April 15, 2026
This interview with Professor Thomas Pink, originally published in 2020, has been republished as part of Thomas Millas’ ongoing series covering the major encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII.
Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Freedom, the Declaration on Human Dignity, begins by pointing out that the discussion of religious freedom is “associated with immunity from coercion in civil society,” leaving “traditional Catholic doctrine of the moral obligations of man and society to the true religion and the one Church of Christ untouched.” This episode is about discovering what that traditional doctrine was and really is.
Our primary source of information is Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Immortale Dei, available in audiobook format at CatholicCulture.org. Thomas Pink guides you through a close reading of this document (with supplementary material from Libertas and Longuinqua). Here, and in the magisterium of other 19th-century popes, we find much teaching on church and state that has hardly been mentioned since the Council and, sadly, forgotten or even rejected by the majority of self-proclaimed conservative Catholics.
link
Thomas Millas’ article summarizing the encyclical https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/leo-xiii-on-states-duties-toward-church/
Immortal Day Audiobook https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/pope-leo-xiii-immortale-dei-on-christian-constitution-states/
Text of the Immortal Dei (On the Constitution of a Christian Nation) https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=4916
Thomas Pink “Conscience and Compulsion” https://www.firstthings.com/article/2012/08/conscience-and-coercion
timestamp
[00:00] introduction
[4:59] Historical and theological background of the Immortal Dei
[9:42] Overview of Immortale Dei and Libertas points
[12:28] The sources and nature of authority. Its directive and compulsory functions
[20:30] The duty of the state to profess, protect, and foster the one true religion
[25:56] Reasons for tolerance of other religions. Coercion of the Baptized
[36:05] Church and State Analogy with Soul and Body in Leo
[45:26] The separate lordships of church and state interact. The state can act as a “secular sector”
[51:31] Not only the ruler as an individual, but also the religion of the state.
[55:03] The result of a nation ignoring God and religion
[1:02:40] Human dignity: Compatibility with draft law, scope, heritage and tradition.
[1:10:30] Pope’s condemnation of freedom of speech and opinion
[1:31:10] Church seeks to end coercion of baptized heretics
[1:36:13] The importance of accepting difficult teachings honestly
[1:41:29] The need for unity across the Magisterium regarding Church, State and religious freedom
Please donate to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Sign up for the Catholic Culture Newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
Source: The Catholic Culture Podcast – catholicculturepodcast.libsyn.com
