Protest of Roman Catholic-members of the Prussian Landtag., February 27, 1875

Protest of Roman Catholic-members of the Prussian Landtag.

[From the Berlin Post of March 2, 1875.]

The Pope’s encyclical has already called forth one Catholic protest. A meeting was held on Saturday in the House of Deputies, composed of Catholic members of the house not belonging to the center, at which the following declaration was adopted:

With regard to the papal encyclical of February 5, 1875, the undersigned Catholic members of the House of Deputies deem it their duty to make the following declaration:

We most emphatically deny that the church-laws of the German empire and of the Prussian state “entirely subvert the divine constitution of the church and nullify the inviolable prerogatives of the bishops,” and most solemnly protest against all the principles set forth in the encyclical which jeopardize the authority, the constitution, and the existence of the state, and especially against the prerogative claimed for the Pope of declaring constitutionally enacted laws null and void.

It is, on the contrary, our conviction that the teachings of the Catholic Church expressly enjoin upon every Catholic to recognize as binding, and to obey, state-laws which have been constitutionally enacted.

While we thus define our position as regards the papal encyclical of February 5, 1875, and unreservedly recognize the competency of the state to enact the church-laws, and also recognize said laws as binding, we call upon all patriotic Catholics who think as we do to join us in this our protest, in order thus to exclude all communion with those Catholics who consider the interference of the papal see with state affairs authorized.