By: Christ the King Law Center (CKLC)
Editor's Note: The following is a modified abstract of a paper presented at a conference held by Christ the King Law Center (CKLC) on October 8, 2016 titled Make America Catholic Again!
However, while government may take the form of either a polity, aristocracy, or monarchy they are not all equally good. Monarchy is the best. This was stated by Pope Pius VI after the King of France-Louis XVI-was executed by the French Revolutionaries in 1793:
Saint Thomas Aquinas taught that monarchy is the best form of government because it ensures peace: "The best government of a multitude is rule by one, and this is clear from the purpose of government, which is peace; for the peace and unity of his subjects are the purpose of the one who rules, and one is a better constituted cause of unity than many." [2]
Another doctor of the Church-Saint Robert Bellarmine-also taught that monarchy is the best form of government in his book On the Roman Pontiff, in the chapter titled "The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, Monarchy of the Roman Pontiff." [3] In it he analyzes the forms of government as such, weighing their advantages and disadvantages, and concludes that the best one in thesis is monarchy. He then goes on to ask what form of government-aristocratic, democratic, or monarchic-would be most fitting for the Church. After a careful analysis he concludes that it is monarchy:
[1] Acta Apostolicae Sadis, cap. 2.
[2] St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, (Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books, 1960), Book IV, p. 291.
[3] St. Robert Bellarmine, in Bellarmine Extracts on Politics and Government from the Supreme Pontiff from Third General Controversy, George Albert Moore, Trans., Ed. (Chevy Chase, Md: The Country Dollar Press, undated).
[4] Ibid., p. 37.
Editor's Note: The following is a modified abstract of a paper presented at a conference held by Christ the King Law Center (CKLC) on October 8, 2016 titled Make America Catholic Again!
However, while government may take the form of either a polity, aristocracy, or monarchy they are not all equally good. Monarchy is the best. This was stated by Pope Pius VI after the King of France-Louis XVI-was executed by the French Revolutionaries in 1793:
- The most Christian King, Louis XVI, was condemned to death by an impoius conspiracy and this judgment was carried out. We shall recall to you in a few words the ordering and motives of this sentence. The National Convention had no right or authority to pronounce it. In fact, after having abolished the monarchy, the best of all governments, it had transferred all the public power to the people-the people which, guided neither by reason nor by counsels, forms just ideas on no point whatsoever, assesses few things in accordance with the truth and evaluates a great many according to mere opinion, which is ever fickle, and ever easy to deceive and to lead into every excess, ungrateful, arrogant, and cruel.
Saint Thomas Aquinas taught that monarchy is the best form of government because it ensures peace: "The best government of a multitude is rule by one, and this is clear from the purpose of government, which is peace; for the peace and unity of his subjects are the purpose of the one who rules, and one is a better constituted cause of unity than many." [2]
Another doctor of the Church-Saint Robert Bellarmine-also taught that monarchy is the best form of government in his book On the Roman Pontiff, in the chapter titled "The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, Monarchy of the Roman Pontiff." [3] In it he analyzes the forms of government as such, weighing their advantages and disadvantages, and concludes that the best one in thesis is monarchy. He then goes on to ask what form of government-aristocratic, democratic, or monarchic-would be most fitting for the Church. After a careful analysis he concludes that it is monarchy:
- "If monarchy is the best and most excellent government, as above we have shown, and it is certain that the Church of God, instituted by the most sapient prince of Christ, ought to [be] best governed, who can deny that the government of it ought to be a monarchy?" [4]
[1] Acta Apostolicae Sadis, cap. 2.
[2] St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, (Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books, 1960), Book IV, p. 291.
[3] St. Robert Bellarmine, in Bellarmine Extracts on Politics and Government from the Supreme Pontiff from Third General Controversy, George Albert Moore, Trans., Ed. (Chevy Chase, Md: The Country Dollar Press, undated).
[4] Ibid., p. 37.
RSS Feed
