\n<\/p>\n
Sep 18, 2025<\/p>\n
One of the most important encyclicals we need to rediscover is Prophetically warning of the evil consequences of political \u00a0Pope Leo XIII: “Man, by a necessity of his nature, is Pope Leo XIII, Libertas<\/em>\u00a0https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/content\/leo-xiii\/en\/encyclicals\/documents\/hf_l-xiii_enc_20061888_libertas.html<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0DONATE to make this show possible! http:\/\/catholicculture.org\/donate\/audio<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0SIGN UP for Catholic Culture’s newsletter: https:\/\/www.catholicculture.org\/newsletters<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nPope Leo XIII’s Libertas<\/em> (1888), on the true nature of
\nhuman liberty. This encyclical explains what true liberty consists
\nof, followed by a lengthy exposition of the Church’s condemnation
\nof liberalism, in the Enlightenment\/classical sense rather than
\ntoday’s narrower use of the word. Most people who call themselves
\nconservative now would, in certain ways, fall into the category of
\nliberalism as defined by Leo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nliberalism, Leo also takes aim at various false liberties in which
\nmodern people take such pride: freedom of speech, writing, thought,
\nand worship. In each of these instances, liberals fail to recognize
\nthat freedom is not the right to do and say what one wants, but to
\ndo justice and to speak truth. As starting as Leo’s teaching may be
\nto modern Catholics, his fundamental principle is the one that Pope
\nSt. John Paul II enunciated when he said that “freedom consists not
\nin doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we
\nought.”<\/p>\n
\nwholly subject to the most faithful and ever-enduring power of God;
\nand that, as a consequence, any liberty, except that which consists
\nin submission to God and in subjection to His will, is
\nunintelligible. To deny the existence of this authority in God, or
\nto refuse to submit to it, means to act, not as a free man, but as
\none who treasonably abuses his liberty; and in such a disposition
\nof mind the chief and deadly vice of liberalism essentially
\nconsists.<\/p>\n