ALLEGIANCE TO THE REPUBLIC. 253

party divisions; the one would bespeak cowardice un- worthy of a Christian, the other would bring about disas- trous weakness.

And now, before going any further. We must indicate a craftily circulated calumny making most odious impu- tations against Catholics, and even against the Holy See itself. It is maintained that that vigor of action inculcated in Catholics for the defence of their faith has for a secret motive much less the safeguarding of their religious interests than the ambition of securing to the Church political domination over the State. Truly this is the revival of a very ancient calumny, as its invention belongs to the first enemies of Christianity. Was it not first of all formulated against the adorable person of the Redeemer? Yes, when He illuminated souls by His preaching and alleviated the corporal or spiritual sufferings of the unfor- tunate with the treasures of His divine bounty, he was accused of having poUtical ends in view. " We have found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he is Christ, the king. ... If thou release this man, thou are not Caesar's friend. For whomsoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Csesar. . . . We have no king but Caesar."

It was these threatening calumnies which drew from Pilate the sentence of de^th against Him whom he had repeatedly declared innocent. And the authors of these lies, or of others of equal strength, omitted nothing that would aid their emissaries in propagating them far and wide; and thus did St. Justin, martyr, rebuke the Jews of his time: " Far from repenting when you had learned of His resurrection from the dead, you sent to Jerusalem shrewdly chosen men to announce that a heresy and an impious sect had been started by a certain seducer called Jesus of Galilee."

In so audaciously defaming Christianity its enemies know well what they did; their plan was to raise against its propagation a formidable adversary, the Roman