43: The Vow of Obedience
Chapter 43 clarifies the vow of obedience taken by religious, asserting that it binds them to their spiritual superiors (ultimately the Pope) while also mandating respect and adherence to the just laws of the state. The author refutes the accusation that religious orders refuse to acknowledge civil authority, emphasizing that a good religious is, by Catholic teaching, necessarily a good citizen. He distinguishes the spiritual nature of the vow from civil and political matters, arguing that Catholic principles inherently foster respect for authority. The text attributes the false charges of insubordination against religious orders, particularly in France, to a deliberate misrepresentation by those hostile to the Church, dismissing claims about the vow's supposed threat to the state or the temporal power of the Pope as ill-founded and illogical.
For the full audiobook can be obtained here. The contents of this volume appeared originally in The Catholic Transcript, of Hartford, Connecticut, in weekly installments, from February, 1901, to February, 1903.
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