Printed Material

15. A third problem which should engage your continuous care concerns the printed material that is published either daily or at stated intervals. You know the times, venerable brethren: on the one hand men are consumed with an insatiable passion for reading; on the other an enormous amount of bad literature is freely disseminated. Given these facts it is impossible to estimate how much harm is done to good morals, what destruction daily threatens the integrity of religion. Therefore by exhortation, by admonition, by every possible means continue to call men back from such fountains of corruption and lead them to salutary waters. It will be a great help if by your initiative and leadership daily papers are published, under the patronage of truth, virtue, and religion, to offset these poisonous evils. Now an admonition for authors who by an honest and holy determination combine the love of writing with a love and zeal for the Catholic cause. If they really want their works to be fruitful and worthy of praise, let them remember what is required of those who engage in controversy for a good cause. In writing they must exercise the greatest care to be moderate and prudent, but above all loving. Love is the mother and companion of all the other virtues. You can see that fickle suspicion and rash accusations are detrimental indeed to fraternal love. From this you can understand the injustice of those who, in favoring one political party, do not hesitate in matters of religion to accuse others of unorthodoxy. They do this only because they belong to another party, as though orthodox Catholic faith is necessarily the prerogative of this or that political party.

16. We commend all which We have either warned against or commanded to your authority, which all whom you govern must respect and accept. This applies especially to priests who are subject to you in their private and public lives, whether they are engaged in the duties of the sacred ministry or in teaching in the schools. They never cease to be under the authority of the bishops. And just as they are obliged to lead others to the beauty of virtue by their example, so too must they lead others to obedience and the submission due to episcopal authority.

17. That everything may proceed prosperously according to Our desire, We ask for heavenly assistance. First of all let us approach that perennial font of divine grace, the holy Heart of our Savior Jesus Christ, devotion to whom is both primary and ancient with you. We implore the patronage of the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, under whose special guardianship the kingdom of Portugal boasts to be. Finally we ask for the intercession of St. Elizabeth, the most holy of royal and saintly women, and of all the holy martyrs who in the first days of the Church established or propagated Christianity in Portugal.

18. Meanwhile, as proof of Our good will and as a promise of heavenly gifts, We grant you, your clergy, and all your people most affectionately Our Apostolic Blessing in the Lord.

Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, September 14, 1886, in the ninth year of Our Pontificate.