27. Now,
when the State rests on foundations like those just named-and for the time
being they are greatly in favor-it readily appears into what and how unrightful
a position the Church is driven. For, when the management of public business is
in harmony with doctrines of such a kind, the Catholic religion is allowed a
standing in civil society equal only, or inferior, to societies alien from it;
no regard is paid to the laws of the Church, and she who, by the order and
commission of Jesus Christ, has the duty of teaching all nations, finds herself
forbidden to take any part in the instruction of the people. With reference to
matters that are of twofold jurisdiction, they who administer the civil power
lay down the law at their own will, and in matters that appertain to religion
defiantly put aside the most sacred decrees of the Church. They claim
jurisdiction over the marriages of Catholics, even over the bond as well as the
unity and the indissolubility of matrimony. They lay hands on the goods of the
clergy, contending that the Church cannot possess property. Lastly, they treat
the Church with such arrogance that, rejecting entirely her title to the nature
and rights of a perfect society, they hold that she differs in no respect from
other societies in the State, and for this reason possesses no right nor any
legal power of action, save that which she holds by the concession and favor of
the government. If in any State the Church retains her own agreement publicly
entered into by the two powers, men forthwith begin to cry out that matters
affecting the Church must be separated from those of the State.
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