“The Church per se cannot approve political tolerance, in which false religions are not prevented from spreading by civil power, or are even to some extent encouraged by civil law, or are considered to have the same number of civil rights as the true Church of Jesus Christ, but for its sacred function the Church by itself must absolutely want.”
Author’s Biography
Anton “Antonius” Straub S.J. (b. 1852) was a distinguished German‑Austrian Catholic priest, Jesuit, and dogmatic theologian. After early education in Grünstadt and Speyer, he was admitted in 1869 to the Germanicum in Rome, where he earned doctorates in philosophy and theology and was ordained in 1875. In 1878 he entered the Society of Jesus at St. Andrä (Carinthia), due to Kulturkampf constraints in Germany. After his novitiate and further studies at Innsbruck, he rose through academic ranks—first, becoming lecturer in 1886, extraordinarius in 1894, and ordinarius of Dogmatics in 1898. Straub continued teaching until illness forced resignation in 1900. One year later he was named honorary professor, after which he relocated to the Jesuit house in Kalksburg, Vienna.
Among his major scholarly contributions are the two‑volume De Ecclesia Christi (1912)—a comprehensive treatise on ecclesiology—and De analysi fidei (1922), an in‑depth study of the personal act of faith. Though he never received formal ecclesiastical titles he was widely honored in the Church and academic community; after his death he was commemorated in Catholic biographical lexicons, including the Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (1964). Father Anton Straub spent his final years teaching and writing at the Kalksburg Jesuit community until his death in 1931, and was buried in the Jesuits’ communal grave in Vienna‑Liesing.
Editors’ Note
The following translation is as faithful to the original text as possible, with the addition of a few points of clarification—denoted by parentheses or section headers—as well as improved sourcing. The quotes from Sacred Scripture are from the Douay–Rheims Bible, an approved and trusted English translation for Catholics. Additionally, the reader will find links to relevant authors embedded in the text, as well as footnotes with more information. With that said, this is by no means the official and final English translation of the text, although we believe it to be a credible and respectable one.
Now, without further ado, The Journal of American Reform is pleased to present this important text, describing the proper relationship between the State and false religions.
No. 380 — The Church per se, in itself, cannot approve of political tolerance, by which false religions are not prevented from spreading by the State
Similarly, the Church per se (in itself) cannot approve political tolerance, in which false religions are not prevented from spreading by civil power, or are even to some extent encouraged by civil law, or are considered to have the same number of civil rights as the true Church of Jesus Christ, but for its sacred function the Church by itself must absolutely want, corrupters of the only legitimate cult, such as men who are rebellious or certainly enemies both of the ultimate end of humanity and of the temporal peace it is seeking to obtain, to be avoided or justly coerced, but that cult, both accepted by individuals and by entire cities, as far as it is in them, to be retained, defended, and promoted. In the scriptures you will see Rom. 16:17-18;1 Gal 1:8-9;2 1 Tim. 1:19-20;3 Tit. 3:10;4 2 Jn. 1:10-11.5 — Hence Irenaeus attests (Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter 3, section. 4): “There are also those who heard from him (Polycarp) that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within. And Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and said, Do you know me? I do know you, the first-born of Satan. Such was the horror which the apostles and their disciples had against holding even verbal communication with any corrupters of the truth; as Paul also says, A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sins, being condemned of himself.” In addition, Irenaeus relates about Polycarp in his letter to Florin (Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Chapter 20, paragraph 7): “I can bear witness before God that if that blessed and apostolic presbyter had heard anything of this kind he would have cried out, and shut his ears, and said according to his custom, O good God, to what time hast thou preserved me that I should endure this? He would have fled even from the place in which he was seated or standing when he heard such words.” — The examples or principles of other great men are consonant, such as Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, and other pastors of the second century, according to Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History I.4.24; Migne 20, 390), or St. Anthony, according to Athanasius (Vita Sancti Antonii 68, 89, 91; Migne 26, 939ff., 967, 970–971), or Chrysostom, according to Theodoret (Ecclesiastical History I.5.32; Migne 82, 1259), the witness of tradition remains consistent. Thus St. Jerome also writes (to Pope Theophilus, Epistle LXIII, paragraph 3): “Many religious persons are displeased that you are so long-suffering in regard to that shocking heresy (Origenist crises), and that you suppose yourself able by such lenity to amend those who are attacking the Church’s vitals. They believe that, while you are waiting for the penitence of a few, your action is fostering the boldness of abandoned men and making their party stronger.” — And Orosius (de arbitrii lib. n. 48; Migne 31, 1212): “I, as witness of Jesus Christ, confess that I hate heresy, not the heretic; but, as is just, in the meantime, because of heresy, I avoid the heretic.” — Or Leo M. (ep. 7, al. 8., c. 2; Migne 54, 621): “Otherwise. . . we cannot govern those who are committed to us, unless we pursue these, who are persecutors and the lost, with the zeal of the Lord’s faith, and from sound minds, lest this plague spread more widely, with the severity we can cut it off.” — Hence the condemned syllabus of Pope Pius IX prop. 77 (Dz. 1626): “In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship”; prop. 78 (Dz. 1627): “Hence it has been wisely decided by law, in some Catholic countries, that persons coming to reside therein shall enjoy the public exercise of their own peculiar worship”; prop. 79 (Dz. 1628): “Moreover, it is false that the civil liberty of every form of worship, and the full power, given to all, of overtly and publicly manifesting any opinions whatsoever and thoughts, conduce more easily to corrupt the morals and minds of the people, and to propagate the pest of indifferentism.”
No 382 — The Church per accidens, in certain circumstances, can allow political tolerance of false religions, but only for the sake of the common good
It is indeed possible that per accidens (by accident), when false religions are taken away, great goods, such as the testimony of faith held by the enemies themselves, are taken away, or greater evils, such as seditions or impediments to conversion to the true faith, follow; in which case it is indeed permissible from the beginning to permit those false cults. This mode of action corresponds to the divinely preserved economy (cf. Matt. 13:29-30)6 and is confirmed by St. Thomas (ST II-II, q. 10, a. 11)7 and by Pope Leo XIII in the encyclical Immortale Dei it is thus judged (Dz. 1726): “The Church, indeed, deems it unlawful to place the various forms of divine worship on the same footing as the true religion, but does not, on that account, condemn those rulers who, for the sake of securing some great good or of hindering some great evil, allow patiently custom or usage to be a kind of sanction for each kind of religion having its place in the State.”
END.
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Rom. 16:17-18. “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the innocent.”
Gal. 1:8-9. “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed.”
1 Tim. 1:19-20. “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made it shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.”
Tit. 3:10. “A man that is divisive after the first and second admonition reject;”
2 Jn. 1:10-11. “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that bids him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”
Matt. 13:29-30. “But he said, Nay; lest while you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather you together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”
ST II-II, q. 10, a 11. “Accordingly in human government also, those who are in authority, rightly tolerate certain evils, lest certain goods be lost, or certain greater evils be incurred: thus Augustine says (De Ordine ii, 4): ‘If you do away with harlots, the world will be convulsed with lust.’ Hence, though unbelievers sin in their rites, they may be tolerated, either on account of some good that ensues therefrom, or because of some evil avoided.”