They have uncrowned Christ the King

He must reign, but they have uncrowned Him!

On the occasion of the recurring feast of Christ the King, we wish to offer our readers some extracts from the still relevant book of Archbishop Lefebvre, They Have Uncrowned Him, as well as some tips from Popes and from Cardinal Pie of Poitiers on the errors of liberalism, of which all Western countries are presently infected.

Extracts from Archbishop Lefebvre’s book

The Apostolic Nuncio of Switzerland to Archbishop Lefebvre:

You see, the social kingship of Our Lord, that is impossible now; perhaps in the distant future? Right now, this Reign is in individuals; we have to open ourselves up to the masses… it is very difficult now…"

The Archbishop continues:

“You see, he no longer believes in it: it is an 'impossible' or a 'very difficult ' dogma, 'which now would not be written anymore! ' And how many people think like this today! How many are incapable of understanding that the Redemption of Our Lord Jesus Christ must be brought about with the help of civil society, and that the State therefore must become, within the limits of the temporal order, the instrument of the application of the work of Redemption. They answer you, 'Oh, those are two different things; you are mixing politics and religion'!" (They Have Uncrowned Him, p. 100)

Extracts from Papal Teachings

“The Church without the State is a soul without a body. The State without the Church is a body without a soul." (Leo XIII, Libertas)

"That the State must be separated from the Church is a thesis absolutely false, a most pernicious error. Based, as it is, on the principle that the State must not recognize any religious cult, it is in the first place guilty of a great injustice to God. We owe Him not only a private cult, but a public and social worship to honor Him. Besides, this thesis is an obvious negation of the supernatural order. [T]he civil power must not only place no obstacle in the way of this conquest, but must aid us in effecting it." (St. Pius X, Vehementer, #2)

"At the last judgment, Christ will accuse those who have expelled Him from public life and will have the most terrible vengeance from such an outrage." (Pius XI)

Extracts from Cardinal Pie

These large families of the people which we call nations, familiae gentium, depend on these [divine] laws no less than private individuals (Psalm 21)… It is not only of the princes of Juda that the Lord spoke, to explain the punishments which He inflicted on them: “They have reigned by themselves and not by Me; they were princes and I did not know them” (Os 8, 4). Sirs, remark these last words! A writer who was not conscious of his impiety wrote: “The modern law ignores God.”

Well! We are not afraid to tell this: To such an order of things, wherever it exists, God will respond by the law of the talion which is one of the great laws of the government of His providence. The power which as such ignores God will be as such ignored by God (I Cor. 14, 38).

Had not certain countries (like Belgium and the USA) proclaimed the separation of Church and State, and did they not enjoy the more complete liberty? He answers boldly: “The American and Belgium system, this system of philosophico-political indifference, is eternally a bastard system.” And speaking to a delegation of the University of Louvain, he does not fear to tell them:

No doubt, I would not guarantee the next day to the nation (Belgium) since, unfortunately, its political and social organization is not based on the principles of the University of Louvain and the States do not subsist unless they place the truth as the basis of the government. But, thanks to the continuous and beneficial action of this great Catholic establishment, I like to hope for the Belgium people, despite the lack of a morrow for which I cannot respond, an after tomorrow of durable and serious order because it will be seated upon Christian institutions."