laws of God--if they inflict injury upon the Church--or set
at naught the authority of Jesus Christ which is vested in
the Supreme Pontiff, then indeed it becomes a duty to resist
them, a sin to render obedience.

And consider how many fields there are in which the laws of a
democratic state do and forever must contravene the "laws of God" as
interpreted by the Catholic Church. Consider for example, that the
Pope, in his decree #Ne Temere#, has declared that Catholics who are
married by civil authorities or by Protestant clergymen will be living
in "filthy concubinage"! Consider, in the same way, the problems of
education, burial, prison discipline, blasphemy, poor relief,
incorporation, mortmain, religious endowments, vows of celibacy. To
the above list, as given by Gladstone, one might add many issues, such
as birth control, which have arisen since his time.

What the Church means is to rule. Her literature is full of
expressions of that intention, set forth in the boldest and haughtiest
and most uncompromising manner. For example, Cardinal Manning, in the
Pro-Cathedral at Kensington, speaking in the name of the Pope:

I acknowledge no civil power; I am the subject of no prince;
I claim more than this--I claim to be the supreme judge and
director of the consciences of men--of the peasant that
tills the field, and of the prince that sits upon the
throne; of the household of privacy, and the legislator that
makes laws for kingdoms; I am the sole, last supreme judge
of what is right and wrong.

#Temporal Power#