Thursday, October 16, 2008

Pius VI on the Death of Louis XVI

A few months after Louis XVI was executed, the pope denounced the regicide in his allocution of July 17, 1793, Pourquoi Notre Voix:
The most Christian King, Louis XVI, was condemned to death by an impious 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 accord ance 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.
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3 comments:

Sylvia said...

. . .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 . . .

What are your thoughts on the upcoming election?

elena maria vidal said...

I must say it is fascinating (and scary) to watch the rising and falling of the poll numbers. How quickly some people change their opinion after a single speech or debate. Such swift changes of opinion seem to have a great deal to do with surface things, and little to do with the deeper issues that are at stake.

Anonymous said...

Ah, democracy. The People led by a few elite who make them *think* they are being led by themselves--and that their "opinions" are their own. The great part of the game is that they actually get The People to go to war for this fantasy, supporting it with missionary enthusiasm.

Sheeple will always be sheeple.