September 18, 2025
One of the most important times cyclicals we need to rediscover is from Pope Leo XIII Livatas (1888), on the essence of human freedom. This episode of cyclical explains what true freedom is made up of, and then the lengthy explanation of the denunciation of liberalism in the Church explains the long exposition in the Enlightenment/classical sense rather than the narrower use of today’s language. Most people who now call themselves conservative are in a sense categorized as liberal, as defined by Leo.
Prophecy of the evil consequences of political liberalism, Leo aims for a variety of false freedoms that modern times have such pride: freedom of speech, writing, thinking, worship. In each of these cases, liberals do not recognize that they do justice and speak truth, not the right to do what freedom wants. Leo’s teachings may be for modern Catholics, but his basic principles were declared when Pope John Paul II said, “Freedom consists of not doing what we like, but having the right to do what we should.”
Pope Leo XIII: “Man is entirely subject to God’s most faithful and constantly patient power by the necessity of his nature. As a result, except that it consists of obedience to God and obedience to his will, it is not to refuse to deny its authority, in order to refuse to deny the existence of God or to deny the absis. Free.
Pope Leo XIII, Livatas https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_20061888_libertas.html
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