Our Proposals

6. These difficult problems, for which your judgment and attentiveness must find solutions, are of great importance and We shall not leave you without Our proposals in the present affair. In this way after the conclusion of the congress, it will be less laborious and less dangerous for you to decide, each one of you in your own diocese, on remedies and stabilizing action suited to the people and the districts. Still you should, with the help of suitable citizens, apply these measures in such a way that they may have a similar effect nationwide. The action undertaken by Catholics starting from the same points and travelling as far as possible along the same paths should be observed everywhere to be one and the same action. Consequently this action should be honest, vigorous, and productive. To facilitate this, Catholics must urgently wish for and pursue only those goals which are seen quite truly to lead to the common good, in preference to their own personal opinions and interests. This would ensure: 1) that religion excels in its own function and spreads its power, a power which brings safety to civil, domestic, and economic affairs as well, in a wonderful way; 2) that by uniting public authority and freedom in a Christian manner, the kingdom remains unharmed by sedition and protected by tranquility; 3) that the good institutions of the state, especially the schools of the young, are promoted and improved; 4) that commerce and crafts are improved, especially by the help of those societies, each with its own particular purpose, which abound in your country and which it is desirable to develop further with religion as leader and support. Nor is it a matter of small importance to ensure that 5) the supreme counsels of God be accepted with the modesty which is obviously their due. Since God has ordered that different classes exist in the human race, but that among those classes an equality deriving from their friendly cooperation also exists, workers should in no way abandon their respect for and trust in their employers, and the employers should treat their workers with just kindness and prudent care.