1

Preface

Since the beginning of this century the human family has seen startling
changes in many fields. In the department of the physical sciences, the achievements
have been awe-inspiring, and the aspirations of the scientists still seem to be
unlimited. In the political arena, too, there has been a great awakening: two world
wars have changed the pattern of world alignments, lost to Europe her predominant
role in world affairs and provoked a ferment among the smaller nations.
During the first World War propaganda was focused on the freedom of small
nations; the end of the peace negotiations saw many emerge independent states. That
gave a fresh stimulus to the ideal of self-determination; the fight of national groups
against empires was on. In the welter of speeches, essays, manifestos, books and
pamphlets which have formed part of this movement during the intervening fifty
years, we have had a wide range of political, social, ethical, and ethnological terms.
While these terms are well-nigh legion, their use is far from precise: race, nation,
people, and state, for example, are freely interchanged.
Father Bonaventure Hinwood OFM, noting this confusion of terminology and
the confusion of thought it necessarily implies, has taken upon himself the difficult
task of analysing the situation in order to give us a clear picture of one corner of this
tangled field. Better still, he has done this as a theologian in terms of a full Christian
view of the world.
This work is a thesis of a degree; in other words, it is primarily an essay in
methodology. In it the author reviews the use of the word race, starting with a brief
sketch of what the physical sciences have to say about it. Then he takes up the
pronouncements of the various individuals and organs of the Catholic Church, also
referring occasionally to non-catholic writers who have illustrated some point
particularly well.

These directives and opinions, which express the mind of a wide range of
popes, prelates, priests, and lay people in different circumstances and in many
countries over a period of years, are clearly set forth, discussed in the light of the
 2

basic truths of Christianity, and evaluated with praiseworthy insight and discretion.
The conclusions which Father Hinwood has reached in the course of this excellent
synthesis are sound and balanced, expressing as they do the views current in the
Church rather than his own opinions. But perhaps even more valuable than this
scholarly theological examination of the doctrinal foundation for the Catholic
attitude on racial matters, is the careful documentation of every statement made. This
essay, therefore, will be most useful as a work of reference on questions of race, and
as a source book for anyone who wants to make a special study of particular racial
problems.
We hope that the pioneer work done by Father Hinwood will search as a basis
for many monographs dealing with specific situations in different countries. For a
fuller and clearer knowledge of the racial question is bound to lead in some small
way to racial understanding and interracial harmony.

17th November, 1963

JOHN E. MCBRIDE OFM
Bishop of Kokstad.
 3

Preamble

When, in everyday parlance, men ask questions about the existence and nature
of the races of mankind, and how these are related to one another, they automatically
turn to the natural scientist for enlightenment. For this reason the title of this work
will undoubtedly cause a certain raising of the eyebrows among not a few of those
who come across it for the first time. And doubly so, because, on those not so rare
occasions when theologians, and in particular, bishops, do in fact deal with the
problem of different races, it is almost always to expound some aspect of social
justice in order to counteract the rationalized excesses of the racists in unfairly
discriminating against some group or another.
By what right, then, does some one dedicated to the speculative sciences, and
above all a dogmatic theologian, presume to enter into the discussion of the
abovementioned matters? This is the question which, by way of introduction to this
study, we shall endeavor to answer.
Before we embark on this task, however, it may be useful to give some idea
about the object of our discussion, namely, races.
The origin of the word “race,” with its similar forms in other modern Western
languages, 1 is somewhat obscure. 2 Some have thought that it came from the Arabic
“ra’s” which means a head or source;3 others, from the Latin “ratio” in the sense of
an order of things, a category, or a species, which in the Middle Ages also came to
have the meaning of descent. 4 The Latin term for race used in Church documents is
“stirpe,” found more frequently in its Italian form “stirpe,” which signifies the trunk
of a tree, the lower part of the tree which is immediately joined to the roots and
whence the branches spring forth. In an adapted sense it was used even in ancient
times to signify the ancestral origin of a group of families, hence a genus or class. 5

1 “Ras” in Dutch, “Race” in French, “Rasse” in German, “Razza” in Italian, “Raça” in Portuguese, “Raza” in
Spanish, “Ras” in Swedish.
2 Murray J. and others, Oxford English dictionary (Oxford 1933) VIII, 87a.
3 Kluge F., Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Sprache (Berlin 1957) 584.
4 Robert P., Dictionnaire Alphabétique et analogique de la langue française (Paris 1962) V, 745 a.
5 Forcellini A., Lexicon totius latinitatis, rev., ed. (Patavii 1900) IV, 493 c.
 4

In the Oxford English Dictionary a race is described as “a group of persons,

animals, or plants, connected by common descent or origin,” or “one of the great
divisions of mankind having certain physical peculiarities in common.” 6 Robert
gives the more technical meaning of the word as used by natural scientists for both
animals and human beings as “the subdivision of the species, which is itself further
divided into sub-races or varieties, constituted by individuals united by common
hereditary characteristics.” 7 Rightly he remarks that its use to designate cultural
groups or nations, and political groups or states is an abuse. 8
To return now to the main purpose of this Preamble, namely, the justification
of a dogmatic theologian’s entry into the field of race, we must turn first of all, as in
any theological discussion, to the teaching organ of the Church, composed of the
pope and the bishops. More than once the supreme catholic teaching authority in
Rome has sent out an appeal to specialists in various theological and other sciences
to give their serious attention to the question of race. Thus the Sacred Congregation
of Seminaries and Universities, of which Pope Pius XI was at the time President, in
its Instruction on the errors of racism, issued on the 13th April, 1938, exhorted
catholic scholars to adequately and learnedly refute the absurd principles of the
doctrinaire racists then current. 9 A further stimulus in this direction was given
personally by the Pope when on September 8th of the same year he told the directors
and teachers of Catholic Action that the relation between race and race was a matter
of the greatest importance to both religion and philosophy.10 Again, fifteen years
later, Pope Pius XII, pleading for a more profound investigation into those problems
which were too complex to be answered simply by “yes” and “no,” placed at the
head of the list the questions of race and blood with their biological, psychic, and
social consequences.11 Before it is possible to say what the relations between races
should be on the level of morality and law, it is first necessary to find out what races
are and what is the relation between them on the level of actual existence.
It is in dutiful response to these appeals of the popes that we wish to offer this
study, in union with and building upon the work already done by those theologians

6 Murray J., Oxford English dictionary VIII, 87 a.

7 Robert P., Dictionnaire alphabétique V, 745 b: “la subdivision de l'espèce, elle-même divisée en sous-
races ou variétés, constituée par des individus réunissant des caractères communs héréditaires.”
8 Robert P., Dictionnaire alphabétique V, 746b.
9 S.C. of Seminaries and Universities, Instruction on the errors of racism, in Actes 18 (1938-39) 87.
10 Pius XI, Address to the teachers of Catholic Action, 6.9.38, in OR 78, 208 (8.9.38) 1.
11 Pius XII, Address to the Union of Catholic Jurists, 6.12.53, in AAS 45 (1953) 796.
 5

who in the period immediately before the last world war consolidated and carried a
stage further the doctrine which they received through the declarations of the popes
and bishops and the initial investigations of theologians during the preceding ten
years. In the post-war period, unfortunately, the far more numerous official
interventions of the Church in this matter do not seem to have aroused the same
theological interest. At the present time, then, there is a backlog of about twenty
years of source material from the teaching authority of the Church alone awaiting
theological reflection, not the mention the progress made in the meantime in
scriptural exegesis and the new theological perspectives, which can likewise be
brought to bear on our subject matter. It is in order to fill this gap that we have here
sought to gather together the fragments, and having weighed them carefully, to
systematize them, and make them available to the public.
The confusion of terminology which exists in the discussion of matters racial,
both in the speculative and practical order,12 is another compelling reason for
undertaking this work. This confusion is in no small measure due to various
presuppositions, frequently and for the most part unconsciously present in people’s
thought processes, of which the following most readily come to mind: the physical
differences between people are so superficial and unconnected with their
personalities that they can be simply ignored; unity impies uniformity; the
identification of culture with the European way of life; group differences between
men, for instance race or culture, can be wiped out without any moral stigma; and
consequently the policy of enforced acculturation as something amoral, that is,
outside the domain of ethics; equality among men is measured by the possession and
enjoyment of material goods, rather than by the relationship of mutual integral
acceptance of each other; charity eliminates natural differences between men in the
Church.
These presuppositions cannot be justified, as it is sometimes done in fact by
appealing to a vague “charity” or “respect for the individual” considered in a
vacuum. Because in the last analysis, as the metaphysicians teach us, the good and
the true are interchangeable, it behoves us to seek to know what is the truth about
men, considered both individually and collectively, so that we may “do good to all
men especially those who are of the household of the faith.”13 Real and authentic

12Haselden K., Racial problem in Christian perspective (London 1960) 14. See also page 11.23 of this
work.
13 Gal. 6, 10.
 6

love, whether natural or supernatural, must in fact always operate according to the
true and objective order of things as created by God. As Fromm so aptly expresses
it: “Love is union under the condition of preserving one’s integrity.”14 Hence,15

The fissures introduced into, or at least partially caused in the Christian

community by social, political, national, and racial diversities, cannot be
surmounted by the attempt to return to the purely religious plane.

Consequently it is of primary importance to ascertain as exactly as possibly

what is the real order of things created by God, in order precisely that Christian
charity may be more truly and fruitfully practiced.
In this connection it is worth while recalling Thils’ useful observation that
whatever in creation can be considered under the aspect of sin merits also to be
viewed in the light of faith, for the reason that men are not only bound to know the
norms to which they should conform their actions in this world, but also what this
world is in the eyes of God.16 There is no doubt at all that the relationships between
men of diverse races can be considered from the moral viewpoint, as this has been
the constant and universal practice of the popes and bishops for the past thirty years
and more. It follows, therefore, that the attempt to see these relationships. And hence
races themselves which form the poles of these relationships, in the context of the
totality of Catholic truth is highly desirable.
All the things of this earth, and all terrestrial values, whether individual or
collective, whether material or spiritual, do in fact belong to the universe created by
God, upon Whom they depend completely and absolutely for the fact that they are,
that they continue to be, and that they evolve. For there is nothing which is, and
which is good, but that which has God for its author and perfector. Yet in the
Christian view of the universe, while the world and all that it contains is essentially
good, as being made by God, nevertheless it is not an end in itself, nor has it any
final purpose when considered as a closed and isolated system. Placed in the total
context of reality, creation is for the sake of salvation; it is the seed from which
14 Fromm E., Art of loving (New York 1956) 20.
15 Haering B. CSSR, Macht und Ohnmacht der Religion, Religionssoziologie als Anruf (Salzburg 1956)
126: “Die Überwindung der Spaltungen, die durch die gesellschaftlichen, politischen, nationalen und
rassischen Gegensätze in die Christenheit hineingetragen oder durch sie wenigstens mitverschuldet sind,
kann nicht durch den Rückzug auf das Nur-Religiöse geschehen.”
16 Thils G., Theologie des realties terrestres (Tournai 1946-49) I, 51.
 7

mankind grows up into a sharing of the life of God.17 Hence the whole of creation
reaches out towards the “new heaven and a new earth”18 from a deep internap
necessity,19 placed in it by Him who said “Behold I make all things new,”20 into
Whom also the entire universe will be drawn up as into its Head in the total
reintegration of all things in the ultimate and perfect order.21
From this it follows that theology, whose secondary material object22 is all
creatures, especially those possessing reason, and their activities, in so far as they
come from God and tend towards Him,23 does not only deal with terrestrial reality
in general, nor with individual creatures solely in abstract, that is to say in their
constitutive principles, as for instance body and soul in man.24 No, on the contrary,
it treats of the whole, real, living man of flesh and blood, under whatever aspect you
like, the racial not excluded. For, to borrow the words of St. Thomas: “All that a man
is, or is capable of, or has, must be directed towards God.”25
All this, therefore, legitimately belongs to the material object of theology.
This is doubly true of a matter which has been explicitly dealt with in the
documents of the Church, even if only for a few decades, as is the case with the
questions we propose to discuss.
There is a final difficulty which deserves attention before we proceed. It may
be formulated thus: granted all that has been said, the fact still remains that revelation
and salvation are only concerned with man in so far as he is related to the
supernatural order. As the physical structure of the world, including race in the
human sphere, is not directly implicated in this, but only the spiritual dimension of

17 Haes P. de, Schepping als heilsmysterie, onderzoek der bronnen (Tielt 1962) 53-56. 250; Hulsbosch A.
OESA, Schepping Gods, schepping, zonde en verlossing in het evolutionistisch wereldbeeld (Roermond
1963) 13. 44.
18 II Peter 3, 13. See also Apoc. 21, 1.
19 Rom. 8, 19-23.
20 Apoc. 21, 5. See also II Cor. 5, 17.
21 Benoit P. OP, Horizon paulinien de l'Épître aux Ephésiens, in Revue biblique 46 (1937) 354.
22 The material object of any science signifies in scholastic terminology the thing or things studied. This is

divided in theology between God, with Whom both in Himself and in His creatures and salvific operations
the theologian is principally concerned, and Who therefore is called the primary object; and creatures in
as much as they constitute the term of these operations, which consequently comprise the secondary
object.
23 Tanquerey A., Synopsis theologiae dogmaticae fundamentalis, 26 ed. (Paris 1949) 3.
24 For an explanation of what is meant by constitutive principles confer Steenberghen F. van, Ontologie, 3

ed. (Louvain 1961) 97-99.

25 St. Thomas, S. theol. I-II q.2 a.4 and 3 (656b).
 8

man, or his soul, they are not the concern of the theologian, but rather of the
philosopher.
The parry to this thrust will be made fully in chapter three, where the catholic
doctrine of the unity of the human composite is discussed.26 Suffice to say here
briefly that a man is one being, one substance, one person, at once and inseparably
spiritual and corporeal while on this earth. The spiritual or soul, and the corporeal or
body in man are not two separate and distinct entities coexisting and cooperating in
a certain harmony. No, they are two correlative principles of being27 of the one single
undivided reality which is the human person as he exists here and now. So it is the
whole man, who in virtue of his material principle is part and product of the world
and subject to that determinedness which rules the whole of physical reality, who is
at one and the same time undetermined or free in virtue of his spiritual principle. 28
He is that anomaly - an incarnate liberty.29 But it is precisely this man, this incarnate
subjectivity, to whom God reveals Himself, and who as such responds to the
revelation of God.30 If earthly bodiliness is confined to the natural order, then the
human person as an animated body31 is irrevocably confined to the natural order,32 a
conclusion which no Christian could possibly accept, because all men are called by
God to a supernatural destiny.33 If the human person is supernaturalized, and made
a partaker in the divine life, then in his full dimensions, spiritual and physical, he
falls within the scope of the science of the supernatural.
It is further worth remarking in the light of the aforesaid objection that the
church has no hesitation in intervening in the sphere of the positive investigation of
the physical world when She feels that the hypotheses proposed by the natural
scientists endanger traditional Christian doctrine. These doctrinal decisions may be
disciplinary like that of Pope Pius XII with regard to polygenesis,34 or terminitive as

26 Page 38f. (N/A)

27 For the philosophical meaning of correlative principles of being consult Steenberghen F. van, Ontologie
97-99
28 Schoonenberg P. SJ, Gods wordende wereld, vijf theologische essays (Tielt 1962) 46.
29 Ricoeur P., Philosophie de la volonté (Paris 1949) I, 455.
30 John XXIII, Mater et magistra, in AAS 53 (1961) 402; Hulsbosch A. OESA, Schepping Gods 59.
31 Cnl. of Ephesis, Second letter of St. Cyril to Nestorius (DR 111 a; DS 250); Cnl. of Constantinople II,

Anathemas on the three chapters canon 4 (DR 216; DS 567); Lateran Cnl. 649, Secretarial acts V canon
2 (DR 255; DS 502).
32 Hulsbosch A. OESA, Schepping Gods 22-23.
33 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 453; Pacem in terris, in AAS 55 (1963) 289.
34 Pius XII, Humani generis, in AAS 42 (1950) 576. For references to various interpretations of this

document, see page 120 of this work (N/A).

 9

we consider the Instruction on the errors of racism35 to be. Likewise in the realm of
natural law, which has always been considered the preserve of the philosopher, the
Church has many times asserted her competence to make authoritative
interpretations, not least of all in the person of Pope John XXIII.36 This is evidenced
by the long line of social encyclicals, and the fact that the “spiritual mission” of the
church embraces even an international public authority.37 We consider this to be
another indication that the difference between theology on the one hand, is not
constituted by each having as its province a distinct field of reality with a clear-cut
boundary separating them; but consists rather in each viewing the whole man, at
least in so far as their respective methods will permit, yet in a different perspective,
that of theology in the light of revelation, that of the natural sciences and philosophy
prescinding from the data of revelation.
In the light of the above there does not seem to be any need further to justify
the attempt of a dogmatic theologian to bring the data and methods of his science 38
to bear upon the problem of race.
That there can be no conflict between the valid conclusions of theology and
the authentic findings of the natural sciences, has already been clearly brought out
by Pope Leo XIII.39 Hence it is our sincere desire that the light that we may be able
to shed upon the question of race, using the principles of faith, and placing the matter
in the context of catholic theology, may suggest to positive scientists useful lines of
investigation in their own fields, since that which we are all endeavouring to
elucidate is the same, even though our several viewpoints may differ. It is precisely
this similarity and this difference which the title of this study is intended to express.
Not indeed without prolonged reflection upon the material which we had been
able to gather in one place or another over a number of years, did we eventually
decide upon the division of this work, and the method of organizing the fragment
collected. So many and diverse problems presented themselves, so many possible
aspects of the question, that there seemed to be no limit to the paths which could be
pursued. We decided eventually to endeavour to answer one question, and one
35 Page 83
36 John XXIII, Pacem in Terris 301.
37 Paul VI, Address to U Thant, 11.7.63, in AAS 55 (1963) 653.
38 For a brief outline of theological method consult Henry A. OP, Theologie, science de la foi, in Initiation

theologique, par un groupe de teologiens, 4 ed. (Paris 1957) I, 264-84; Schillebeeckx H. OP, ‘Theologie’,
in THeologisch woordenboek (Roermond 1958) III, 4495-4513; Schmaus M., Katholische dogmatik 6 ed.
(Muenchen 1960) I, 23-30. 44-54.
39 Leo XIII, Providentissimus Deus (DR 1947; DS 3287).
 10

question only, which can be expressed in this way: when a theologian, as a

theologian, comes across the word “race,” in the sense of different races, what does
it mean for him in the light of the documents of the teaching Church and the writings
of theologians? There has been no attempt on our part to create a theology of race,
but much more humbly to try to find out what has been the concept of race current
in the Church, since the problem came to the fore a little over thirty years ago.
Reference will be made from time to time to documents going as far back as the
sixteenth century. As the categories used and the questions asked at other periods,
however, were not those of our own age, the literature of those times is useful only
on a few selected points. From what has just been said, it will be clear that this is not
a work of original genius, but simply an attempt to collect, coordinate, synthesize,
and make available to others, scattered and often inaccessible material dealing with
the problem of race.
The first matter which is seemed desirable to touch on was the origin and
universality of the racial problem, so that both the importance and difficulty of the
discussion thereof might be brought home, lest it should be considered by some that
an awful lot of fuss and bother was being made about a relatively insignificant
problem affecting one or two isolated spots on the globe. What the positive scientists
have written on matters racial presented a vast mass of material which had to the
best of our ability to be examined next, even if only selectively. There seemed to be
an obligation to do this, in order to find out if there was in reality such unanimity
among positive scientists about the facts concerning race, that it would be an act of
rashness on the part of a devotee of the speculative sciences not to give them his
whole-hearted assent. As is obvious, these two discussions are by the way, preparing
the ground for the specifically theological part of the investigation.
Since races, by any definition, are groups of men, it seemed necessary to
commence the theological treatment of the question with an exposition of Christian
anthropology, or at least those aspects of it which directly bear upon our problem.
The aspects selected for special mention are first of all the two principal external, or
social unities: mankind as such, and the community of redeemed men made
partakers of the divine life in the Mystical Body of Christ. Alongside these there is
the internal oneness of the human person: the composite of soul and body, or man’s
psycho-somatic totality. Both the internal and external unities basic to the human
person must be kept constantly in mind in any logical and scientific theological
consideration of race, since they form the structure within which the theologian most
 11

needs work. Moreover one or other of them is always misconceived by both the
racists and the extreme antiracists. On the one hand, between the human groups
constituted by heredity that the unity of mankind is seriously jeopardized; the
antiracists, on the other hand, very often have such an abstract and over-simplified
vision of human solidarity that collective differences can scarcely be fitted into the
picture at all. Likewise, the opponents of racism often enough divide the psychic
from the physical in man to the point of endangering the unity of the human person;
while the racists by contrast so exaggerate the deterministic influence of hereditary
racial factors that both the existence and transcendence of man’s spiritual activity
seem to get lost in the process. It seemed preferable not to omit, as an adjunct to
these considerations, a brief treatment of the doctrines of the theology of history
which would help to throw light on our subject, since races, like all other human
collectives, are not fixed and static entities, but rather evolving realities in a constant
state of flux. Mankind is on the march, even if not always forward, nor consistently
in the same direction.
Having thus laid the foundations, the exposition of the Church’s doctrine
bearing on races as such opens with an examination of the racist propositions
condemned by the teaching authority of the Church. Naturally while indicated what
excesses are to be avoided, this negative doctrine also gives an inkling of the positive
catholic position. For this reason it is vitally important to ascertain exactly what has
been condemned, so that it can be refuted, and what has not fallen under censure,
lest our view be excessively narrowed by rejecting too much.
Turning now to the positive side of the study, the first question we are
logically bound to ask is: do distinct races exist at all? Since our sources provide an
affirmative response, the next stage is to determine the nature of the racial factor and
its influence in the structure of the whole person. Since we hold with the scholastic
aphorism that in so far as a thing is it is good40 there was no escaping the question
of the value of race both for mankind as a whole and for the individual; and
consequently, what rights arise from these values. Because our sources consistently
postulate some sort of a relationship between race and culture, the next stage of our
discussion of races is an investigation of his relationship and its consequences.
As we have indicated earlier in this Preamble, in the Christian vision of the
world the created order is essentially orientated towards the supernatural order of
40St. Thomas, S. theol. I q.5 a.3 (25b-26a). For the philosophical explanation of this consult Smith G. SJ,
Philosophy of being, metaphysics I (New York 1961) 350-359.
 12

reality. It behoves us, therefore, next to examine how race, and culture with which
we have said it appears to be somehow connected, are related to the supernatural
order as it presents itself to us in the Mystical Body, which constitutes the purpose
and consummation of the whole earthly course of mankind in the actual, concrete
process of history.
Holding the diversity and complexity of the material in balance, it has seemed
possible to come to some unified idea of what is understood by race in contemporary
catholic thought. In this way some small contribution may have been made to the
rapidly developing theology of terrestrial realities.41
The whole work is consequently divided as follows. In chapter one a brief
sketch is given of the origin and universality of the racial question; not omitting in
chapter two the views thereon put forward by the positive scientists. Chapter three
is devoted to an examination of the theological doctrines particularly necessary to
our study, namely, the unity of mankind, the unity of the Mystical Body, the unity
of the human composite, and certain aspects of the theology of history. The ground
for the specific treatment of our problem having thus been prepared, this latter begins
with chapter four, which is entirely given over to an elucidation of the Instruction
on the errors of racism. This leads on to the positive aspect: chapter five deals with
race as such; its relation to culture occupies chapter six; and in chapter seven race
and culture are both considered from the viewpoint of the Mystical Body. The
various strands of thought are knit together in a general conclusion.
With regard to the bibliography, only those works which were personally
consulted, and which pertain to the argument of chapters four to seven, have been
mentioned. To the exclusion of more general books and those of lesser importance,
which are, nevertheless cited with full bibliographical details in the footnotes. This
limitation was forced upon us by the impossibility of appending to a work of this
size a complete bibliography, since, owing to the controversial nature of the
problem, this would by far have exceeded the length of the treatise itself.
Finally it must be added that we do not consider that the subject matter of
which we have treated has been either fully or exhaustively investigated. No doubt
there are judgements which more profound investigation will modify, and aspects
which may have to be added so as to have a more complete picture of the whole
question. Our conclusions, therefore, should be considered as stepping stones toward

41 A basic work in this field is Thils G., Theologie des realites terrestres (Tournai 1946-49) in two volumes.
 13

further and more adequate studies. Should these indeed be stimulated by the
shortcomings of this tentative treatment, we shall consider our five years’ labour of
searching through papal pronouncements, tracking down bishops’ pastorals, and
ferreting out obscure publications more than amply rewarded.
There remains now only that most pleasant task of expressing our heartfelt
thanks to all those who have aided the growth and completion of this treatise. In the
first place grateful mention must be made of the professors of the faculty of theology
at the Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anthony’s, Rome, and above all of Father
Eligius Buytaert OFM whose aid and encouragement have been invaluable. Nor is
our gratitude any the less deep towards those many others all over the world, too
numerous unfortunately to mention by name, who have helped in various ways,
particularly in sending us material otherwise not available, or in reading over the
manuscript at various stages of its development and suggesting necessary
emendations.
Among these we desire to single out especially the librarians and staffs of the
following libraries, without whose generous advice and patient assistance during
prolonged visits this work could not have been completed: the Biblioteca Apostolica
Vaticana; the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emmanuele, British Council, Deutsche
Bibliothek, Istituto Storico Olandese, Pontificia Universitas a Sancto Thoma,
Pontificium Athenaeum Antonianum, Pontificium Collegium Americanum
Septentrionale, Pontificium Collegium Belgicum, Pontificium Collegium
Germanico-Hungaricum, Pontificium Collegium Hollandicum, Pontificium
Collegium Lusitanum, Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, Pontificium Institutum
Orientale, Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, and United States Information
Service, Rome; the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Brussel; the Koninklijke Bibliotheek,
the Hague; the British Museum, London; the College of the Jesuit Fathers, and
Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven; the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
Our thanks are also do to Sheed and Ward limited for permission to quote
Christianity and race by J. Pinsk; to the Societe du Nouveau Littré for permission
to quote from Dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française by P.
Robert; to Weidenfeld and Nicolson limited for permission to quote from Third
Reich edited by Jacques Rueff, and published under the auspices of the International
Council for UNESCO; to Houghton Mifflin Company for permission to quote from
Ruth Benedict’s Pattern of Culture; and to the Documents & Publications Service
of UNESCO for permission to quote from Race concept, result of an equity.
14
 15

Contents

Chapter I - The universality of the racial question . . . . 20

Chapter II - Race according to the positive sciences . . . 26

1. The difficulties of the natural scientist . . . 27

2. Are there really different races? . . . . 29
3. The characteristics of race. . . . . . 34
4. The classification of races. . . . . . 37

Chapter III - Theological doctrines especially connected with 44

the problem . . . . . . .

1. Various types of human unities. . . . . 44

2. The Unity of mankind. . . . . . . 46
3. The unity of the human composite . . . . 51
4. The hereditary constitution and the whole man . . 56
5. Human history . . . . . . . 60

Chapter IV - The officially condemned fallacies of racism . . 65

1. The Instruction on the errors of racism . . . 66

2. General observations on the instruction . . . 69
3. The seventh proposition . . . . . 75
4. The first proposition . . . . . . 78
5. The third proposition . . . . . . 81
6. The eighth proposition . . . . . . 84
7. The sixth proposition . . . . . . 89
8. The second proposition . . . . . . 93
9. The fourth proposition . . . . . . 102
10. The fifth proposition . . . . . . 106

Chapter V - Race . . . . . . . . . 109

 16

1. The existence of races . . . . . . 110

2. The characteristics of race . . . . . 112
3. The differences and equality of races . . . 114
4. The rights of races . . . . . . 118
5. The origin of races . . . . . . 123

Chapter VI - Race and culture . . . . . . . 130

1. The notion of culture . . . . . . 132

2. The relation between race and culture . . . 134
3. The rights of cultures . . . . . . 137

Chapter VII - Race and Culture in the Mystical Body . . . 141

1. The Holy Spirit and the Church. . . . . 141

2. The Church’s independence of particular cultures . 145
3. The Church’s dependence on culture. . . . 149
4. Unity in diversity . . . . . . . 151

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . 155
 17

Abbreviations

AAS - Acta Apostolicae Sedis.

abp. - Archbishop
Actes - Actes de S.S. Pie XI.
ASS - Acta Sanctae Sedis.
bp. - Bishop.
BWB - Bijbels woordenboek, 2 ed. rev. A. van den Born and others.
card. - Cardinal.
CC - Civilta cattolica.
CChr - Corpus christianorum.
CFTC - Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens.
CMec - Collectanea Mechliniensia.
cnl. - Council.
CSEL - Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum.
DC - Documentation catholique.
DR - Denzinger H., Enchiridion symbolorum, 31 ed. rev. C. Rahner SJ.
DRM - Discorsi e radiomessaggi di Sua Santità Pio XII.
DS - Denzinger H., Enchiridion symbolorum, 32 ed. rev. A.
Schoenmetzer SJ.
DT - Divus Thomas.
ed. - Edition, editor, edited by.
ETL - Ephemerides theologicae Lovanienses.
FWA - French West Africa.
GCS - Griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte.
hier. - Hierarchy of.
KADT - Kirchlicher Amtsanzeiger fuer die Diocese Trier.
M - Mansi J., Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio.
ms. - Manuscript.
n. d. - No date of publication given.
NKS - Nederlandse katholiek stemmen.
 18

n. p. - No place of publication given.

NRT - Nouvelle revue théologique.
n. s. - New series.
OR - Osservatore romano.
PG - Migne J., Patrologiae cursus completus, Greek series.
PL - Migne J., Patrologiae cursus completus, Latin series.
prop. - Proposition.
rev. - Revised, revised by.
S. C. - Sacred Congregation.
SCr. - Southern cross.
SZuk - Schoenere Zukunft.
tr. - Translation, translator, translated by.
UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization.
UNO - United Nations Organization.
UNRRA - United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.
USA - United States of America.
 19

Chapter 1

The Universality of the Racial Question

The question of different races, with the accompanying problems in both the
practical and speculative fields, are confined neither to our own times, nor
exclusively to a couple of isolated corners of the globe. Nor yet can they be said to
have arisen only in protestant countries, with particular reference to those in which
calvinism in some form or another is the predominant religion of the people, such as
South Africa and some of the southern states of the American Federation, although
it is these two regions that have been most in the news in recent times.42 Rather for
approximately five centuries, and in every continent of the globe, similar difficulties
have arisen at sundry times and in diverse manners. Yet in the past decade the
problem seems to have become more explicit and more acute, to the point that the
official periodical of UNESCO recently went so far as to declare that “racism is the
social cancer of our times”.43
The current concept of race appears to have had its remote origin in the last
few decades of the fifteenth century, when the various countries of Europe began to
establish colonies in the newly discovered lands beyond the sea, with the
concomitant revival of slavery, which had been largely unknown in the West since
the fall of the Roman Empire. Nevertheless only very gradually were both the
concept of race and the principles of racism explicitly formulated. Indeed in their
modern form they do not appear to antedate the works of Kant44 and Montesquieu45
in the eighteenth century. During the past century each of these aspects of the racial
question underwent its own development, until the present day ideas were evolved.
From as early as the year 1533 bishops and missionaries in South America
were sending a constant stream of letters to both the Pope and the Spanish Emperor
complaining about those who considered the Indians as brute animals destined for
42 There is no need here to go into detail about the difficulties which exist in these two areas, as they
have so frequently been the topic of newspaper reports and periodical articles in the post-war period.
43 Racisme, cancer social de notre temps, in Courrier 13,10 (Oct. 1960) 4: “Racisme est le cancer social

de notre temps.”
44 Kant E., Bestimmung des Begriffs einer Menschenrasse, in Werke (Berlin 1922) IV, 225-40.
45 Waardenburg P., Rassenvraagstuk in onzen tijd, een biologische toelichting (Arnhem 1937) 7.
 20

the service of the European settlers.46 It was in response to these complaints that
Pope Paul III in 1537 published three documents rejecting this fallacy and declaring
all children of Adam to have social right and to be capable of receiving the Christian
religion. Hence all those who deprived the Indian of freedom of property were
condemned.47
In spite of these clear statements, however, the opinion about the natural
inferiority of the Indians pertinaciously continued to hold sway. As a result, in 1551
and 1552 the most learned among the scholars of Spain were called by the Emperor
to a public disputation on the matter at Valladolid. The main groups in the
controversy having at great length propounded their views on the equality or
inferiority of the Indians, and no agreement having been reached, the matter was
eventually left undecided, each party persisting in its own opinion.48
So both in theory and in practice the notion of the natural inferiority of the
natives of South America continues its unfettered course. Thus, for example, the
jurist Solorzano in his book De Indianorum iure went so far as to deny human nature
to the Indians;49 and right up to the end of the Spanish rule not a few priests refused
to administer the eucharist to them on the same grounds.50
Whatever the reason, it seems to be a fact that the Indians were to all intents
and purposes excluded from both the religious and presley states throughout this
period;51 and the interracial marriages were but rarely solemnized, even though the
offspring of miscegenation were not quite so rare.52 Indeed even in our own
century this opinion has not been without its supporters. Suffice to recall what Pope
Pius X was forced to write in 1912 in his encyclical Lacrimabili statu Indorum53

46 Hanke L., Pope Paul III and the American Indians, in Harvard theological review 30 (1937) 68-70; Janto
S. OFM, Three friars, a queen and a cardinal in New Spain, in Franciscan studies 18 (1958) 191, 383.
47 Paul III Sublimus Deus, in MacNutt F., Bartholomew de las Casas his life, his apostolate, and his

writings (London 1909) 426-30; Veritas ipsa, in Wadding L. OFM, Annales minorum, 3. ed. (ad Claras
Aquas 1933) XVI, 482-83; Brief to Card. Juan de Tavera, 29.5.1537, in S.C. de Propaganda Fide,
Appendix ad bullarium pontificium Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide (Romae n.d.) I, 26-27.
48 Hanke L., Aristotle and the American Indians, a study in race prejudice in the modern world (London

1959) 38-61. 74-75.

49 Solorzano Pereira J., de, Disputatio de Indiarum iure, sive de iustitia Indiarum occidentalium

inquisitione, acquisitione ac retentione (Matriti 1629) I.

50 Hanke L., Pope Paul III and the American Indians 96; Haring C., Spanish empire in America (New York

1947) 56.
51 Hanke L., Aristotle and the American Indians 105; Pope Paul III and the American Indians 95; Janto S.

OFM, Three friars, a queen and a cardinal in New Spain 212.

52 Höffner J., Christentum und Menschenwürde, das Anliegen der Spanischen Kolonialethik im goldenen

Zeitalter (Trier 1947) 134.

53 St. Pius X, Lacrimabili statu Indorum, in AAS 4 (1912) 521-25.
 21

against the protagonists, the philosopher Alejandro O. Deustua (2849-1945) who

largely inspired the Peruvian educational policy that “the Indian is a machine and
cannot be anything else.”54 Corroboration can further be found in even more recent
statements.55
The case of the Portuguese is scarcely better. Besides the papal documents
dealing with South America in general, there are two which specifically castigate
the “adherents of the orthodox faith” in Brazil.56 Latterly too, accusations of racial
discrimination have come not only from outside;57 the government of Brazil itself
has acknowledged the increasingly wide-spread and bitter forms of discrimination,
and has even taken legal steps to restrain them.58 Likewise in Africa, whatever about
the law, similar practical difficulties have not been unknown.59
When one turns to the northern Europeans, whether catholic or protestant, to
list their erstwhile colonial possessions simultaneously to enumerate the places
where doubts and problems arising from racial differences have preoccupied the
minds of all. Since professor Hanke has already more than amply documented this
assertion,60there is no need to give further examples here. The underlying cause of
this, however, has perhaps not been better put than by a Congolese, who recently
said: “You have given us hospitals and schools; but yourselves, never.”61 This same
thought has been very aptly put by Bavnick in the following Pauline form: “Even if
I give a hundred million dollars to build homes and schools and sports fields for
people of another race, and have not charity, it profits me nothing.”62
Similarly in other places, which one does not normally associate with this
question, racially determined social attitudes are not absent. Thus the migration of

54 Hanke L., Aristotle and American Indians 105.

55 Hanke. L., Aristotle and the American Indians 115; Hindenburg P., Rassenverhoudingen in de praktijk
in deze tijd, in Locher G. and others Beschouwingen over het rassenvraagstuk (Amsterdam 1960) 43;
Metraux A., Panorama des contrastes en Amérique Latine, in Courrier 13, 10 (Oct. 1960) 21-22.
56 Benedict XIV, Brief to the bps. Of Brazil, 20.12.1741, in Bullarium (Prati 1845) I, 123b-25b; Leo XIII,

Letter to the bps. of Brazil, 5.5.1888, in ASS 20 (1887-88) 545-59.

57 Simpson G. and Yinger J., Racial and cultural minorities, an analysis of prejudice and discrimination, 2

ed. (New York 1958) 7.

58 Wagley C., Race and class in rural Brazil (Paris 1952) 8.
59 Dossier sur l’Angola, in Tam-tam 11, 3-4 (April-May 1961) 15-126; Hanke L., Aristotle and the

American Indians 108-09.

60 Hanke L., Aristotle and the American Indians 99-103.
61 Friedenburg D., Congo pattern, in Commonweal 60 (1954) 480.
62 Bavnick J., Rassenvraagstuk, probleem van wereldformaat (Kampen 1956) 51: “Al gaf ik honderd

millioenen dollars om voor de mensen van het andere ras woningen te bouwen en scholen en
sportsvelden en had de liefde niet, het bat mij niets.
 22

Negroes into the northern states of the American Federation, and their accompanying
social and economic progress, has at times stirred up virulent racism almost within
the shadow of the United Nations’ headquarters.63 Nor is this attitude confined to
Negroes, it extends also to Asiatic immigrants.64
Elsewhere in the world the havoc wrought upon the Indians in North America
by the white man has passed into the limbo of forgotten things. Yet the fate of the
Indians has in fact been far worse than that of the Negroes. The latter have merely
been depressed; the former, however, were for a long time subjected to a policy of
genocide:65 Up to 1887 physical genocide by a long succession of slaughters and
forced expulsions from their homelands;66 from that time onward by a type of social
genocide by which their spiritual and moral vitality was debilitated, and their
acculturation vigorously pursued under the slogan of “americanization.”67 It was not
until a change of heart overtook the United States government in 1934, that it began
slowly to turn towards the conservation of the Indian culture and the restoration of
their socio-political structure.68 Nevertheless this has not impeded the same
government from pursuing its “integration” policy in Mexico and Puerto Rico. 69
Nor does it seem irrelevant in this context to ask to what extent the prohibition

63 Cronin J. SS, Social principles and economic life (Milwaukee 1959) 325; George W., Race, heredity
and civilisation, human progress and the race problem (London 1961) 23-24; Haselden K., Racial
problem in Christian perspective 131-32. 162; Lambert R., Attitude of the Negro towards the Church, in
Archdiocese of Chicago, Catholic Church and the Negro in the archdiocese of Chicago, clergy
conference, 20-21 Sept. 1960 (Chicago 1960) 18; Richards J., Growth and spread of the Negro
population, in Archdiocese of Chicago, Catholic Church and the Negro in the archdiocese of Chicago 8.
See also Catholic herald 3893 (10.8.62) 7.
64 Simpson G. and Yinger J., Racial and cultural minorities 5.
65 The general notion of genocide is well put in the United Nations resolution on theis matter, which

together with an outline of the various proposals is given in Yearbook of the United Nations 1948-49 (New
York 1950) 958-62 The best discussion of this resolution in a Christian context is the unpublished thesis
of Cisnero V., Nocion de genocidio en la convencion de las Naciones Unidas, estudio juridico y reflexion
etica del problema (Roma 1961: Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana, Institutum Scientiarum Socialium, n.
3231, 1961).
How cultural genocide works in practice can be seen from two recent studies: Gilbert R.,
Genocide in the USSR, studies in group destruction (London 1959).
66 Baldwin L., Adult’s American history, pragmatic democracy in action (Rindge 1955) 179-81. 366;

Bassett J., Short history of the United States, 1492-1934, 3 ed. (New York 1939) 318. 322. 465-68. 683-
89.
67 Baldwin L., Adult’s American history 364. 367. 711; Bassett J., Short history of the United States 468.

690-91.
68 Bassett J., Short history of the United States 691.
69 Yinger J. and Simpson G., Integration of Americans of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and oriental descent, in

Annals of the American Academy of Social and Political Science 304 (1956) 124-43.
 23

of immigrants from Asia and the West Indies enforced by the government of
Australia and Canada constitutes a form of racial discrimination.70
Even in the older countries of Europe in recent times the so-called “colour”
question has produced some unhappy results, especially in Great Britain,71 France,72
and Russia.73 And who can forget the terrible calamity which overtook the Jews now
three generations ago on account of racist theories. Indeed it was precisely to
counteract these errors that the teacher authority of the Church was compelled to
commence its series of declarations on matters racial.
On the other hand, however, the members of the “white” race do not enjoy the
monopoly of racist misdemeanors. The All African Conference held in Accra in
1958, for example, excluded the Europeans from any part at all in the Africa of the
future.74 None the less firmly, even though with less vehemence, a Negro Citizens’
Committee in the United States has come out against interracial marriages.75 Finally,
prescinding altogether from the Europeans, there is no lack of tension spots with a
racist look about them involving the peoples of Asia and Africa.76
Hence it is not without reason that Bishop Chappoulie has suggested that
interracial strife has in recent times taken that place in human affairs throughout the
whole world which was previously occupied by conflicts between nations and
classes.77

70 Mason P., Essay on racial tension (London 1954) 19; Uncertain commonwealth, in Tablet 215 (1961)
271.
71 Bertam G., West Indian immigration (London 1954) 23; Gray R., Race relations and the Church

inBritain, a difficult and urgent problem, in Dublin review 478 (winter 1958) 324-26; Potter R., OP,
Genesis, Church, and colour, in Blackfriars 39 (1958) 504.
72 Cronin J. SS, Social principles and economics life 325.
73 Bennigsen A. and Carrée dEncausse M., Russess et Musulmans en Asie centrale, in Civilisations 5

(1955) 3; Shlomo F., Panarabisme, nouvelle menace raciste, un Comité d’action de défense
démocratique, Racisme et panarabisme, une conspiration contre les libertés humaines (Paris 1960) 11;
Soustelle J., Racisme est un bloc qu’il faut combattre sans en dissocier les éléments coalisés, in Comité
d’action de défense démocratique, Racism et panarabisme 5.
74 African racialism, in Tablet 212 (1958) 531-32.
75 Link H., Rediscovery of morals, with special reference to race and class conflict (New York 1947) 127.
76 East Africa: exodus 1963, in Newsweek 62, 21 (18.11.63) 27; Idenburg P., Rassenverhoudingen in the

praktijk in deze tiid 40; Mason P., Christianity and race, the Burroughs memorial lectures 1956 (London
1956) 17; Essay on racial tension 21; Shlomo F., Panarabisme 11; Soustelle J., Racisme est un bloc qu’il
faut combattre 4.
77 Chappoulie Bp. H., Address, 2.10.55 (Angers 1955) 2; Address, 8.4.56. In DC 53 (1956) 568.
24
 25

Chapter 2

Race according to the Positive Sciences

Before we come to what is actually the real purpose of this work, namely to
take a look at race in the light of theology, it seems to be necessary to review briefly
what the various positive sciences have to say about the matter. For it is by no means
uncommon to find people citing “fact,” “proved” as they will tell you by positive
investigations, in favour of their own opinions drawn basically from other sources.
These “facts” they then wish to impose on the speculative sciences as being
incontrovertible and compelling universal assent. Yet these same “facts” are not only
at times questionable, but may even lead to contradictions, precisely because
different natural scientists have arrived at disparate conclusions as a result of their
investigations.
What is urgently required at the present time in the positive scientific
discussion of races is a juxtaposing and synthesis of the information collected by the
various branches of science. Because this has not adequately been done, the several
pictures presented are incomplete and one-sided. Unfortunately the limits of this
essay have prevented us from making even a gesture in that direction, though we
should have liked to do so. Wherefore, after suggesting some of the difficulties
which lie in the way of the positive scientist in his study of races, we shall merely
sketch in broad outline the principle data and the diverse hypotheses proposed in
relation to the races of mankind by the natural scientists.

The Difficulties of the Natural Scientist

 26

The difficulties which beset the natural scientist in his racial investigations are
both extrinsic and intrinsic. These latter arise from the very nature of human thought
itself, influenced as it is by the socio-political environment in which it matures, and
are personal to the investigator; the former come from the nature of the material to
be examined.
The first series of difficulties, as we have said, comes from the researcher
himself, who, as the investigating subject, does not perceive things simply as if they
were images imprinted on a clean sheet. His whole process of knowing is
predetermined not only by the cognitive structure common to all men, but by the
unique character of his own system of thought. He does not observe reality from
some pinnacle of perfect indifference; but from the very beginning his observations,
and the syntheses into which he mounds them are permeated by his mental
formation, shaped both by his social environment, and by his scientific methods,
coupled with his philosophico-theological presuppositions. Since subject and object
mutually penetrate and and transform each other in the act of knowing, a man must
necessarily find his own image to some extent stamped on everything he observes.78
This is especially true when the object is man himself, and more particularly so when
he is being considered under some aspect fraught with social consequences, as in the
case of the racial matters under discussion.79
Hence it is that convinced of racism like Teilhard de Chardin, Feber, Kephart,
and Marcozzi do not hesitate severely to castigate those in general who by denying
the existence of races fall into the opposite “illusionism”.80 Others again direct their
criticism in particular at the UNO and UNESCO publications on race, because in
these scientific evidence is abused for the justification of socio-political theories.

78 Acerbo G., Foundamenti della dottrina fascisa della razza (Roma 1940) 18; Corte N., Origines de
l’homme (Paris 1957) 79; Teilhard de Chardin P. SJ, Phenomene humain (Paris 1955) 26.
79 Boas F., Race, language and culture (New York 1940) 250; Corrigan Bp. J., Preface, in Catholic

University of America, Scientific aspects of the race problem (Washington 1941) v; Manquat M., Races
humaines et racisme, in Revue des questions scientifiques 115 (1939) 49; Waardenburg P.,
Rassenvraagstuk in onzen tijd 194.
80 Feber L., Opstand der rassen (‘s Gravenhage 1958) 75; Kephart C., Races of mankind, their origin and

migration (London 1961) viii; Marcozzi V. SJ, Unites nello spazio e nel tempo (Milano 1953) 116; Teilhard
de Chardin P. SJ, Unités humaines naturalles, essai d’une biologie et d’une morale des races, in Etudes
240 (1939) 27.
 27

This type of action, although it is in favour of the opposite party, does not ultimately
differ in kind from the justly condemned attempts of the racists.81
The second lot of complications pertain to the object to be investigated. Man,
under the aspect of his human heredity, cannot be studied without considerable
difficulty, for the following reasons.
First and foremost it is impossible to have systematic, experimental, human
breeding, regulated according to the will of the researcher, which for a thoroughly
scientific understanding of heredity is absolutely necessary. In the second place,
compared with lower organisms, human generations are too long to be readily
observable: this factor is more telling at present than it may be in the future, because
the systematic investigation of human heredity only began a few decades back, and
hence there is a lack of accurate records regarding past generations. But, at any time,
it will probably be as difficult as it is now to get completely satisfactory information
that can be controlled about past generations: psychological data because it
frequently depends on impressions and hearsay; physiological details, because the
organic part, which are of paramount importance, rapidly and completely disappear.
Thirdly human families are numerically too small for the hereditary proportions to
be determined with certainty. The fourth difficulty arises from the relatively large
number of chromosomes in man, with the resulting increased multiplicity of possible
combinations.
To these must be added the complication introduced into the already difficult
situation by the profound influence which environment has on the hereditary
characteristics of man, with numerous variations, disorders, and abnormalities which
may follow as a result; so that at times it seems almost impossible to discern exactly
what comes from heredity and what is the product of environment. In addition
psychic characteristics, which are the most susceptible to these external influences,
are vague and not sufficiently well defined, so that the measurement thereof is not
wholly satisfactory. The final difficulty arises from the lack of certainty about the
relation between psychic characteristics and bodily structures and organs.82

81 Bertram G., West Indian immigration 6; UNESCO, Race, concept, result of an enquiry (Paris 1952) 26f.
82 Boas F., Race, language and culture 250; Berger C. SJ, Human psychological inheritance, in Catholic
University of America, Scientific aspects of the race problem 79; Bertram G., West Indian immigration 19;
Jennings H., Laws of heredity and our present knowledge of human genetics on the material side, in
Catholic University of America, Scientific aspects of the race problem 4-5. 57-58; Morant G., Significance
of racial differences (Paris 1952) 46.
 28

It is worth noting, before we conclude, that for each several positive science
things are defined according to the exigencies of that particular science, so that the
descriptions proposed by specialists in various fields are rather methodic
determinations than definitions of the things themselves.83
Whence it seems reasonable to accept Morant’s summing up of the situation,
which is, that though the study of the differences between the human groups
constituted by heredity is of the greatest importance in the practical ordering of
human life, nevertheless it is most intricate, and as yet in its infancy.84

Are there really Different Races?

Very few indeed of the authors consulted, speaking from the positive
scientific point of view, either deny the existence of races distinct from each other,
or else call their existence so much in question that they can be disregarded for all
practical purposes. Those who do these appear to be motivated either by
preoccupations with social justice;85 or by the scientific presupposition that
interfertility between all human groups forbids us to distinguish them racially,
whence they conclude that “race” is nothing more than a classificatory device of
biologists by which they are enabled the more easily to pigeon-hole their
information.86
By far the greater number of specialists, on the contrary, do not hesitate to
openly and explicitly affirm the existence of diverse races.87 Indeed some even go
83 Renoirte F., Éléments de critique des sciences et de cosmologie, 2 ed. (Louvain 1947) 125-26. 165.
170-71.
84 Morant G., Significance of racial differences 7.
85 Guardini R., Chrétien devant le racisme, 4 ed. (Paris 1939) 60; La Farge J. SJ, Interracial justice, a

study of catholic doctrine of race relations (New York 1937) 11; McCarthy E. CPPS, What about the
Negro race? In Interracial review 12 (1939) 22.
86 Rocker R., Nationalism and culture, tr. R. Chase (London 1937) 301.
87 Barge J., Ras morphologisch beschouwd, in Rijks Koninklijke Charitatieve Vereeniging voor Geestelijke

Volksgezondheid and Rijks Koninklijke Universiteit te Nijmegen, Ras morphologisch, physiologisch en

psychologisch beschouwd 20; Boyd W. and Asimov I., Races and people (London 1958) 1589; Brunhes
J. and Delamarre J., Races (Paris 1930) 16-17; Constantin Colonel, Problème biologique et
physiologique des races, in Groupe Lyonnais d’Etudes Médicales, Philosophiques et Biologiques,
Heredite et races (Juvisy n.d.) 227; Cruysberghs K., Problemen van Kerk en volk (Averbode 1938) 25;
Dobzhansky T., ‘Races, nature and origin of’, in Encyclopedia americana (New York 1959) 23. 107-11;
Feber L., Opstand der rassen 75; First de Battaglia O., Race et racisme, in Nieuwe gids 54 (1939) 660;
Hagedoorn A., Erfelijkheid en rasvorming in Steinmetz S. and others, Rassen der menschheid, wording,
 29

so far as to compare racial with sexual differences.88 Nevertheless simultaneously

with this affirmation, they insist upon the unity of the human “species”89 or
“genus,”90 of which races are subdivisions.
All those who hold this majority opinion agree that the racial phenomenon is
so rooted in the biological constitution, that none but physical elements properly
belong to the definition of race.91
They are divided, however, in their fundamental concept of race. Some
consider this statically, others dynamically, very often depending on the needs of
their particular departments of study.
One group prefers the static concept, or “stereotype,” in terms of which races
are classified both according to their bodily characteristics as they appear externally,
among which are included such things as colour of the form of the head; and
according to organic functions such as metabolism and their proclivity to certain
diseases.92 The more recent authors of this school insist that the greatest possible
number of the above mentioned characteristics should be considered and

strijden, toekomst (Amsterdam 1938) 166. 179; Kephart C. Races of mankind viii; Kerken G. van der,
Métis aux points de vue de l’anthropologie, de l’ethnologie et de la sociologie, in Congrès International
pour l’Etude des Problèmes Résultant du Mélange de Races, Bruxelles 1935, Compte rendu (Bruxelles
1935) 4; Kluckholm C., Mirror for man (New York 1948) 103; Luyks T. Inleiding tot de rassen-en de
Germanenkunde (Leuven 1938) 9; Mason P., Essay on racial tension 9; Morant G., Significance of racial
differences 46; Teilhard de Chardin P. SJ, Unités humaines naturelles 13; Waardenburg P., Biologische
zijde van het rassenvraagstuk, in Locher C., Beschouwingen over het rassenvraagstuk 32; Walter P.,
Race and culture relations (New York 1952) 5. 7. 10.
88 Marcozzi V. SJ, Uomo nello spazio e nel tempo 116; Schulte J., Ras psychologisch beschouwd, in

Rijks Koninklijke Charitatieve Vereeniging voor Nijmegen, Ras morphologisch en psychologisch

beschouwd 65-67.
89 Dunn L., Race and biology (Paris 1951) 5; Galli A. OFM, Biologia delle razze umane (Milano 1942) xii;

Boyd W., Genetics and the races of man, in Garn S., Readings on race (Springfield 1960) 24; Hagedoorn
A., Erfelijkheid en rasvorming 165; Herskovits M., Man and his works, the science of cultural anthropology
(New York 1949) 142; Marcozzi V. SJ, Uomo nello spazio e nel tempo 124; Vallois H., Razze umane
(Milan 1957) 5.
90 Lenz F., in UNESCO, Race concept 37; Teilhard Chardin P. SJ, Phenomene humain 194.
91 Barge J., Anthropologie, in Steinmetz S. Rassen der menschheid 3-4; Ras morphologisch beschouwd

9-10. 19; Campenhout E. van, Problème des races au point de vue anthropologique, in NRT 66 (1939)
193; Comas J., Racial myths (Paris 1951) 12; Dunn L., Race and biology 6; Fascismo e i problemi della
razza, a un gruppo di studiosi fascisti docenti nelle università italiane e sotta l’egida del Ministro della
Cultura Popolare, in CC 89, 3. (1938) 275; Forst de Battaglia O., Race et racisme 660; Hrdlicka A., Races
of man, in Catholic University of America, Scientific aspects of the race problem 161-61; Kephart C.,
Races of mankind 63; Marcozzi V. SJ, Uomo nello spazio e nel tempo 124; Schroeder C., Rasse und
Religion (Muenchen 1937) 6; Teilhard de Chardin P. SJ, Unités humaines naturelles 12; UNESCO, Race
concept 15. 102; Vallois H., Razze umane 6; Walter P., Race and culture relations 6.
92 Barge J., Ras morphologisch beschouwd 18; Galli A. OFM, Biologia delle razze umane xii; Lapparent

A. de, Fragilité scientifique du racisme, in Bressolles A. and others Racisme et christianisme (Paris 1939)
65; Mason P., Essay on racial tension 9.
 30

coordinated, so that the groups distinguished thereby may be the more accurately
delineated.93 This approach is rather more artificial and abstract than its counterpart,
and to this extent less useful for the study of human heredity. This is mainly so
because all the potentialities of the hereditary constitution shared by a group do not
develop to a visible and measurable extent in the concrete of each individual of the
group.94
For the above reason many scientists in recent times prefer to base their
investigations on a dynamic concept of race, that is, on the “genotype,” where the
hereditary constitution is considered in the actual line of generation. In this case the
thing itself, and not merely its visible effects or appearances, is studies. A race,
therefore, comes to be considered as a group of individuals possessing many genes
of the same type, or, in other words, having a similar genetic constitution. By this
common possession it is distinguished from other groups.95 Here again, from the
point of view of the examination of this genetic constitution, the matter is
complicated by the fact that potentialities transmitted by heredity may lie hidden for
one or more generations, and only reappear again in subsequent offspring.96
Setting out from the genotype, however, certain things can be accounted for
satisfactorily, which otherwise are rather puzzling.
Genes, and the characteristics for which they are responsible, are more or less
plastic. Hence they are capable of developing in different ways under the influence
of diverse environments.97 In this way a solution is offered to the seeming
contradiction between the relative stability of races and their characteristics, 98 and
the slow but continuous mutation of their genetic complexes,99 on the one hand; and

93 Barge J., Anthropologie 6; Lapparent A. de, Fragilité scientifique du racisme 65; Vallois H., Razze
umane 6.
94 Benedict R., Race: science and politics (New York 1943) 56; Hagedoorn A., Erfelijkheid en rasvorming

174.
95 Boyd W., Genetics and the race of man 19; Galli A. OFM, Biologia delle razze umane 36; Garn S.,

Readings on race 7; Hagedoorn A., Erfelijkheid en rasvorming 174-75. 181; Jennings H., Laws of heredity
70; Lasker G., Human evolution in contemporary communities, in Garn S., Readings on race 152-54;
Waardenburg P., Biologische zijde van het rassenvraagstuk 26.
96 Hrdlicka A., Races of mankind 162.
97 Dunn L., Race and biology 6; Rocker R., Nationalism and culture 301; Waardenburg P., Biologische

zijde van het rassenvraagstuk 34; Rassenvraagstuk in onzen tijd 35.

98 Hagedoorn A., Erfelijkheid en rasvorming 175; Hrdlicka A., Races of mankind 163; Waardenburg P.,

Biologische zijde van het rassenvraagstuk 34; Rassenvraagstuk in onzen tijd 37.
99 Dobhansky T., ‘Races” 110b; Galli A. OFM, Biologia delle razze umane 7; Hagedoorn A., Erfelijkheid

en rasvorming 203; Hrdlicka A., Races of mankind 162-63.

 31

on the other, that between the constancy of the physical structure, and the variability
of reactions and behavior.100
Although every race, which as we have already seen is the subdivision of a
species,101 is capable of evolving in its unique way to the point of becoming itself a
separate species, it does not follow that any or all do in fact evolve to this extent.
Mankind, for instance, although its racial diversification commenced quite early in
its history, has never reached this point of disgregation.102 This is one of the reasons
why the races at present existing have remained interfertile. Yet it does not follow
from this latter fact that races of men are less distinct from each other than many
good races of plants or animals.103
Hence, while on the one hand one must condemn the racists’ attempt to erect
race into a concrete reality as if it were a physical person, since men are not just
moments in a race, but rather carry within themselves the race or genotype;104 on the
other hand, as Teilhard de Chardin insists, there is a need for a collective mode of
thought in biology, because the group constituted by biological heredity is just as
objective as the individuals of which it is composed.105
Granted then that these races exist, the question arises: where do they come
from?
In opposition to those who hold for the scattered origin of man and his
development from the beginning in separate groups,106 many positive scientists
prefer the monophyletic hypothesis, according to which all men are held to come
from one original stock.107 There does not, however, appear to be any possibility that
positive science could ever produce evidence that there had been only one single and
unique pair from whom all other human beings are descended. Monogenesis, in its

100 Kafka G., Was sind Rassen? Eine Kritik an dem Grundbegriffen der modernen Erblichkeitslehre
(Muenchen 1949) 22.
101 Page x. 13 (N/A)
102 Dobzhansky T., ‘Races’ Illa. See also Bone E. SJ, Polygénisme et polyphylétisme, in Archives de

philosophie 23 (1960) 136; Fischer E., Racial differences of mankind, in Bauer E. and others, Human
heredity, tr. E. and C. Paul (London 1931) 172; Kephart C., Races of mankind 29. 57.
103 Hagedoorn A., Erfelijkheid en rasvorming 117. 185.
104 Uomo secondo la vera scienza antropologica, in CC 90, 4 (1939) 103.
105 Teilhard de Chardin P. SJ, Phenomene humain 275. See also Hrdlicka A., Races of mankind 162.
106 Bone E. SJ, Polygénisme et polyphylétisme 107-23; Corte N., Origines de l’homme 116.
107 Boelaars H. CSSR, Rassisme en rassenkunde, in NKS 30 (1939) 106; Corte N., Origines de l’homme

74. 116; Kephart C. Races of mankind 1; Lopes P., Poligenismo e antropologia teologica, in Revista
eclesiástica brasileira 21 (1961) 30; Nachtsheim H., Biologie und Totalitarismus, in Veritas, iustitia,
libertas, Festschrift zur 200 Jahrfeier der Columbia University (Berlin 1954) 299; Walter P., Race and
culture relations 10.
 32

strict theological sense, therefore, seems to introduce into the discussion a factor
which is not within the grasp of the natural scientist as such.108
The present age of mankind is estimated by different authorities at between
four hundred and seventy thousand, and two million years.109 And, as has already
been noted, some scientists hold that the process of separation into distinct races
began very early on in history. It would appear then that the races at present existing
are the product of a long process of specialization.110
All those authors who endeavor to account for the divergence and peculiar
evolution of races agree that this was in some way due to their developing in isolation
from each other. Some attribute these variations primarily to a process of genetic
transformations.111 Others prefer the hypothesis of adaption to the physical
environment.112 This latter explanation, however, is assailed by those who hold that
the racially determining elements are not subject to serious influence from the
external physical surroundings.113 In the last resort, however, a large number of
authors, even though they may tend towards one or other of the hypotheses outlined
above, do not consider that these constitute an adequate explanation. Consequently
they hold that at present there is no certain knowledge which adequately explains
the origin of different races.114

108 Bone E. SJ, Polygénisme et Polyphylétisme 137; Corte N., Origines de l’homme 118; Overhage P.,
Problem der Hominisation, in Overhage P. and Rahner K. SJ, Problem der Hominisation, ueber den
biologischen Ursprung des Menschen (Freiburg im Breisgau 1961) 185.
109 Corte N., Origines de l’homme 62. 75; Feiner J., Ursprung, Urstand und Urgeschichte des Menschen,

in Fragen der Theologie heute, 3 ed. (Einsiedeln 1960) 230; Kephart C., Races of mankind 19. 37; Lopes
P., Poligenismo e antropologia teológica 25.
110 Benedict R., Race 31.
111 Barge J., Anthropologie 121; Boelaars H. CSSR, Rassisme en rassenkunde 107f; Garn S., Readings

on race 7; Montandon G., Etat actuel de l’anthropologie raciale, in Scientia 65 (1939) 39.
112 Hrdlicka A., Races of mankind 165. 167; Kephart C., Races of mankind 54-55; Krout M., Race and

culture, a study in mobility, segregation, and selection, in American journal of sociology 37 (1931) 184;
Lakhovsky G., Civilisation et la folie raciste (Paris 1939) 14; Waardenburg P., Biologische zijde van het
rassenvraagstuk 34.
113 Kolenberg J., Ras als biologisch begrip, in Racisme, universitaire bijdrage tot het rassenvraagstuk

(Leuven 1939) 60; Schmidt W. SVD, Rasse und Volk, eine Untersuchung zer Bestimmung ihrer Grenzen
und zur Erfassung ihrer Beziehungen (Muenchen 1927) 30; Waardenburg P., Rassenvraagstuk in onzen
tijd 37; Wilber C., Physiological regulations and the origin of human types, in Human biology 29 (1957)
329-36.
114 Bavinck J., Rassenvraagstuk 11; Bertram G., West Indian immigration 17; Bibby C., Race, prejudice

and education (London 1959) 19; Corte N., Origines de l’homme 77-79; Galli A. OFM, Biologia delle
razze umane 55; Hagedoorn A., Erfelijkheid en rasvorming 207; Kafka G., Was sind Rassen? 179;
Kephart C., Races of mankind 47; Marcozzi V. SJ, Uomo nello spazio e nel tempo 413-28; Overhage P.,
Problem der Anthropogene, biologische Hypothesen ueber den Ursprung des Menschen, in Haas A. SJ,
and others, Stammesgeschichtliche Werden der Organismen und des Menschen (Basel 1959) I, 313;
Simpson G. and Yinger J., Racial and cultural minorities 53.
 33

The Characteristics of Races

From what has been said, it is clear that those authors who hold for the
existence of distinct races, likewise maintain that their diversity is founded in
differing hereditary physical constitutions. But this immediately raises the question
as to whether or not these hereditary physical constitutions bring with them
differences on the psychic level. The positive scientists give three divergent replies:
some simply deny any correlation; others say that they do not know one way or
another; and the third group assert the existence of some positive connections
between the physical and the psychic.
Those who hold the first mentioned view base their conclusion on three main
arguments. Firstly it is impossible to establish a correlation between the physical
complex and the operations of the individual organs, among which latter are
included psychic and mental operations. In addition they seriously censure those
who, they say, unjustifiably apply conclusions from individual from individual
heredity to racial heredity. Whence they conclude that psychic characteristics, as
well as culture, are entirely determined by the influence of environment.115
The supporters of the second position object to the above conclusion on the
grounds that unwarrantedly apodictic conclusions are drawn from uncertain
evidence by unduly forcing the scientific data, possibly in order to prop up some
political theory.116 They defend their own non-committal attitude on the basis that
the physical and psychic complexes and operations are so intertwined that as yet no
method has been devised by which they can be distinguished with certainty and
measured, and perhaps none ever will be. Thus, since the group psychic diversities
can be accounted for either by the hypothesis of racially determined properties, or
on the assumption of the influence of environment, or by a combination of the two,

115 Kastein G., Rassenvraagstuk (Amsterdam 1938) 66; Klineberg O., Mental testing of racial and national
groups, in Catholic University of America, Scientific aspects of the race problem 284; Race et psychologie
(Paris 1951) 26. 40-42; UNESCO, Race concept.
116 Coon C., in UNESCO, Race concept 28; Genna G., in UNESCO, Race concept 28.
 34

no one can be compelled to give unqualified assent to any single one of these
possibilities in preference to the others.117
Of the third group, some hold it as certain,118 others as most likely,119 that
there is a racial determination both on the physical and psychic levels. From the
negative point of view they argue that while it is perfectly true that only the
biological elements, and not any psychic factor, properly belong to the definition of
race, nevertheless from this it cannot be concluded, as some do, that the latter do not
accompany the physical complex.120 The more positive reasons adduced can be
summarized under three heads.
Some in the first place are convinced that the diverse genetic complexes,
which account for the differing bodily characteristics, equally produce congenital
psychic inclinations and modulations. Whence they conclude that as races differ in
a not inconsiderable number of their genes, so they will be subject also to variation
on the psychic level.121 To these may be added others who, without going into the
ultimate causes so deeply, yet assert the dependence of psychic operations upon the
respective physical organs. Since these latter are racially diversified, so also the

117 Barge J., Anthropologie 4. 15; Bibby C., Race, prejudice and education 59; Boas F., Race, language
and culture 247. 250; Boyd W. and Asimov I., Races and people 163; Campenhout E. van, Problème des
races au point de vue anthropologique 193; Leonet Doctor, Hérédité et psychologie, in Groupe Lyonnais
d’Etudes Médicales, Philosophiques et Biologiques, Hérédité et races 94; Morant. G., Significance of
racial differences 46; Simpson G. and Yinger J., Racial and cultural minorities 64; Steinmetz S.,
Sociologische rasproblemen, in Steinmetz S., Rassen der menschheid 308; Uomo secondo la vera
scienza antropologica 106; Walter P., Race and culture relations 12.
118 Boelaars H. CSSR, Rassisme en rassenkunde 102-03; Fascismo e i problemi della razza 275; Fischer

E., Racial differences in mankind 181; Haas A. SJ, ‘Rasse’, in Staatslexikon, 6 ed. (Freiburg 1961) VI,
593; Luykx T., Inleiding tot de rassen en de Germanenkunde 8; Mazzei V., Razza e nazione (Roma 1942)
33; Schulte J., Ras psychologisch beschouwd 82. 84; Steinmetz S., Sociologische rasproblemen 308;
Teilhard de Chardin P. SJ, Unités humaines naturelles 13-14; Vallois H., Razze umane 6; Vansteenkiste
C. OP, Rassenvraagstuk (Brugge 1945) 55; Volpe R., Problema della razza e problemi dello spirito
(Salerno n.d.) 11.
119 Barge J., Ras morphologische beschouwd 20; Boyd W. and Asimov I., Races and people 163; Folliet

J., Racisme devant la raison et devant la foi, in Poirier J. and others, Probleme racial (Lyon 1960) 34;
Lowie R., Intellectual and cultural achievements of human races, in Catholic University of America,
Scientific aspects of the race problem 226; Marcozzi V. SJ, Uomo nello spazio e nel tempo 117; Mason
P., Essay on racial tension 73; Morant G., Significance of racial differences 46-47; Vernon P., Race and
intelligence, in Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland and Institute of Race Relations,
Man, race, Darwin (London 1960) 63; Waardenburg P., Rassenvraagstuk in onzen tijd 86.
120 Barge J., Ras morphologische beschouwd 9-10. 19; Bibby C., Race, education and prejudice 12f;

Fischer R., in UNESCO, Race concept 56; Marcozzi V. SJ, Uomo nello spazio e nel tempo 116-17. 124;
Muller H., in UNESCO, Race concept 53.
121 Boyd W. and Asimov I., Races and people 163; Gates R., Biology of mental health and disease (New

York 1952) II, 277; Lenz F., Inheritance of intellectual gifts, in Bauer E., Human heredity 624; Vernon P.,
Race and intelligence 63; Waardenburg P., Biologische zijde van het rassenvraagstuk 28.
 35

psychic operations dependent upon them.122 The third argument is provided, finally,
by those who advocate and defend the fundamental human psycho-somatic unity.
Whence, rejective the dissolution of man into the two isolated planes of the physical
and the psychic, they opt for a parallel racial determination on both levels;123 yet not
as though the psychic characteristics were inherited immediately, but rather as
coming through the directly inherited physical determinations.124 It is worth noting
by the way that the natural scientist, even when holding for this psycho-somatic
unity, cannot as such conclude to the strict ontic unity of the entire human person on
all levels of its being, including the spiritual,125 which is traditional in Christian
thought.
All the members of this third group, whichever of the three arguments they
prefer, are agreed that it is false to emphasize either heredity or environment
exclusively. They prefer to consider the human person as a whole to be determined
in himself and in his operations by both simultaneously, yet in such a way that now
one, now the other, will be in the ascendant.
An apt conclusion to this discussion is provided by the aphorism of
Waardenburg, who, bearing in mind the common nature and fundamental similarity
among human beings, wrote: “it is not a matter of what a man actualizes, but rather
how he actualizes it.”126

The Classification of Races

Arising from the above divergence of opinion, and aggravated by further

disagreement as to exactly what criteria to work on, we find that specialists, using
different standards, have calculated the number of human races at anywhere between

122 Berger C. SJ, Psychological inheritance 82-83. 86-92.

123 Barge J., Anthropologie 4; Ras morphologische beschouwd 19; Marcozzi V. SJ< Uomo nella spazio e
nel tempo 116; Schulte J., Ras psychologische beschouwd 62; Teilhard de Chardin P., SJ, Phenomene
humain 60; Waardenburg P., Rassenvraagstuk in onzen tijd. 86.
124 Nora G. dall, Condizionatori biologici della personalità, biologia e educazione (Torino 1956) 155.
125 Pius XII, Address to the first International Symposium on Medical Genetics, 7.9.53, in AAS 45 (1953)

603.
126 Waardenburg P., Rassenvraagstuk in onzen tijd 93: “Het gaat niet om wat de mensch verwerkt, maar

hoe hij het verwerkt.”

See also Manson P., Essay on racial tension 73.
 36

two and two hundred.127 This had led some to despair of unanimity ever being
reached on this question.128 Yet, according to Walter, even this lack of agreement
does not as such debilitate the basic concept of race, for despite all the difficulties of
classification the obstinate fact of racial differences persists.129
Notwithstanding this wide divergence of opinion, however, by far the greater
part of the authors consulted, reserving the use of the word “race” exclusively to the
very large groups of humanity,130 hold that there are three races,131 the European,
namely or Caucasoid, living mainly in the West; the Negroid, spreading towards the
South; and the Mongoloid, who occupy the East. In common parlance these are
called the white, black, and yellow races. To these some add other “primitive”
groups, as they call them.132

127 Campenhout E. van, Problème des races au point de vue anthropologique 193; Dunn L., Race and
biology 33; Garn S. and Coon C., On the number of races of mankind, in Garn S., Readings on race 9;
Kluckholm C., Mirror for man 103; Rocker R., Nationalism and culture 299.
128 Mason P., Essay on racial tension 7.
129 Walter P., Race and culture relations 10. See also Dodzhansky T., in UNESCO, Race concept 81.
130 Dunn L., Race and biology 33; Mason P., Essay on racial tension 7; Teilhard de Chardin P. SJ, Unités

humaines naturalles 12; UNESCO, Race concept 11-12.

131 Acerbo G., Fondamenti della dottrina fascista della razza 20; Ashley Montagu M., Man’s most

dangerous myth, the fallacy of race, 2 ed. (New York 1945) 31; Barge J., Anthropologie 18; Ras
morphologische beschouwd 14; Bavinck J., Rassenvraagstuk 10; Benedict R., Race 26. 31. 34; Benedict
R. and Weltfish G., Races of mankind, bound with Benedict R., Race 170; Bibby C., Race, prejudice and
education 11; Boas F., Race, language and culture 3. 157; Boyd W. and Asimov I., Races and people
158; Bruhnes J. and Delamarre J., Races 19; Dunn L., Race and biology 12. 33; Eickstedt E.,
Rassenkunde und Rassengeschichte der Menschheit, 2 ed. (Stuttgart 1937) quoted in Marcozzi V., Uomo
nello spazio e nel tempo 127; Fischer E., Racial differences of mankind 172; Galli A. OFM, Biologia delle
razze umane 81; Haas A. SJ, ‘Rasse’ 592; Hrdlicka A., Races of man 117; Kephart C., Races of mankind
54. 57. 71; Kerken G. van der, Metis aux points de vue de l’anthropologie 4-5; Lapparent A. de, Fragilité
scientifique du racisme 71; Lopes P., Poligenismo e antropologia teologica 26; Marcozzi V. SJ, Uomo
nello spazio e nel tempo 128; Mayet L., Races humaines préhistoriques et actuelles, in Groupe Lyonnais
d’Etudes Médicales, Philosophiques et Biologiques, Hérédité et races 176; Montandon G., Etat actuel de
l’ethnologie raciale 36; Nachtsheim H., Biologie und Totalitarismus 299; Race, law and religion, in
O’Toole G., Race, nation, person, social aspects of the race problem (New York 1944) 8; Rocker R.,
Nationalism and culture 299; Simpson G. and Yinger J., Racial and cultural minorities 50; Teilhard de
Chardin P. SJ, Groupe zoologique humain, structure et directions évolutives (Paris 1956) 117;
Phénomène humain 223; Unités humaines naturelles 18; Tsamerian I. and Ronin S., Equality of rights
between races and nationalities in the USSA (Paris 1962) 9; UNESCO, Race concept 12. 82. 99-100;
Vallois H., Razze umane 184; Vansteenkiste C OP, Rassenvraagstuk, in Kultuurleven 10 (1939) 39-40;
Verdum M. SJ, Problème racial, essai d’analyse et d'interprétation nouvelles des variations raciales de
l'espèce humaine (Colombes 1948) 82; Waardenburg P., Biologische zijde van het rassenvraagstuk 32;
Rassenvraagstuk in onzen tijd 79-86; Walter P., Race and culture relations 7-8.
132 Acerbo G., Fondamenti della dottrina fascista della razza 20; Benedict R. and Weltfish G., Races of

mankind 170; Boyd W. and Asimov I., Races and people 158; Dunn L., Races and biology 33; Galli A.
OFM, Biologia delle razze umane 81f; Hrdlicka A., Races of man 177; Kephard C., Races of mankind 75-
76. 79; Kerken G. van der, Metis aux points de vue de l’anthropologie, 4-5; Marcozzi V. SJ, Uomo nello
spazio e nel tempo 128; Montandon G., Etat actuel de l’ethnologie raciale 36; Teilhard de Chardin P. SJ,
 37

The variants which occur within these major groups are sometimes also called
“races,” 133 but not without severe criticism from a number of experts, who prefer,
for the sake of clarity, to use “subraces,” “types,” or “variations” for these smaller
and more specialized groups.134
If one then asks whether or not these races are “pure,” a large number of
authors reply negatively,135 having in mind the exaggerated assertions of the racists.
An absolutely pure race is only possible on two conditions: firstly, that its origin
should be unique, as in the polyphyletic hypothesis, according to which mankind
began in several completely separated groups in different parts of the globe, having
no direct ancestral relation to each other; and, secondly, the complete absence of
subsequent interbreeding. Since neither of these circumstances, especially the
second, can be adequately substantiated in connection with any existing human race,
natural scientists are quite justifiably opposed to the notion of a race which is pure
in this sense of the word.
Nevertheless, as others point out, the matter cannot be dispatched quite so
easily. Even those who reject the idea of pure races in the above sense sometimes
speak of peoples of mixed racial origins. By this they seem to acknowledge the
existence of at least relatively pure hereditary groups. So it is that not a few accept
the use of the term “pure race” in this relative sense,136 which Darlington has clearly
explained as follows:137

In an outbreeding organism like man there are not pure races of the same
character as in self-fertilized or parthenogenetic organism. Nevertheless,
in certain racial situations, as in Hawaii, it would be foolish to overlook

Unités humaines naturelles 18; Vallois H., Razze umane 184; Vansteenkiste C. OP, Rassenvraagstuk, in
Kultuurleven 10 (1939) 39-40; Verdum M. SJ, Probleme racial 82.
133 Fascismo e i problemi della razza 275; Vallois H., Razze umane 184.
134 Boas F., Race, language and culture 40-41. 45. 149. 157; Galli A. OFM, Biologia delle razze umane

27; Hagedoorn A., Erfelijkheid en rasvorming 179. 206; Kephart C., Races of mankind 92; Marcozzi V.
SJ, Uomo nello spazio e nel tempo 124; Nachtsheim H., Biologie und Totalitarismus 299; Waardenburg
P., Rassenvraagstuk in onzen tijd 26.
135 Campenhout E. van, Problème des races au point de vue anthropologique 203; Forst de Battaglia O.,

Race et racisme 662; Waardenburg P., Biologische zijde van het rassenvraagstuk 34.
136 Hagedoorn A., Erfelijkheid en rasvorming 175. 184; Kephart C., Race of mankind viii. 65. 74; Marcozzi

V. SJ, Uomo nello spazio e nel tempo 255; Mason P., Essay on racial tension 8; Nachtsheim H., Biologie
und Totalitarismus 307.
137 Darlington C., in UNESCO, Race concept 62.
 38

the fact that the Japanese, the Hawaiians, and even the whites, are so-called
pure races as compared with the offspring from the crossing of these races.

It is quite obvious that on the fringes of the pure races, in this relative sense,
there are peoples of every type and grade of mixture. In 1960 Dejeux estimated that
about two and a half percent of the world population consisted of persons of such
mixed origins.138 That this proportion is not higher seems to be due to two factors.
In the first place peoples of different races living in the same area generally try to
prevent interracial marriages by social artifices.139 Secondly the offspring of these
mixed unions, where they do occur, tend in the course of successive generations to
revert genetically to one or other of the original races.140
To the question whether such racial mixture is favourable to the progeny
thereof or not, the experts give divergent answers.141 Some agree with the conclusion
of the UNESCO report 142 that

There is no evidence that race mixture produces disadvantageous results from

the biological point of view. The social results of race mixture, whether for
good or ill, can generally be traced to social factors.

Others again are not prepared to say “yes” or “no,” because they consider the
scientific evidence to be too uncertain for any general rule to be laid down. 143 Yet a
third tendency exists among those who agree with Darlington’s opinion, according
to which different results in various parts of the world conclusively show that the
offspring, resulting from intercourse between people of different races, in their
innate potentialities differ from both the parents of the so-called pure races. These

138 Dejeux J., Mariages interraciaux, in Poirier J., Problème racial 118.
139 Darlington C., in UNESCO, Race concept 63. Dobzhansky T., ‘Races’ 108a; Herskovits M., Man and
his works 146.
140 Fischer E., Racial differences of mankind 180-81; Galli A. OFM, Biologia delle razze umane 55. 142;

Hagedoorn A., Erfelijkheid en rasvorirming 166-67.

141 Congrès International pour l’Etude des Problèmes résultant du Mélange de Races, Compte rendu.
142 UNESCO, Race concept 15.

This opinion is held also in Benedict R., Race 51-52; Benedict R. and Weltfish G., Races of mankind 180;
Galli A. OFM, Biologia delle razze umane 141; Mason P., Essay on racial tension 75; Nachtsheim H.,
Biologie und Totalitarismus 303; Simpson G. and Yinger J., Racial and cultural minorities 56; UNESCO,
Race concept 14; Waardenburg P., Biologische zijde van het rassenvraagstuk 34.
143 Bertram G., West Indian immigration 5. 19-20; Boas F., Race, language and culture 7. 51; Galli A.

OFM, Biologia delle razze umane 143; Mason P., Epilogue, in Royal Anthropological Institute of Great
Britain and Ireland and Institute of Race Relations, Man, race, Darwin. 135.
 39

differences may in some cases represent an improvement in comparison to the parent

stocks, in other cases a degeneration. For this latter reason it can sometimes be said
that there are biological reasons which render interracial marriages undersirable.144
Against the racist assertions about the natural superiority or inferiority of the
different races, the positive scientists object that there are no adequate standards
according to which this can be evaluated and judged. The establishing of a gradation
of races presupposes that there are clear and certain criteria, which are in addition
reasonably easy to use. Since these are not available, it is impossible to establish a
hierarchy of races. It remains an open question whether such an hierarchy does or
does not in fact exist.145 The authors mention that very often the supposed racial
superiority or inferiority is a matter of cultural diversity rather than a question of
race.146
For this reason it seems useful to deal briefly with the relation between race
and culture, as it appears in the writings of the natural scientists consulted.
The term “culture” as used by anthropologists and sociologists means “the
totality of group ways of thought and action which are widely accepted and followed
by a group of people.”147 Diverse cultures are not merely different grades of
development in the same line of human evolution. Rather, as Boas says, “cultures
differ like so many species, perhaps genera, of animals, and their common basis is
lost forever.”148 Hence it is impossible to reduce them to one continuous series.149
Just as in the case of races, so also the experts are disinclined to discuss the question
of the superiority of inferiority of cultures, and for the same reason that there are no
norms apt for making the judgement.150

144 Darlington C., in UNESCO, Race concept 63. See also Comas J., Racial myths 15; Hagedoorn A.,
Erfelijkheid en rasvorming 211. 259; Jennings H., Laws of heredity 72; Klineberg O., Race et psychologie
(Paris 1951) 32; Lenz F., Inheritance of intellectual gifts 692.
145 Campenhout E. van, Problème des race au point de vue anthropologique 203; Folliet J., Race, la

raison, et le Christ, in NRT 66 (1939) 215; Herskovits M., Man and his works 150; Hrdlicka A., Races of
mankind 169; Mason P., Essay on racial tension 52. 55; Morant G., Significance of racial differences 46-
47.
146 Krout M., Race and culture 175.
147 Walter P., Race and culture relations 17.
148 Boas F., Race, language and culture 254.
149 Gregorius OFM Cap, Belang van het culturele antropologie en godsdienstwetenschap voor de

theologie, in Tijdschrift voor theologie 1 (1961) 329.

150 Bavnick J., Rassenvraagstuk 16; Kerken G. van der, Metis aux points de vue de l’anthropologie 8;

Lamberty M., Kritiek van het racisme (Antwerpen 1939) 29; Leiris M., Race and culture (Paris 1951) 38;
Locher G., Inleidende beschouwing over het rassenvraagstuk van het standpunt van de culturele
anthropologie, in Locher G., Beschouwingen over het rassenvraagstuk 10-11.
 40

As regards the relation existing between cultures and races, there is a wide
divergence of opinion among the authors. Some simply deny the connection. 151
Others, expressing themselves negatively, state that a connection between the two is
not yet proven.152 Yet others consider a positive link between race and culture to be
probable, but in practice of little or no importance.153 The fourth opinion maintains
that they are positively connected. Among the supporters of this latter view there are
some who, while holding for a correlation between race and culture, are not certain
if there is a causal dependence of one on the other.154 The remainder, however, do
assert a direct influence of race on culture, either because the psychic operations are
to some extent determined by the physical characteristics, particularly the genetic
complex of the group concerned, or because culture is built upon physical nature in
general, which includes among other elements the factor of race.155
So far as religion in particular is concerned, the division of opinion are
identical.156
From the outline presented in this chapter it is clear that there is sufficient
disagreement on so many points among those who have written about race in the
light of positive scientific study to preclude any conclusions being tendered at

151 Simpson G. and Yinger J., Racial and cultural minorities 65.
152 Herskovits M., Man and his works. 169. 428-29; UNESCO, Race concept 12-24.
153 “Cultural interpretations of behaviour need never deny that a physiological element is also involved.

Such a denial is based on a misunderstanding of scientific explanations. Biology does not deny
chemistry, though chemistry is inadequate to explain biological phenomena. Nor is biology obliged to
work according to the chemical formulae because it recognizes that the laws of chemistry underlie the
fact it analyzes. In every field of science it is necessary to stress the laws and sequences that most
adequately explain the situations under observation and nevertheless to insist that other elements are
present, though they can be shown not to have a crucial importance in the final result. To point out,
therefore, that the biological bases of cultural behavior in mankind are for the most part irrelevant is not to
deny that they are present. It is merely to stress the fact that the historical factors are dynamic.”
Benedict R., Patterns of culture (Boston 1934) 235. See also Benedict R., Race 89090. 98; Leiris M.,
Race and culture 31; Locher G., Inleidende beschouwing over het rassenvraagstuk van het standpunt
van de culturele anthropologie 20-21; Lowie R., Intellectual and cultural achievements of human races
192.
154 Acerbo G., Fondamenti della dottrina fascista della razzo 18; Boas F., Race, language and culture

150. 265; Reuter E., Handbook of sociology (New York 1941) 59; Teilhard de Chardin P. SJ, Groupe
zoologique humain 116; Phénomène humain 193-94; Unités humaines naturelles 15; Uomo secondo la
vera scienza antropologica 102.
155 Bibby C., Race, prejudice and education 12. 76; Boelaars H. CSSR, Rassisme en rassenkunde 105;

Lenz F., Inheritance of intellectual gifts 659. 697; Rife D., Myth of the melting pot, genetic variability, and
racial intermixture, in Eugenics quarterly 1 (1954) 252; Scherer R., ‘Kultur,’ in Staatslexikon V, 166;
Waardenburg P., Biologische zijde van het rassenvraagstuk 36; Waesberghe H. van SJ, Nederlands
rassenboek, in Studien 30 (1938) 515.
156 Campbell C., Race and religion (London 1953) vii. 2; Hauer J., Religion und Rasse, in Archiv fuer

Religionswissenschaft 34 (1937) 94-95; Schroeder C., Rasse und Religion 276. 299.
 41

present as certain beyond a reasonable doubt, and so demanding the assent of all. If
then in the theological treatment of the matter, which follows, some viewpoint is
adopted which conforms to one or other of the abovementioned opinions, this will
not be solely for reasons drawn from positive investigations, but rather because it is
more in harmony with the teaching of the Church.
 42

Chapter 3

Theological Doctrines Especially Connected with the Problem

Because the positive sciences, faced with the racial situations which have
arisen in different parts of the world at different times, have so far not given a clear
and unanimous response about the nature of races, it behoves us to see what light
theology can shed upon the whole matter. In a sincere spirit of cooperation,
therefore, the task will now be undertaken of setting forth what the bishops of the
Church and their collaborators in the sacred sciences have offered towards a
clarification of these questions.
Since, however, a house built upon sand cannot stand, it has seemed necessary
by way of preparation for our theological reflection upon the doctrine of the Church,
to lay firm foundations by giving a succinct account of the main principles upon
which the ulterior exposition will be built.

Various Types of Human Unities

When authors, of whatever persuasion that may be, take up the discussion of
the racial question, whether it be an enquiry into the nature of race, or in order to
solve difficulties arising on the level of social justice, they not infrequently invoke
the aid of some concept of the universal social unity of mankind. Hence we find
works with titles such as Science and brotherly love.157
Our own interest here is naturally this oneness of mankind seen through the
eyes of a theologian. All the catholic authors who have treated of this matter are
unanimous in insisting on two fundamental doctrines, which can hardly be better
stated than in the words of the celebrated Father La Farge:158

1. All men, since they are created by the same God, are sons of the same eternal
Father and hence enjoy the same fundamental human dignity and rights.

157 Graubard M., Science and brotherly love, in Bryson L. and others, Learning and world peace, eighth
symposium (New York 1948) 138-53.
158 La Farge J. SJ, Catholic viewpoint on race relations, 2 ed. (New York 1960) 77.
 43

2. Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose from the dead in order to redeem all men
and confer upon them the same supernatural dignity and rights as members of
His Mystical Body.

In the last few decades there has been such a vast output of literature in many
languages on the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ,159 especially since the
publication of the encyclical of that name by Pope Pius XII,160 which is likewise
available in many vernacular translations, that it seems useless to try to add
something new in a work of this scope. A certain knowledge of this doctrine will
therefore be presumed.
The unity of mankind regarded from the point of view of creation, however,
has not received the same detailed attention. It is not infrequently reduced simply to
a discussion of the question of monogenesis, as in the recent article by Alberti on the
unity of mankind according to the teaching authority of the Church.161 For this reason
the subject will have to be discussed in some detail, because this unity is given such
importance in many official documents of the hierarchy that the mere bond of
physical generation alone does not seem to adequately explain its emphatic assertion.
To these must be added another doctrine, far less frequently mentioned and
then only cursorily, that, namely, of the internal unity of the human person. This
aspect is strictly correlative to the other, because his internal integrity and his social
interrelatedness are two essential and equally important dimensions of the human
person. As this doctrine has been largely neglected in recent theological literature, it
will have to be gone into fairly minutely; and this not least of all, because some
authors, preoccupied with the social unity side of the question, in their endeavor to
secure interracial justice, play down the influence of physical elements on the
personality to the point of disintegrating the human composite, so that the integral
whole, which the human person is, all but vanishes.

The Unity of Mankind

159 A readable presentation of this doctrine will be found in Woolen C., Christ in His Mystical Body
(London 1948). For a scholarly treatment consult Malmberg F. SJ, Een Lichaam en een Geest, nieuwe
gezichtspunten in de ecclesiologie (Utrecht 1958).
160 Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi, in AAS 35 (1943) 193-248.
161 Alberti O., Unità del genere umano nell’insegnamento del Magistero della Chiesa, in Divinitas 3 (1961)

735-801.
 44

Coming now to treat of the doctrine of the unity of mankind, we can hardly
find a better scheme in theological literature than that outlined by Pope Pius XII in
his encyclical Summi pontificatus.162
All men have the same ultimate origin, God, Who created mankind according
to His image and likeness, and Who alone without the aid of any intermediary creates
each individual human soul.163 It is further the traditional teaching in the Church that
the rest of humanity also has one single proximate source in the first human pair
from whom all are descended by physical generation. This is the doctrine of
monogenesis.164
As we have already hinted above, however, these doctrines alone do not
provide a sufficient basis for establishing the deep solidarity of mankind. In the first
place, all creatures are created by God, both as regards the group characteristic of
their genus and species, as well as in their individuality, at least in the sense that the
knowledge of God is the cause of all things, and the Supreme Being is the common
ground of being of all other beings. In the same way, granted for the moment the
evolutionary hypothesis, the same solidarity, though perhaps differing in intensity,
exists by virtue of physical generation between men and other living creatures,
indeed even within the whole of material reality, as Teilhard de Chardin logically
concludes.165 Leaving this controverted question aside, it is difficult to see why,
when physical generation in the restricted field of the family does not affect a far-
reaching organic unity, physical generation as dispersed as that of humanity
considered as a whole should produce any profound solidarity.166 Monogenesis,
therefore, does not seem adequately to explain the fundamental unity of mankind.
This does not mean to say that, because physical generation taken in isolation is not
sufficient to account for the intense unity of mankind, the bond of descent can be

162 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus, in AAS 31 (1939) 426-28.

163 Sagues I. SJ, De Deo Creante et elevante III c.4 a.1 thesis 26, in Sacrae theologiae summa, patrum
Societatis Iesu facultatum theologorum in Hispania professorum, 3 ed. (Matriti 1958) 717-27.
164 Fraine J. de SJ, Bible et l’origine de l’homme (Tournai 1959) c.3 ‘Enseignements de l’Eglise’ 101-121;

Sagues I. SJ, De Deo creante et elevante III c.1 a.2 thesis 21, 658-68. Theologians are not in agreement
about the degree of doctrinal authority which this tenet enjoys. A list of their various opinions is given in
Sagues 664-65.
165 Teilhard de Chardin J. SJ< Phénomène humain.

For a brief and unified exposition of this way of looking at the created universe consult Smulders P. SJ,
Visioen van Teilhard de Chardin, poging tot theologische waardering, 3 ed. (Brugge 1963) 49-73. From a
completely different starting point a similar conclusion is reached by Huby J. SJ, Saint Paul, epître aux
Romains, 16 ed. (Paris 1940) 279-98.
166 Hulsbosch A. OESA, Schepping Gods 53. 55.
 45

despised or neglected as though it contributed nothing at all. Indeed the collective

solidarity arising from a common heredity, both as regards mankind as a whole, and
particular groups taken singularly, appears to effect an entity sufficiently concrete
enough to be the subject of rights, as we shall see later.
The Pope further puts forward the argument that mankind is one because it
shares the same dwelling place, namely the earth, whose abundance all have the
natural right to enjoy in order that they may sustain and develop life. This argument
might have been assessed in much the same way as the first, had the Pope with
profound insight not prefixed the statement that mankind is one because each is
bound to pursue the same proximate end, and contribute to the same common
mission during this earthly life.167 Here we have a unity of cooperation, arising from
a common task which has to be fulfilled, in terms of which the human community is
bound to cultivate the earth and built it into a house fit for the sons of God. 168 This
necessity for cooperation beyond any doubt induces in men, nations, races, and
states, a sense of solidarity on the psychic level, and manifests that profound ontic
unity in which this is grounded, namely, their common human nature.169 This sharing
in the same nature, therefore, is proposed by Pope Pius XII as a further reason for
humanity’s oneness.170
Man, by his very nature a person, participates in the personal being of God,
Who is three Persons in a community of charity, a divine community of perfect love.
Hence, man is likewise by his very nature social171 and oriented towards life in
community.172 As the sacred writer indicates,173 it is mankind as such that is created
in the image of God, Who is in fact a triune community of Persons. For this reason
human persons naturally tend to mutual interpretation and mutual completion in
community, interchange of ideas, and the love of friendship, which in fact are

167 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 427.

Different aspects of this solidarity were dealt with by the Pope in various addresses, of which the most
important are: Broadcast message, 24.12.44, in AAS 37 (1945) 21; Broadcast message, 23.12.50, in AAS
43 (1951) 56; Address to the ninth International Congress of Agricultural Industries, 29.5.52, in DRM 14
(1952-53) 169-70; Broadcast message, 24.12.52, in AAS 45 (1953) 39-40.
168 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 440-41; Pacem in terris 296. 033; Broadcast message, 11.9.62, in AAS

54 (1962) 682-83; Broadcast message, 14.3.1963, in AAS 55 (1963) 344-45; St. Bonaventure, Apologia
pauperum c.10 n.13 (VIII, 309a).
169 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 439; Pacem in terris 291-92.
170 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 427.
171 Pius XI, Quadragesimo anno, in AAS 23 (1931) 215.
172 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 453; Pacem in terris 292; Hulsbosch A. OESA, Schepping Gods 54-55.
173 Gen. 1, 26-27.
 46

indispensable for their development and perfection;174 and for their divinely
appointed task of building the world into a home fit for the sons of God.175
Sincer, therefore, human community is founded in that of the Trinity, it is by
no means true that man’s natural powers of loving are exhausted by his love of wife,
children, friends, and fatherland. Rather, because ultimately it is founded in the
divine love of the Trinity,176 human love is potentially and in its compulsive urge
without limit. Indeed it is not fully mature until it has become universal. 177 Short of
this universal love the personality is always immature and frustrated by the surrender
to some narrower collective egoism.
For the above reason, the basic human solidarity, which is not breached either
by distance in space or in time, is so deep that men are capable of almost unlimited
interfecundity in almost every field of human endeavor. Likewise the wounds of
discord and the ruptures of disaster and conflict never for very long hinder the
fruitful exchange of goods, endeavor, and thought, as history bears witness
repeatedly.178 For, if we may borrow an observation from Pope John XXIII, human
society ought to be regarded above all else as a spiritual reality.179 It is interesting in
this connection to recall the tradition in Christian thought, which holds that the
existing rupture in the unity of mankind is the product of sin, without which human
solidarity would reveal itself both in the consciousness of men and in the existence
of a world-wide society.180 The perfect world society is not only one of nations, but
of men as individuals also.181 Finally Pope Pius XII asserts that mankind is one in

174 Brauns M. SJ, Geheim der goddelijke persoonlijkheden, een drieëenheid dogmatiek (Brugge 1598)
346-57; Malmberg F. SJ, Een Lichaam en een Geest 172; Schmaus M., Vom Wesen des Christentums
(Westheim bei Augsburg 1947) 103-04. 159; Schoonenberg P. SJ, Geloof van on doopsel
(‘s Hertogenbosch 1955f) I, 199-200; Trinick J., Creavit Deus hominem ad imaginem Suam… masculum
et feminam, in Bijdragen 22 (1961) 34.
175 Schoonenberg P. SJ, Gods wordende wereld 64.
176 Schoonenberg P. SJ, Gods wordende wereld 64.
177 John XXIII, Broadcast message, 11.9.62, 683; Teilhard de Chardin P. SJ, Phenomene humain 295-96;

Messineo A. SJ, Internazionalismo cosmopolita e l’essere nazionale, in CC 90, 1 (1939) 16-17; Schmaus
M., Vom Wesen des Christentums 171.
178 Baily M. CSSR, Biblical man and some formulae of Christian teaching, in Irish theological quarterly 27

(1960) 191; Teilhard de Chardin P. SJ, Phénomène humain 268; Lubac H. de SJ, Catholicisme, les
aspects sociaux du dogme, 4 ed. (Paris 1947) 186; Person and society in O’Toole G., Race, nation,
person 217.
179 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 266.
180 St. Augustine, Enarrationes in psalmos XCV n.15 (Chr 39, 1352-53); St. Cyrus of Alexandria,

Commentarium in Ioannem VII in 11, 54 (PG 74,69); St. Maximus Confessor, Epistola 2, ad Ioannem
cubicularium de caritate (PG 91, 396); Quaestiones ad Thalassium introduction and q.64 (PG 90, 256,
724-25); Origen, In Ezechilem homilia 9 n.1 (GCS 33, 405-06); Feast of Christ the King, Collect.
181 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 290, 296.
 47

the unity of its supernatural end, God Himself, to Whom all should tend; and in the
unity of the means to secure that end.182
It is worth noting that in this respect we are dealing with a unity of mankind
so deep that by the sin of one man all others are born in a state of sin. 183 The
solidarity of all men, therefore, is something which must extend to the ultimate ontic
relations by which they are constituted in their being.184 This does not appear to be
achieved if we interpret man’s relation to his final end according to the following
words of Saint Thomas:185

The whole of the universe with each of its individual parts is ordered towards
God as towards its end, in so much as in them the divine goodness is reflected,
by a type of imitation, to the glory of God.
Yet rational creatures in addition have God as their end in some special way,
because they are able to come into contact with Him actively through
knowledge and love. And so it is clear that the divine goodness is the end of
all corporeal beings.

The fact that men are ordered towards union with God by knowledge and love,
does not induce among them that close metaphysical bond for which we are looking,
and which exists even prior to the voluntary action of the individuals.
If on the other hand we have recourse to Saint Paul’s doctrine of the primacy
of Christ,186 it follows that, according to the divine plan of the universe, mankind is
one: on account of its prototype, Who is the divine Man, the first in the order of

182 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 427.

183 Cnl. of Trent, Decree on original sin (DR 789-90; DS 1512-13); Hulsbosch A. OESA, Schpping Gods
53-55; Schoonenberg P. PS, Geloof van ons doopsel IV, 142-200.
184 Schoonenberg P. SJ, Geloof van ons doopsel I, 196-97.
185 St. Thomas, St. theol. I q.65 a.2 in corp. (310b):

“Totum universum cum singulis suis partibus ordinatur ad Deum sicut in finem, in quantum in eis per
quandam imitationem divina bonitas repraesentatur ad gloriam Dei. Quamvis creaturae rationales speciali
quodam modo supra hoc habeant finem Deum, quem attingere possunt operatione cognocendo et
amando. Et sic patet quod divina bonitas est finis omnium corporalium.”
186 Bello L. OFM, Littera encyclica de universali Christi primatu atque regalitate, in Acta Ordinis Fratrum

Minorum 52 (1933) 293-311; Bonnefoy J. OFM, Place du Christ dans le plan divin de la création, in
Mélanges de science religieuse 4 (1947) 237-84; 5 (1948) 39-60; Primato di Cristo nella teologia
contemporanea, in Problemi e orientamenti di teologia dommatica a cura della Pontificia Facoltà
Teologica de Milano (Milano 1957) II, 123-235; Primauté absolue et universelle de N.S. Jésus-Christ et
de la T. S. Primauté du Christ selon l’ecriture et la tradition (Roma 1959); Raison de l’Incarnation et
primauté du Christ, réflexions sur une controverse, in DT (Piacenza) 46 (1943) 103-20.
 48

divine intention, the firstborn of all creation;187 by reason of its being, “because in
Him all things were created in heaven and on earth”;188 in virtue of its proximate
end, which is that, by man’s tending and cultivating of the resources of his physical
and social environment, the abundant riches of human nature should be evolved and
perfected in the world, so that the Incarnate Word my be filled up,189 and provided
with a fitting cortege,190 by which mankind will be gathered up into perfect union
with its divine Head, whence it came forth.191 For, as Pope John never tired of
reminding us, all men are bound to each other by the common fellowship of origin,
Christian redemption, and supernatural end, and are called to be joined together in
one Christian family.192

These are supernatural truths which form a solid basis and the strongest
possible bond of union, that is reinforced by the love of God and of our divine
Redeemer . . . In the light of this unity of all mankind which exists in law and
in fact, individuals are not seen as isolated units, like grains of sand, but rather
joined together by a harmonious organic order and mutual needs varying with
changing times, in virtue of a natural and supernatural driving force and
destiny.193

The Unity of the Human Composite

187 Col. 1, 15; St. Athanasius, Oratio contra gentes n.34 (PG 25, 68-69); Bonnefoy J. OFM, Primato di
Cristo 217; Primaute du Christ 301-05; Julian of Norwich, Revelations of divine love shewed to a devout
ankress, ed R. Hudleston OSB, 2 ed. (London 1952) 120; Tertullian, Liber de resurrectione carnis c.6 (PL
2, 848).
188 Col. 1, 16; Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 427. See also Mouroux J., Mystere du temps, approche

théologique (Paris 1962) 82-83. 192.

189 Malmberg F. SJ, Een Lichaam en een Geest 170-77.
190 St. Bernardine, Sermo LIX a.1 c.2 (II 434); Julian of Norwich, Revelations of divine love 118.
191 Eph. 1, 10. See also St. Maximus Confessor, Quaestiones ad Thalassium q.64 (PG 90, 621); St.

Thomas, S. theol. III q.8 a.3 in corp. (1914b).

192 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 453; Pacem in terris 289. See also Hulsbosch A. OESA, Schepping

Gods 20-21.
193 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428:

“Haec supernae veritatis capita ima constituunt fundamenta archtisimaque communis omnium unitatis
vincula, Dei divinique Redemptoris amore solidata… Quamobrem, si hanc iure ac reapse datam totius
humani generis unitate intente consideramus, non seiuncti nobis singuli cives, quasi arenarum grana,
videntur, sed inter se potius apto compositoque ordine ac mutua variaque ob temporum diversitatem
necessitundine congregati ex naturali ac superna impulsione destinationeque.”
 49

But in addition, one and the same God, Who created human beings for life in
society so that mankind, extensively one, might manifest His unitary community, at
the same time endowed each man correlatively with a profound internal unity by
which His own substantial unity might be reflection.
The necessity for treating this doctrine at length is twofold. The first place it
is impossible to discuss the question of distinct races adequately without it, yet it has
been left singularly undeveloped by writers on matters racial. Then, as has already
been pointed out, it is needed to correct the lack of balance of those writers who tend
so to disjoin the human organism that the unitary totality can scarcely be salvaged.
This unbalance arises both among positive scientists who set out from the defective
principles of cartesianism and idealism,194 and among theologians who in their
efforts to secure social justice or refute the fallacies of the racists, play down or deny
altogether the influence of the physical constitution, including the racial factor, in
determining the personality and actions of men.195
As against this tendency, the whole Hebraic-Christian tradition, standing for
the closest possible compenetration of the physical and the psychic, the material and
spiritual, body and soul in man, has borne witness to the total unity of the human
composite.
There have been those among theological writers, especially the manualists,
who excessively preoccupied with scholastic theories, assert that in the Genesis
account of the creation of man as an individual,196 God created the human body from
the slime of the earth, and breathed into it a spiritual soul, thereby showing that the
hylomorphic composition of man197 is found even in Holy Scripture. This
distinction, however, is unknown in Hebrew anthropology, and is in fact not present
in the text referred to, where God is shown making man, not merely his body, from
the slime of the earth, after the manner of a potter, so as to inculcate the truth of
man’s absolute dependence upon Him,198 an image used elsewhere in the Bible with

194 Folliet J., Racisme devant la raison 3; Hoeltker G. SVD, Was ist Rasse?. in SZuk 9 (1933-34) 461b;
Schulte J., Ras psychologisch beschouwd 62; Thils G., Theologie des realites terrestres II, 68.
195 Guardini R., Chrétien devant le racisme, 4 ed. (Paris 1939) 20-21; Synnott F. OP, Church and the

colour question, in Blackfriars 31 (1950) 582-83.

196 Gen. 2, 7.
197 For a brief outline of the hylomorphic theory according to St. Thomas confer Copleston F. SJ, History

of philosophy (London 1946f) II, 324-32. 375-76.

198 Fraine J. de SJ, Bible et l’origine de l’homme 35-36. 42-43; Haes P. de, Schepping als heilsmysterie

62.
 50

the same intent.199 Likewise the image of God’s breathing into man’s face the breath
of life is part of the plastic image of God as the complete artificer of man. The human
person is wholly and utterly a creature whose very life depends on God.200 At any
moment God can take away the breath of life, and man dies.201
Indeed the entire biblical concept of man is devoid of dualism or any other
form of pluralism. Always conceived as a whole, man is above all living flesh, a unit
of vital energy, so that the Hebrew words for flesh, mind, spirit, and person all refer
to the integral living being, to the point at times of being used interchangeably; even
the “spiritual” activities are associated with bodily organs as emanating from the
totality.202 Yet, although the essential corporeity of man is emphasized, nevertheless
the fact that he is radically different from the animals is not passed over in silence.
Man, in his total unity, stands apart with God over against all the rest of material
creation, especially the animals, over which he is lord and master.203
Even when later under the influence of hellenistic thought a word for body, as
against living flesh, was introduced into the biblical vocabulary, it was also used to
express the totality of the human person.204 So Saint Paul in the same letter
interchanges the concept of the whole man and that of the body, writing: “Know you
not that you are the temple of God?, and “Know you not that your members are the
temple of the Holy Ghost . . . Glorify and bear God in your body.”205
Although Greek philosophy provided the Church with a valuable instrument
for the clarification of Christian thought in many ways, its dualistic terminology as
regards man became a constant source of danger. For, the distinction between body
and soul having been introduced, there has always been a tendency on the part of
some to exalt the latter beyond due measure at the expense of the former: the image

199 Job 10, 7-12; Eccu. 33, 13-14; Is. 29, 16; 45, 9; Jer. 18, 1-9; Rom. 9, 19-24.
200 Bussche, H. van den, Godsdienstige boodschap van de oergeschiedenis, Israël peilt naar de zin het
bestaan (Gen. 1-3), 2 ed. (Tielt 1959) 17; Renckens H. SJ, Israels visie op het verleden, over Genesis 1-
3, 4 ed. (Tielt 1960) 141.
201 Job 34, 14-15; Ps. 104, 29-30; Is. 42, 5.
202 Baily M. CSSR, Biblical man 178-200; Imschoot P. van, ‘Geest’ ‘Mens,’ and ‘vlees’, in BWB 540-44.

1114-17. 1796-1801; Theologie de l’Ancien Testament (Rome 1956) II, 2-5; Pedersen J., Israel, its life
and culture (London 1946) I, 171; Renckens H. SJ, Eeuwige mens in zijn oudtestamentische gestalte, in
Theologische Week over het mens, voordrachten gehouden te Nijmegen, 1958 (Nijmegen 1958) 64;
Schoonenberg P. SJ, Geloof van ons doopsel I, 157.
203 Renckens H. SJ, Israel visie op het verleden 85, 87-88.
204 Imschoot P. van, ‘Lichaam’ in BWB 1014-15.
205 I Cor. 3, 16; 6, 19-21.
 51

of God is seen in the soul alone,206 which is unfortunately trammeled and defiled by
“brother ass”.207 In the process the integral unity of the human person suffers serious
damage.
For this reason the teaching authority of the Church, mainly spurred on by the
necessity of preserving the truth about Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man, 208 has
acted vigorously against this threat, clarifying its terminology in the process.
Synthetically it has taught about the human person, that every man consists in two
substances, a body, and a soul,209 equally.210 Of these two elements, the parents
transmit the body from the material sediment, but not the breath of the living soul,211
because the catholic faith insists that human souls are created directly by God.212 Yet
these two principles are so intimately united that they serve as the basis of
comparison for the perfect union of the divine and human in Christ.213 Whence the
unity which is man is described as a body animated by a rational and intellectual
soul,214 which is single and unique, because man has not many, but only one soul,
and that rational and intellectual,215 which alone is truly, of itself, and essentially the
form of the human body,216 without the aid of any intermediary.217
This final definition of the Councils of Vienne and Trent completed by Pope
Pius IX is aimed solely against the theory that the intellectual soul is the form of the
body by means of the sensitive element, or through the activity of some agency

206 From the time of St. Augustine onwards, and especially under the influence of the great scholastic
doctors, this was the common view on the matter. It is only in very recent times that biblical exegesis has
shown that the sacred writer could not have intended to convey such an idea, and in point of fact did not
do so.
207 Thomas of Celano OFM, Vita secunda S. Francisci Assisiensis II c.82 n.116 (ed. D Claras Aquas 120).

See also Baily M. CSSR, Biblical man 174; Haes P. de, Schepping als heilsmysterie 170.
208 Cnl. of Chalcedon, Creed (DR 148; DS 301).
209 Cnl. of Toledo XV, Declaration on the Trinity and the Incarnation (DR 295; DS 567).
210 Lateran Cnl. IV, Chapter I ‘The catholic faith’ (Dr 428; DS 800).
211 St. Anastasius II, Letter to the bps. Of Gaul, 23.8.498 (DR 170; DS 360).
212 Pius XII, Humani generis 575.

For an explanation of this truth which guards against the potentially dualistic appearance of the
terminology consult Schoonenberg P. SJ, Gods wordende wereld 35, 49-50; Smulders P. SJ, Visoen van
Teilhard de Chardin 110-19.
213 Creed ‘Quicumque’ (DR 40; DS 76).
214 Cnl. of Ephesis, Second letter of St. Cyril to Nestorius (DR 111a; DS 250); Cnl. of Constantinople IV,

Session X canon 11 (DR. 338; DS 657).

215 Cnl. of Constantinople IV, Session X canon 11 (DR. 338; DS 657).
216 Lateran Cnl. V, Session VIII (DR 738; DS 1440). See also Cnl. of Vienne, Constitution ‘Fidei

catholicae’ (DR 480; DS 900).

217 Pius IX, Letter to Card. de Geissel, 15.6.1857, in Acta Pii IX I-II, 587; Letter to Bp. Forester, 1860, in

Katschthaler Card. J., Theologia dogmatica catholica specialis (Ratisbonae 1877) I, 422.
 52

extraneous to itself, and not by its own substance directly.218 It is not incompatible,
therefore, with the strict hylomorphism of Saint Thomas, or the “form of bodiliness”
of the Subtle Doctor, with the inferior forms subsisting in composite beings taught
by Saint Albert, or the atomistic theory advocated by Tongiorgi and Palmieri.219
When we turn to modern catholic thinker, we find that even the minimum of
dualism remaining in the hellenistic modes of expression as purified by the Church’s
definitions has vanished. A strict unity of the human person, similar to that of the
Hebrews,220 is emphasized by the assertion that man has not got a body but is a body,
does not possess a soul but is a soul.221 For, prescinding from the body, the human
person in this world neither is nor is able to do anything: not even the heights of the
mystical life can be experienced unless they begin with the body, develop in the
body, and are expressed by the body on the one hand, and on the other, no physical
activity however insignificant is performed without the single vital energy of the
whole person being involved; indeed even the supernatural life is given and
nourished sacramentally.222
This whole tradition, biblical, dogmatic, and philosophico-theological is
succinctly drawn into one paragraph by Schoonenberg when he writes:223

218 Janssens L. OSB, Summa theologica (Romae 1918) VII-I, 175; Mulders A., Wat leerde het Concille
van Vienne omtrent de menschlijke ziel?, in NKS 25 (1925) 236-38. See also Holy Roman Inquisition,
Decree condemning propositions from the works recently edited under name of Anthony Rosmini-Serbati,
14.12.1887, n.22 24 (DR 1912. 1924; DS 3222, 3224); Provincial Cnl. of Vienna 1858, Title I c.14 (M 47,
779).
219 Pius IX, Letter of Mgr. Czacki o Mgr. Hautcoeur in the name of Pope Pius IX, 5.6.1877, in Zigliara T.

OP, De mente Concilii Viennensis in defendendo dogmate unionis animae humanae cum corpore
(Romae 1878) 192-93; Janssens L. OSB, Summa theologica VII-I, 175-76; Mulders A., Wat leerde het
Concilie van Vienne? 233; Vacant J., Etudes théologiques sur les constitutions du Concile du Vatican
(Paris 1895) I, 256.
220 Hulsbosch A. OESA, Schepping Gods 58.
221 A fuller indication of how this way of thinking and writing is used by modern catholic authors can be

found in Schoonenberg P. SJ, Gods wordende wereld 42; Troisfontaines R. SJ, De l’existence à l'être, la
philosophie de Gabriel Marcel (Namur 1953) I, 173-86; Je ne meurs pas (Bruxelles 1960) 60-66. It is
further used in the discussion of ancient Hebrew thought by Rencken H. SJ, Eeuwige mens in zijn
oudtestamentische gestalte 64.
222 Pius XII, Address to the Roman nobility, 5.1.41, in DRM 2 (1940-41) 364; Vonier A. OSB, Human soul,

in Collected works of Abbot Vonier (London 1953) III, 48).

223 Schoonenberg P. SJ, Geloof van ons doopsel I, 157:

“Dezelfde ziel immers die geest is, is tevens de wezensvorm die met de ‘materia prima’ intrinsiek element
is van het lichaam, als sensitief en vegetatief is zij erin opgenomen, maar een en deezlfde ziel is
interactief, sensitief, en vegetatief. Daarmee is het mensenlichaam echter ook in zijn lichamelijkheid zelf
verschillend van dat der dieren, want het is juist lichaam door een ziel dies tevens geest is. De
sensitiviteit of het psychische zijn daarmee opgenomen in het geestesleven van de mens als aanzet en
uitdrukking. Er is een menselijk waarnemen, begeren of afweren, een mnselijk uitdrukken dat eigen
vormen heeft als de glimlach, een voortbrengen van geluidstekens dat taal is.”
 53

The same soul which is indeed spirit, is simultaneously the essential form
which together with the primary matter is an intrinsic element of

the body. As spiritual or intellectual the soul transcends the body, as

sensitive and vegetive it is included in it, but one and the same soul is
intellectual, sensitive, and vegetive. For this reason the human body
even in its corporeity differs from that of the animal, because it is a
body precisely in virtue of a soul which is at same time spirit. The
sensitive or the psychic together with this body is caught up into the
spiritual life of man as stimulus and expression. There is a peculiarly
human way of perceiving, of desiring or recoiling from; peculiarly
human expressions, which are unique, like smiling; and peculiarly
human productions of vocal sounds which are language.

The Hereditary Constitution and the Whole Man

Granted then that the soul of itself is the true, immediate, and essential form
of the body, it is necessary to proceed further and enquire if and how the hereditary
corporeal constitution of the body which it informs, imparts some particular stamp
to the whole person.
Pope Pius XII has already expressly given a response to the first part of the
question by affirming that the hereditary constitution does determine the whole
human composite and influence its psychic operations. According to the Pope it can
no longer be held that the rational soul informs a primary matter which is entirely
undetermined, as if all characteristics of the resulting person were entirely the
product of the rational soul created directly by God, without any influence on the
part of the genetic constitution. Philosophical reflection in the sphere of psychology
must remain rooted in reality.224
For the answer to the second part of the question, we shall turn to the perennial
philosophy. All the scholastic doctors agree that human souls differ from each other,

224 Pius XII, Address to the Symposium on Medical Genetics 7.9.53, 603.
 54

though each pursues his own line of thought.225 In the interests of clarity and brevity
it seems advisable to follow the Angelic Doctor’s explanation about how the
hereditary bodily constitution plays its part in the production.
Saint Thomas gives the key to his solution in one sentence: “The difference
which exists in souls of the same species must be reduced to a diversity in their
matter,”226 because in the matter there is an underterminedness to be determined by
the form, that is the soul, which is the reason for the common character of the species
which the particular being possesses; and, likewise, in this form which determines
the matter there is a certain indeterminateness which has to be determined by the
peculiar quality of the matter, which is the reason for the individual diversity of
things of the same kind.227
Since whatever is received by something is received according to the character
and capacity of the receiver,228 it follows that the material principle, or the body, in
receiving the soul, the spiritual principle, receives it according to its own character
and capacity. Hence in the substantial order the peculiar qualities of the body
determine the characteristics of the soul. It must be remembered all the time in this
discussion that neither body nor soul exist as concrete human entities before the
actual existence of the individual person of whom they are the constitutive
correlative ontic principles.229 In other words, we are here talking metaphysically.
It follows, therefore, that although, as has been said above, souls are the
substantial form of the individuals on whom they confer the common character of
the species, there is in each one something not merely accidental which is not
common to the others, namely, that which makes it the correlative principle of being
of the particular body, in union with which it constitutes this particular, individual
human person.230 Thus the human soul, which brings substantial and specific being
to the whole composite, has an essential relation to its own body, so that the soul,
which united to this body constitutes this person, could not inform and perfect
another body.231 This relationship is indeed something accidental to the soul insofar

225 Marcos V. OMI, De animarum humanarum inaequalitate, in Angelicum 9 (1932) 452.

226 St. Thomas, II Sent. d.32 q.2 ad 3 (II, 840): “Oportet quod diversitas quae est in animabus eiusdem
speciei, in diversitatem materiae reducatur.” See also II Sent. d.17 q.2 a.2 in corp. (II 432); S. theol. I q.85
a.7 in corp. (174b); III q.69 a.8 ad 3 (417b).
227 St. Thomas, II Sent. d.32 q.2 1.3 in corp. Snf sd 6 (II, 839-40); S. theol. I q.85 a.7 ad 3 (417b).
228 St. Thomas, S. theol. I q.75 a.5 in corp. (347a).
229 Steenberghen F. van, Ontologie 97-99.
230 St. Thomas, I Sent. d.8 q.5 a.2 ad 6 (I, 231-2); II Sent. d.32 q.2 a.3 in corp. (II, 839).
231 St. Thomas, II Sent. d.17 q.2 a.2 in corp. (II, 432).
 55

as it is the form conferring the common character of species; it is not accidental,

however, in its role as the correlative principle of being of this individual, because
what constitutes the very being of any individual must be something substantial.
Since the soul is one of the constitute correlative principles of the being of the
individual,232 it must be proportioned to the body as it is at the moment of receiving
the soul. Because it is an incorruptible and substantially unchangeable reality, the
soul retains this configuration not only in this earthly life, but also, having been
temporally disassociated from the body in death, each soul retains the stamp of its
body with all its affections and dispositions, since this still remains for it its
correlative principle of being.233 Now everything which the person receives from
heredity is contained in the matter to be informed as it is at the moment of the union
of body and soul by which the person comes into being. Hence the characteristics
which the soul receives on account of its body are those inherent in the matter posited
by the parents.
Since, however, the matter is receptive of the soul, and therefore not of itself
active in the union, the moulding of the soul to inherent dispositions of the matter it
informs cannot come from the matter itself. It can come only from God,234 Who as
we have seen creates each soul directly without the aid of any intermediary. The
matter, therefore, with its hereditary dispositions presents to God the occasion for
creating this particular soul with its apposite determinations.235
Going on now to consider the actions of these human persons, whose ontic
structure has just been discussed, it is useful to give the gist of the argument by
means of another text from Saint Thomas: “All the powers of the soul, whether their
subject be the soul itself, or the whole human composite, flow from the essence of
the soul, as from their source.”236 This is only natural, because, as we have seen, in
the Angelic Doctor’s hylomorphic system the soul is the active partner in the
combination. In as much, therefore, as souls differ because of the bodies they inform,
to the same extent their faculties237 will differ in their intrinsic constitution, and not

232 St. Thomas, S. theol. I q.76 a.6 in corp. And ad 1 (359b).

233 St. Thomas, I Sent. d.8 q.5 a.2 ad 6 (I, 231-32).
234 St. Thomas, S. contra gent. II c.75 (175b); S. theol. I q.118 a.2 ad 3 (548b).
235 Marcos V. OMI, De animarum humanarum inaequalitate 462; Vonier A. OSB, Human soul 38.
236 St. Thomas, S. theol. I q.77 a.6 in corp. (677a): “omnes potentiae animae, sive subiectum earum sit

anima sola, sive compositum, fluunt ab essentia animae, sicut a principio.”

237 For a brief account of St. Thomas’ doctrine concerning the faculties of the soul confer Copleston F. SJ,

History of philosophy II, 376-78.

 56

merely in their operations. This difference is innate, not acquired. Wherefore,

because the actions of any being are necessarily in conformity with its nature and
individual characteristics,238 the operations of these faculties will be determined by
the inherent characteristics of the faculties, and not merely by the dispositions of the
physical organs through which they operate.239
It follows then that inasmuch as people have bodies of similar or differing
hereditary complexion, their souls will have similarities and differences, which in
turn will transmit their tonality to the faculties, whose operations will likewise be
tinged with similarity and difference.
According, therefore, as members of a particular human group possess
similarities of genotype, or physical constitution arising from heredity, to the same
degree their souls will be of similar configuration. On the other hand, insofar as the
genetic complex of members of a particular group differs from that of another group,
their souls in their being, powers, and operation of their faculties will differ. This
would appear at least to be one possible way of explaining Pope Pius XII’s assertion
that what is said of direct individual heredity can be applied in a modified sense to
groups constituted by less immediate heredity.240 Those who do not accept these
conclusions241 seem to reason as follows. That which is immediately created by God
has no structure, but is a simple substance. The human soul is created directly by
God. Therefore the human soul has no structure, but is a simple substance. Hence
the human soul cannot undergo any influence on the part of hereditary factors since
this implies that the soul is structured. It suffices, however, to consider how the
whole of earthly creation is structured and organized for the principle on which this
reasoning is based to be rather doubtful. Also, as has been indicated, it is necessary
not to interpret this direct creation by God in an oversimplified and dualistic
sense.242And in any case the beginning of this article,243 it is impossible in the light
of modern research to deny outright all hereditary influence on the character of
individuals.244

238 St. Thomas, S. theol. I q.4 a.3 in corp. 23a.

239 Marcos V. OMI, De animarum humanarum inaequalitate 466-67; Vonier A. OSB, Human soul 38.
240 Pius XII, Address to the International Society for Blood Transfusion, 5.9.58, in AAS 50 (1958) 731.
241 Schmidt W. SVD, Rasse und Volk 15.
242 Schoonenberg P. SJ, Gods wordende wereld 35. 49-50; Smulders P. SJ, Visioen van Teilhard de

Chardin 110-19.
243 Pius XII, Address to the Symposium on Medical Genetics, 7.9.53, 603.
244 Waesberghe H. van SJ, Nederlands rassenboek 513-14.
 57

Human History

Before we draw these preparatory observation to a close, it will be useful to

add a few points culled from the theology of history, which will shed light on some
of the later exposition, since the matters with which we are dealing, namely race and
culture, ae not fixed and static phenomena, but rather human entities in a constant
state of flux. They cannot therefore be divorced from the context of the passage of
time.
Neither scholastic theology, more concerned with the structure of things than
their evolution, nor the subsequent rationalism and individualism, developed under
a theology of history. So it is that only in recent times, under the impetus of
contemporary modes of thought, has the present historical movement in theology
commenced. Naturally it has not yet come to the point of producing a definitive and
complete system of doctrine. Nevertheless some points of view have been elaborated
which will help to throw light on our problem.
It has been a truth traditionally taught in the Church that God by His universal
power and according to His divine providence rules all things,245 including rational
creatures,246 and that without intermediary,247 yet in such a way as not to exclude the
contingency of things,248 free will,249 things taken individually,250 or secondary
causes.251 More frequently this same absolute causality has been applied also to the
course of human events,252 as was done previously in patristic times.253
Hence, according to Cardinal Van Roey, our faith teaches us that God so
governs the universe, mankind, and every single human affair, that nothing
whatsoever escapes His divine providence. The course of history must not be seen
245 St. Thomas, S. contra gent. III c.64 (289-91a); S. theol. I q.22 a.2; q.103 1.7 in corp. (121a. 484b).
246 St. Thomas, S. contra gent. III c.111 (355a).
247 St. Thomas, S. contra gent. III c.76 (306a-08a); S theol. I q.22 a.3 in corp. (122b).
248 St. Thomas, S. contra gent. III c.72 (301b-02b); S. theol. I q.22 a.4 in corp. (123a-b).
249 St. Thomas, S contra gent. III c.73 (302b-03b).
250 St. Thomas, S contra gent. III c.75 113 (304a-06a. 357a-58a); S. theol. I q.22 a.2 in corp. (121a).
251 St. Thomas, I contra gent. III c.77 (308a-b); S. theol. I q.22 a.3 ad 2 (122b).
252 Pius XI, Address to the sonsistory, 20.12.26, in Actes 3 (1925-26) 297; Pius XII, Summi pontificatus

428; John XXIII, Broadcast message, 11.9.62. 681; Bea Card. A., Address, 1.4.63, in DC 60 (1963) 732;
Pieri Bp. F., Pastoral, 15.2.61., in Lettere pastorali 1961 (Cittadella 1961) 1730; Bovis A. de SJ,
Philosophie ou théologie de l’histoire? In NRT 81 (1951 458; Feret H., Apocalypse de Saint Jean, vision
chrétienne de l’histoire (Paris 1943) 327-28; Flick M. SJ, and Alszeghy Z. SJ, Teologia della storia, in
Gregorianum 35 (1954) 276. 294; Thils G., Theologie es realites terrestres II, 69. 103.
253 St. Augustine, De civitate Dei V. c.11 (Cchr. 47, 141-42).
 58

as chaotic, but as regally well-ordered and upheld in the hands of the infinitely
intelligent Cause. Despite the partial calamities and momentary upheavals human
history has been endowed with a splendid goal.254 The Ruler of the flow of events is
not some impersonal fate which neither knows nor cares, but the personal God Who
in the power of His infinite love directs all things wholly and completely.255 “Bold
is His sweep from world’s end to world’s end, and everywhere His gracious ordering
manifests itself.”256 He orders indeed not only the general lines of history, but also
the vicissitude of each single people, nation, and group.257
There is no lack of catholic thinkers who, in virtue of the doctrine of His
absolute and universal Kingship, vindicate to the Incarnate Word, the historical
Christ, the governance of the times and seasons of mankind;258 for to Him “all power
is given . . . in heaven and in earth.”259
Because he alone is the true and absolute Lord of ages, “Jesus Christ is not
only the stable support of mankind in its social and historical life,”260 but is also the
pilot standing at the helm, having every creature as His instrument, every event and
happening serving His will.261 At the conclusion of this earthly creation therefore,
He alone is the Lamb, apt and worthy to open the book, by which the whole course
of history will be drawn to its close and have its meaning made clear.262
The history of the world and the history of salvation starting from the same
initial point of man’s creation, and running together the course of mankind’s
duration, reach out towards the same final consummation. Yet it does not follow
from this that they can be identified with one another, since each has its own
significance and value.263 They are none the less closely interconnected, because
254 Roey Card. J. van, Address, Aug. 1937, in In den dienst van de Kerk, leerstellige en herderlijke
geschriften en toespraken (Turnhout 193f) II, 222-24.
255 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge, in AAS 29 (1937) 148; Schmaus M., Vom Wesen des Christentums

142.
256 Wis. 8, 1.
257 John XXIII, Broadcast message, 11.9.63, 683; Hier. South Africa, Pastoral, 2.2.60 (Pretoria 1960) 3;

Hier. USA, Declaration, 11.11.43, in Our bishops speak (Milwaukee 1952) 119.
258 Bovis A. de SJ, Philosophie ou théologie de l’histoire? 451; Haering B. CSSR, Macht und Ohnmacht

47; Joaquin de Encina OFM Cap, Visión cristocéntrica del hombre, in Naturalezza y gracia 5 (1958) 47-
48; Schmaus M., Vom Wesen des Christentums 83. 145; Thils G., Theologie des realites terrestres I, 158.
259 Mat. 28, 18.
260 Pius XII, Broadcast message, 24.12.55, in AAS (1956) 35: “Gesu Cristo non e soltanto il saldo

sostegno della umanita nella vita sociale e storica.”

261 Schmaus M., Vom Wesen des Christentums 83.
262 Apoc. 5, 6-7.
263 Danielou S. SJ, Essai sur le mystère de l’histoire (Paris 1953) 21; Flick M. SJ, and Alszeghy Z. SJ,

Teologia della storia 288-89. 292; Schmaus M., Vom Wesen des Christentums 205.
 59

mundane history serves the cause of the history of salvation, which is the growth of
the Mystical Body of Christ, according to the words of Pope John XXIII:264

In the present course of human events, in which human society appears to be

entering a new order of things, above all the mysterious workings of divine
providence must be acknowledged, which, through successive eras, and the
works of men, though often beyond their expectations, achieve their ends, and
wisely arrange all things, even human misfortunes and calamities, for the good
of the Church.

From this it follows that the whole course of this world is disposed in Christ,
by Christ, and for the sake of Christ, the Word made Man, to Whom the whole of
mankind is intimately related as its Head. Hence men, in all their physical and
spiritual relations, plus the whole of material creation of which they form an integral
aspect,265 are predestined, by a spiritualizing and divinizing transformation,266 to be
made partakers of the New Jerusalem, in which, by new and incorruptible bodies, a
new earth and a new heaven will be created as a dwelling place for man.267
A final refinement may be added to this. In the post-Ascension period both
the Church as a whole, and each of its members singly, are conserved and grow in
the supernatural life, and are led on towards their eternal end by the nourishing and
strengthening of the Holy Spirit.268 This sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit is
not confined, however, to the accomplished messianic Kingdom, but was operative
also during the long ages of preparation stretching back to the beginning of
mankind.269 So likewise it is to the impulse of the same Spirit that the evolution of

264 John XXIII, Address to Vatican Cnl. II, 11.10.62, in AAS 54 (1962) 789:
“In praesenti humanorum eventuum cursu, quo hominum societas covum rerum ordinem ingredi
videtur, potius arcana Divinae Providentiae consilia agnoscenda sunt, quae per tempora succedentia,
hominum opera, ac plerumque praeter eorum expextationem, suum exitum consequuntur, atque omnia,
adversos etiam humanos casus, in Ecclesiae bonum spienter disponunt.”
265 Rabbitte E. OFM, Cosmology for all (Cork 1956) 110-21; Smulders P. SJ, Visioen van Teilhard de

Chardin 110-19.
266 Huby J. SJ, Saint Paul, epître aux Romains 297-98; Joaquin de Encimas OFMCap, Visión

cristocéntrica del hombre 79; Optatus OFMCap, Theologie der geschiedenis in het algemeen, in
Katholiek archief 8, 14-15 (3 and 10.4.53) 271; Schmaus M., Vom Wesen des Christentums 213; Thils G.,
Theologie des realites terrestres I, 84-89. 120-21.
267 St. Isidore, De ordine creaturarum liber c.11 n.6 (PL 83, 943).
268 St. Irenaeus, Contra haereses IV c.83 n.3 (PG 7, 1108).
269 Leo XIII, Divinum illud (DS 3329); Manning Card. H., Temporal mission of the Holy Ghost, our reason

and revelation, 3 ed. (London 1877) 53-54.

 60

human history is attributed by some.270 For this history, like the growth of the
Christian community and its progressive sanctification, is oriented towards the age
of the measure of the fullness of Christ, which is the purpose of the external mission
of the Spirit. It is precisely because He in fact does direct the course of ages that the
aphorism of Cardinal de Faulhaber is verified: “The voice of the time, is the voice
of God.”271
God has indeed

made, of one single stock, all the nations that were to dwell over the whole
face of the earth. And He has given to each the cycles it was to pass through
and fixed the limits of its habitation, leaving them to search for God; would
they somehow grope their way towards Him? would they find Him? And yet,
after all He is not far from any one of us; it is in Him that we live, and move,
and have our being . . . For indeed we are His children.272

Therefore, to borrow the words of Saint Gregory of Nyssa,273

In vain are you anxious and torment yourselves, in vain are you taken
unawares and distressed by the chain of the necessary vicissitudes and
consequences of things, not knowing to what plan or purpose individual things
are related; because all things, by methodical arrangement and by change,
according to the skillful wisdom of their Creator and Author, are to be brought
together and united with the divine nature.

270 Haering B. CSSR, Macht und Ohnmacht 330; Thils G., Theologie des realites terrestres II, 66-67.
271 Faulhaber Card. M. de, Zeitrufe, Gottestrufe (Freiberg im Breisgau 1932).
272 Acts 17, 26-28.
273 St. Gregory of Nyssa, De anima et resurrectione dialogus (PG 46, 106): “frustra vos afflictatis et

excruciatis atque offendimini et angimini serie necessariae rerum vicissitudinis et consequentiae,

ignorantes ad quodnam propositum atque consilium singulatim res quaeque referantur, quae in
universitate administrantur, quoniam oportet omnia ordine ac vicissitudine quadam secundum artificiosam
creatoris et auctoris sapientiam dicinae conciliari atque coniungi naturae.”
61
 62

Chapter 4

The Officially Condemned Fallacies of Racism

Unhappily all do not accept this Christian vision of the universe, according to
which mankind, intimately one, is directed by the Holy Spirit towards the filling up
of the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ to the glory of the Father, so that
the personal and transcendent Trinity may be glorified both in individuals and in
particular groups, as well as in mankind as a whole, by the realizing of the latent
possibilities of development embodied in the structure of the universe by Him Who
created it.
It is not surprising then that at one time or another erroneous teachings should
have made their appearance, combatting one or more of the aforesaid truths which
go to make up the Christian vision of the world. Rather than by an outright rejection
of the truth, these fallacies have generally produced a distorted picture of reality by
exaggerating one element out of due proportion, and consequently underplaying
other factors. With regard to our particular material these distorted visions are known
collectively by the same “racism.”
All the preparatory stages having already been completed there would seem
to be no better way to commence our theological reflection than by clearing the
ground of erroneous notions about race, insofar as these have been officially rejected
by the Church. This will serve the double purpose of delimiting and highlighting the
ideas which are definitely irreconcilable with Christianity, and at the same time
indicating by contrast some of the positive tenets about race which are compatible
with the truth, in preparation for the subsequent detailed study of these in later
chapters.
 63

The Instruction

In order to avoid losing sight of the general context of the discussion in the
course of the detailed analysis of particular points, it will be useful at the start to
outline what in general is meant by the term “racism.”
Racism is a vision of the world in which there is an exaggerated division of
mankind into distinct races, which are then treated as if they were the central and
predominant factor in social life and human history. The consequence of this
unbalance is that those who belong to a particular ethnic group are considered bound
to regard the vigour and values of their race as the primordial perfection, deserving
of their love and sacrifice before all things. Hence they are expected to protect these
characteristics with devotion and resolution, giving them concrete expression in the
social and political structure of their society, whatever the cost.274 Further, racism,
whether it be Hegelian and pantheistic, or materialistic, whether it be positivistic, or
arising from the exaggerated collectivism of our times,275 or yet that found among
Christians which has been mentioned in the first chapter, is always vitiated in
practice by a threefold error: one race is proposed as being naturally superior to
others, the members of which should be subservient to their superiors; race is exalted
as the fountain-head and cause of rights more potent than any other source; and the
state is considered to be the incarnation and organ of the race.276
As is clear from this brief outline, such a concept as this cannot be reconciled
with the Christian religion,277 as Pope Pius XI has succinctly stated in denouncing
“the myth of blood and race.”278

274 Coulet P., Catholicisme dans le monde en proie aux faux dieux II (Paris 1937) 57; Gregoire F., Wat is
het racisme?, in Racisme, universitaire bijdrage tot het rassenvraagstuk (Leuven 1939) 9; Guardini R.,
Chrétien devant le racisme 36; Orban M., Nouvelle idole, l’etat raciste et totalitaire in Collatuines diocesis
Tornacensis 34 (1939) 2; Wey A. van der Ocarm, Ideologische ondergrond en uitbouw van het national-
socialisme, in Kultuurleven 9 (1938) 436.
275 Hildebrand D. von, Mythe des races, in Archives de philosophie du droit et de sociologie juridique 7

(1937) 128; Solzbacher W., Rome en afgoden van onzen tijd, Pius XI als vergediger der menschlijke
persoonlijkgeid, tr. B. Hollants (Voorhout 194C) 133.
276 Tansill C., Racial theories in Germany from Herder to Hitler, in Thought 15 (1940) 453-68.
277 Pius XII, Address to the Congress of Gymnastics and Sports, 8.11.52, in AAS 44 (1952) 871; Hier.

Germany, Pastoral, 19.8.38, in Hofmann K., Zeugnis und Kampf des deutschen Episkopats, gemeinsame
Hirtenbriefe und Denkschriffen 1933-45 (Freiburg im Breisgau 1946) 62; Gfoellner Bp. J., Pastoral,
23.1.33, in SZuk 8 (1932-33) 431b; Gonçalves-Cerejeira Card. M., Address, 18.11.38, in Obras pastorais
(Lisboa 1943) II, 146; Kakowski Card. A., Pastoral, 11.8.38, in Wiadomosci archidiecezjalne Warzawskie
28 (1938) 355; Rummel Abp. J., Pastoral, Oct 1958, in American 100 (1958) 97.
278 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge 151: “Mythus von Blut und Rasse.”
 64

This official condemnation and rejection of the fallacies of racism contained

in the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge of 1937, was reiterated in epitomized form
on 13th April 1938 in the Instruction on the errors of racism published by the Sacred
Congregation of Seminaries and Universities, of which the Pope himself had been
prefect since the death of Cardinal Bisleti in September 1937. This document, of
which the full text is given below, signed by Ernest, now Cardinal, Ruffini in his
capacity as secretary to the Congregation, was circulated to many rectors of institutes
of higher learning all over the world.

Instruction on the Errors of Racism:279

279 Actes 18 (1938-39) 86-88:

Instructio de Racismi Erroribus

In Nativitatis Domini Nostri pervigilio, proxime elapso anno, augustus Pontifex, feliciter regnans, ad
Eminentissimos purpuratos patres et ad Romanae Curiae praelatos de gravi, qua catholica Ecclesia in
Germania afficitur insectatione, ut omnes norunt, moerens allocutus est.
Id vero Beatissimi Patris quam maxime opprimit animum quod ad tantam iniustitiam excusandam
impudentes interponunt calumnias atque doctrinas perniciosissimas, falsi nominis scientia fucatas, longe
lateque spargentes et mentes pervertere et veram religionem eradicare conantur. Quae cum ita sint Sacra
haec Congregatio Studiorum Iniversitates Facultatesque catholicas admonet ut omnem suam curam atque
operam ad veritatem contra grassantes errores defendendam conferant.
Itaque magistri, pro viribus, e biologia, historia, philosophia, apologetica et disciplinis iuridico-moralibus
arma sedulo mutuent ut preabsurda quae sequuntur dogmata valide sciteque refellant:

1. Stripes humanae indole sua, nativa et immutabili, adeo inter se differunt ut infima ipsarum magis
distet a suprema hominum stirpe quam a suprema specie brutorum.
2. Stirpis vigor et sanguinis puritas qualibet ratione conservanda et fovenda sunt; quidquid autem ad
hunc finem ducit eo ipso honestum licitumque est.
3. Ex sanguine, quo indoles stirpis continetur, omnes qualitates intellectuales et morales hominis,
veluti a potissimo fonte, effluunt.
4. Finis praecipuus educationis est indolem stirpis excolere atque animum flagranti amore propriae
stirpis, tampquam summi boni, inflammare.
5. Religio legi stirpis subest eique aptanda est.
6. Fons primus et summa regula universi ordinis iuridici est instinctus stirpis.
7. Non existit nisi Kosmos, seu Universum, Ens Vivum; res omnes, cum ipso homine, nihil aliud sunt
quam formae, per longas aetates succresentes, Universi viventis.
8. Singuli homines non sunt nisi per ‘Statum’ et propter ‘Statum’; quidquid iuris ad eos pertinet ex
Status concessione unice deprivatur.

Quisquis autem his infensissimis placitis alia facile adiicere poterit.

Santissimus Dominus Noster, huius S.C. Praefectus pro certo habet Te, Excellentissime Domine, nihil
intentatum replicturum ut quod a Sacra Congregatione praesentibus litteris praeciptur, ad effectum plene
adducatur.
 65

Last Christmas Eve the Pope spoke with great sadness to the cardinals and
prelates of the Roman Curia about the serious persecution which the catholic Church
in Germany is suffering, as you well know.
But what above all depresses the Holy Father is that to justify this
injustice they shamelessly propose falsehoods and baneful teachings, disguised and
decorated by what is falsely called science, which they have widely diffused, in the
attempt to mislead the minds of men and eradicate the true religion.
Since things have come to such a pass, this Sacred Congregation urges all
universities and catholic faculties to spare no pains and effort to defend the truth
against these prevailing errors.
All teachers, therefore, are exhorted zealously, and to the utmost of their
ability to lay hold on the weapons provided by biology, history, philosophy,
apologetics, and the juridico-moral sciences, so that they may adroitly and
effectively refute the following absurd tenets:

1. Human races, by their innate and immutable character, differ so greatly

from each other, that the lowest of them is further removed from the
highest race of men than from the highest species of animals.
2. The vigour of the race and the purity of its blood are to be preserved
and fostered by every possible means; whatever, therefore, contributes
to this end is, for that reason, good and licit.
3. All the intellectual and moral qualities of man flow from the blood, in
which the characteristics of the race are contained, as from their
principal source.
4. The primary end of education is the cultivation of the racial character
and the enkindling of a burning love for one's own race as the highest
good.
5. Religion is subject to the law of the race and must be adapted to it.
6. The instinct of the race is the primary source and supreme norm of the
whole juridical system.
7. Nothing exists besides the Cosmos, or the Whole, which is a living
reality; all things, including man himself, are merely various forms
emanating from the living Whole through long ages.
 66

8. Individual men do not exist except in virtue of the state and for the sake
of the state; any rights enjoyed come to them solely as a concession
from the state.

It is by no means difficult to add yet others to these destructive opinions.

The Prefect of this Sacred Congregation, our Holy Father the Pope, is confident that
you will leave no stone unturned to execute fully what has been enjoined by this
letter.

General Observations on the Instruction

As will probably be observed, this instruction is not addressed expressly to

theologians as theologians, but at most in their capacity as apologists. It was intended
primarily to stir up apologetical activity, or in other words, to enroll the resources of
reason and positive investigation in the service and defense of Christian truth.
Nevertheless, as the instruction itself indicates in the preamble, these errors were
being propagated with the intention of eradicating true religion. Their interest to the
theologian, who by profession is the scientific exponent of the truths of religion,
cannot therefore be underestimated, especially as every one of the propositions listed
hits at the delicately poised complexus which is Christian truth. In addition, as has
been mentioned, this instruction is an epitome of the encyclical Mit brennender
Sorge, which is a doctrinal document of no small import, and deserving of greater
attention than it has received in the post-war period.
When the question as to the weight of the doctrinal authority of this instruction
is posed, there seems on the surface to be a lack of unanimity among catholic writers.
Not a few expressly maintain that it is truly and properly speaking a doctrinal
condemnation,280 which in the form of a syllabus281 censures certain heresies,282
absurd tenets and baneful theories.283 Others, however, appear to temper this
judgement somewhat. De la Briere, on the one hand, asserts that these errors had
280 Maritain J., Droit raciste et la vraie signification du racisme, in Driot raciste a l’assaut de la civilisation
(New York 1949) 101; Orban M., Nouvelle idole 2.
281 Guardini R., Chrétien devant le racisme 8; Pfiffig A. Opraem, God of ras? Beschouwingen over den

‘Rassensyllabus’ van 13 April 1938 (Averbode 1938).

282 Guardini R., Chrétien devant le racisme 8.
283 Verdier Card. J., Letter, 17.11.38, in Eglise contre le racisme, une hérésie antiromaine, déclarations

des Cardinaux-Archevêques de Malines Paris, Milan et du Patriarche de Lisbonne, van Roey, Verdier,
Schuster, Cerejeira (Paris 1938) 38.
 67

already been categorically condemned with greater authority in Mit brennender

Sorge than in this instruction.284 On the other hand, Rosa considers that, rather that
a document of doctrinal decisions, it ought to be considered simply as an exhortation
to scientific labours aimed at refuting the fallacies of racism, demonstrating the
harmony between rational truth and the faith, and giving a sound intellectual
formation to students.285
These difficulties, however, are more apparent than real. Rosa elsewhere
without hesitation equates the contents of this document with the erroneous
propositions of the Syllabus of Pope Pius IX and the decree Lamentabili issued under
Pope Pius X.286 De la Briere, likewise, considers that the instruction contains in
concise form the fallacies already denounced by the Pope in the preceding
encyclical.287 If this is so, then the instruction must be considered as complimentary
to the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge on which it depends and which it epitomizes.
Consequently it carries the same weight of authority, not indeed of itself but in virtue
of the encyclical of which it is a summary. In practice this brings us back to the
conclusion of the first group of authors mentioned above.
This opinion is supported by the fact that several of the propositions
condemned had already, even prior to Mit brennender Sorge, been solemnly rejected
by the Church, as will be seen in the course of the later detailed commentary. Also
the preamble to the instruction quotes the words of the Pope from his previous
Christmas message in which he termed these errors “baneful teachings,”288 but
which further went on to lament the “total apostasy from Christianity inherent in the
racist doctrine of Hitler.”289 The prefixing of the above mentioned words of the

284 La Brière Y de SJ, Histoire religieuse du temps présent, racisme et nationalités, in Etudes 235 (1938)
804.
285 Rosa E. SJ, Tesi della S. Congregazione dei Seminari (13 Aprile 1938), razzismo, in Moitore

ecclesiastico 50 (1938) 177.

286 Rosa E. SJ, Tesi della S. Congregazione 177.
287 La Brière Y. de SJ, Histoire religieuse 804-05.
288 Rosa E. SJ, Tesi della S. Congregazione 177:

Speaking about the reason for the persecution of the Church in Germany, the Pope said, “che a scusare
una così grande ingiustizia vengono interposte della calunnie e della dottrine perniciosissime, suffragate
da una scienza di falso nome ed intese a confondere lo spirito ed a sradicare la vera religione con una
larghissima diffusione.”
289 Rosa E. SJ, Tesi della S. Congregazione 178:

The Pope spoke about the “apostasia totale dal cristianesimo inerente alla dottrina del razzismo
hitleriano.” Although these words are missing in the official summary of the speech, they fit very well into
the context.
 68

Pope’s to a syllabus issued by a congregation of which he himself was prefect,

certainly highlights the importance of what follows.
Considered simply as an instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries
and Universities this document does not enjoy the prerogative of infallibility.290
Because of its intimate relation with Mit brennender Sorge, however, the doctrine
expressed in it must carry the same weight as when originally propounded in the
encyclical. Yet as the encyclical does not invoke the pope’s personal infallible
teaching authority, the doctrine it contains is due no more than that assent proper to
official papal pronouncements in encyclical form.291 Hence the contents of the
instruction cannot claim the prerogative of infallibility under this heading either.
There are, as mentioned above, some propositions which express equivalently errors
previously solemnly condemned. These naturally carry the force of the Church’s
infallibility. It is probable, also, that all the condemnations contained in the
instruction do in fact enjoy infallibility from their consonance with the ordinary and
universal teaching of the bishops; though this, as in most other cases, is not so easy
to prove positively and conclusively.
Before proceeding to an analysis of the individual propositions it may not be
out of place to indicate some of the principles of interpretation to be borne in mind,
and some of the traps of misunderstanding which must be avoided.
Naturally the contemporary commentators on this document had very much
in the forefront of their minds the national socialism of Hitler, from which their
writings acquired a definite tone.292 Yet it should be noted that national socialism as
such is not so much as mentioned in the instruction. While it is true, therefore, that
every ecclesiastical condensation is occasioned by some particular error, so that it
cannot be fully understood and adequately interpreted except by references to the
error in question in its concrete circumstances, yet it cannot be limited to that special
moment in history unless some person or school or system is specifically mentioned.
Since this is not the case with our instruction of racism, it seems quite legitimate to

290 Because infallibility is a strictly personal and incommunicable privilege of the pope’s, “ne gli esperti ai
quali e confidato lo studio di particolari questioni oggetto di futura definizione, ne le Congregazioni
Romane, neppure quelle che hanno come prefetto lo stesso Sommo Pontefice, sono infallibili”. Betti U.
OFM, Costituzione dommatica ‘Pastor aeternus’ del Concillio Vaticano I (Romae 1961) 633.
291 Gallati F. OP, Wenn die Paepste sprechen, das ordentliche Lehramt des apostolischen Stuhles und

die Zustimmung zu diessen Entscheidungen (Wien 1960) 166-67. 172-72.

292 Saint Denis A., Pie XI contre les idoles, bolchevisme, racisme, etatisme (Paris 1939) 88-96 cites the

texts from the writings of Hitler and Rosenberh relevant to each of the condemned propositions.
 69

treat of the propositions it contains in a context wider than the narrow confines of
the fallacies of national socialism.
For the same reason one must stifle the inclination to poke into all the nooks
and crannies of national socialism in order to ferret out misdemeanors to be dragged
by the ears under one or other of the propositions as if in fact covered by it. This
tendency to unduly extend the condemnations of the Church must be curbed
according to the salutary adage of the canonists: in unfavourable provisions of the
law to follow the most restricted interpretation.293 The lengths to which this looking
for trouble can lead are observable in Messineo’s article Ordine giuridico nella
nuova Germania.294
The use of inflammatory language and exclamatory modes of expression are
also to be avoided, as they disturb the balanced judgement of the mind. This defect
mars the otherwise very useful articles by Mancini on racism.295 It is above all
necessary to carefully ponder the Church’s words, before giving a prudent and
moderate judgement, so that the truth as presented by the official teaching authority
may shine forth unobscured either by excess or defect.
The other danger to be avoided is that of giving undue emphasis to the
contradictories of the excesses condemned, lest one should end up with the equally
false propositions of the opposite extremity. This warning has been memorable
phrased by Pope Pius XI as follows:296

293 Codex iuris canonici cannon 19.

294 Messineo A. SJ, Ordine giuridico nella nuova Germania, in CC 89, 3 (1938) 506-19.
295 Mancini A. SS, A proposito di razzismo, in Palestra del clero 17, 2 (1938) 252-55; Dacché siamo in

tema di razzismo, in Palestra del clero 17, 2 (1938) 178-82; Del razzismo, in Palestra del clero, 17, 2
(1938) 63-67.
296 Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, in AAS 31 (1937) 82:

“Haec doctrina (Ecclesiae) aequo itinere abhorret, cum ab errorum exitiis, tum ab immodicis politicarum
partium, quae eosdem amplectuntur, conatibus earumdemque rationibus atque propositis; quandoquidem
ut nullo non tempore rectam veritatis et iusitiae aequilibritatem preofitetur.”

See also Address to CFTC, 18.9.38, in Actes 17 (1938) 158, where with reference to doctrinal
interpretation the Pope extolled the principle “in medio stat virtus.”
It is worth while recalling in this regard Rosa’s warning to note well that “trattandosi di proposizioni
erronee, la verità apposta sara quella della tesi contraddittoria, non già per se, od in qualsiasi caso, della
contraria. Questa infatti può essere, ed e spesse volte, ugualmente falsa, come insegnano i logici, perché
non si oppone semplicemente all’errore che nega, come fa la contraddittoria ma trascorre all’altro
estremo, che in ‘eodem genere maxime distat’. E sebbene insegnamento elementare, si deve questo
tanto più tenere presente, quanto più facilmente si puo dimenticare da sinceri ma troppo facili o impetuosi
apologisti. In altre parole, bisogna con ogni diligenza avvertire che da un errore estremo non si trascorra
all'estremo apposto, che può essere del pari erroneo e pernicioso.” Rosa E. SJ, Tesi della S.
Congregazione 179.
 70

This doctrine (of the Church’s) is equally remote from all extremes of error,
as well as all exaggerations, actions, theories and programmes of parties or
systems which stem from error. It maintains at all times a strict balance of
truth and justice.

Although the instruction under consideration is invaluable because it is the

sole, precise document we have from the Holy See referring specifically to racism,
yet the propositions it contains represent a rather extreme position. This, on the one
hand, does show how exaggerated the deviations in racial matters have to be before
the Holy See considers them officially censurable. On the other hand, however, it
diminishes the usefulness of this instruction as an instrument for settling actual
difficulties stemming from somewhat less virulent roots. Little of the racism either
before or after national socialism would subscribe to the first, fifth, seventh, and
eighth propositions in their entirety; or to “every” and “whatsoever,” in proposition
two; “all” and “principle” in three; “primary” and “highest” in four; “primary” and
“supreme” in six. To these other and milder systems, therefore, the condemnation
can only be applied with the utmost caution. For example: a moderate assertion of
racial superiority and inferiority is not excluded by rejecting the first proposition. A
repudiation of number two does not involve the denial of the value or right of
conserving the vigour of the race and the purity of its blood within the limits of the
moral order. After roundly condemning the third proposition one would still be fully
entitled to hold that racial factors have some influence upon intellectual and moral
qualities. Nor does the rejection of number four exclude from the scope of education
the cultivation of a balanced love of one’s race as one among the many good things
of creation with its proper place in the hierarchy of values. The dialogue between
religion and culture, granting for the moment that race does influence this latter,
remains licit even after one has condemned the fifth proposition. One is not even
restricted to the point of holding that races are merely the occasion or rights, and not
a proper cause of them, provided the exaggerations of number six are avoided. These
milder tenets have not fallen under the hammer of this instruction, and bearing in
mind the words quoted from Pope Pius XI in the preceding paragraph, we must be
careful not to violate the truth by overzealous heresy-hunting.
It is now time to examine the individual propositions more closely in light of
the documents of the official teaching authority of the Church and the writings of
theologians. As has been mentioned, the exhortation in the instruction was primarily
 71

aimed at stimulating apologists. The order of the propositions, therefore, was

determined by this consideration. For a systematic theological exposition, however,
it seems better to vary this order. Proposition seven concerning pantheism, which is
the basic philosophical presupposition of the doctrinaire racism of national
socialism, at least in Germany and which therefore in the historical context of the
instruction should be treated first, is better dealt with at the beginning also because
it is not common to all forms of racism, and hence is most conveniently disposed of
early. The exposition proper, therefore, really gets under way with proposition one
regarding the inequality of races, since this is in fact an element common to all forms
of racism, and the basis of an intelligent understanding of what follows, even though
theoretically some of the other tenets could stand without it. The extent to which this
racial inequality affects the individual, as stated in proposition three, seems logically
to be the next item for consideration. Then, since the state is the incarnation and
organ of the race by which it acts collectively, the eighth proposition must be
examined, followed by the sixth which gives the general norm for the operation of
the racial state. Finally, there are the particular applications of this norm to the
conservation and development of the race, to education, and the religion, in
propositions two, four, and five respectively.

The Seventh Proposition

“Nothing exists besides the Cosmos, or the Whole, which is a Living Reality;
all things, including man himself, are merely various forms emanating from
the living Whole through long ages.”

As is apparent, it is not something inherent in the nature of race as such which

has given rise to all these excesses. It is rather the exaltation of race into some sort
of absolute, crowned with the aura of religion, which has led to exaggerations
endangering the very existence of authentic religion itself. Even before the
appearance of the instruction this had been condemned in Mit brennender Sorge in
no uncertain terms:297
297 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge 149:
“Wer die Rasse, oder das Volk, oder den Staat, oder die Staatsform, die Traeger der Staatsgewalt oder
andere Drundwerte menschlicher Gemeinschaftsgestaltung - die innerhalb der irdischen Ordnung einen
wesentlichen und ehrengebietenden Platz behaupten - aus dieser ihrer irdischen Wertskala herausloest,
sie zur hoechsten Norm aller, auch der religioesen Werte macht und sie mit Goetzenkult vergoettert, der
 72

Whosoever exalts the race, or the people, or the particular form of state, or
those who bear the government of the state, or any other fundamental value
of human society - even though in the present order of things these have an
essential honorable place - whosoever exalts these notions above the order of
their temporal value, making them the ultimate norm of all, even of religious
values, and defies them with an idolatrous worship, distorts and perverts the
order of the world created and commanded by God. Such a one is far from
true belief in God, and from the conception of life corresponding to this true
belief.

This apotheosis of race, as we have said, is not necessary to racism. It arose

among some of the leading national socialist theorists, especially Hitler and
Rosenberg, as a result of their philosophical background, which was that form of
emanistic pantheism known as biologico-materialistic monism,298 in the tradition of
Fichte, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche.299 In this system the hierarchy of values
is entirely subverted: the spiritual is subjugated to the savage forces of the material,
and the supernatural is non-existent. Since none but earthly, material factors are
significant, it is not difficult to see how it could be deduced that biology, “blood,”
was the cause of all “spiritual” potentialities, so that the race, incarnating the
hereditary constitution of a large group, would be the supreme value.300 With one
blow, the transcendence of a personal God and the liberty of the human person are
abolished, and blind fate usurps the place of divine providence in the ordering of
affairs. 301

verkehrt und faelscht die gottgeschaffene und gottbefohlene Ordung der Dinge. Ein solcher ist weit von
wahrem Gottesglauben und einer solchem Glauben entsprechenden Lebensauffassung entfernt.”
298 Holy Office, Decree condemning the book ‘Die deutsche Nationalkiche’ by E. Bergman, 7.2.34, in AAS

26 (1934) 94; Piazza Card. A., Address, 6.1.39, in OR 79, 15 (19.1.39) 2; Verdier Card. J., Letter,
17.11.38, 37; Boelaars H. CSSR, Rassisme en rassenhunde 93; Hildebrand D. von, Mythe des races
128; Rosa E. SJ, Tesi della S. Congregazione 183; Scheiwiller O. OSB, Rassenprinzip wird Schicksal,
der philosophische Gesichtspunkt, in Schweizerische Rundschau 38 (1938-39) 68; Wey A. van der
OCarm, Ideologische ondergrond en uitbouw 459.
299 Bressolles A., Pour la vraie croix, in Bressolles A., Racisme et christianisme 197.
300 Boelaars H. CSSR, Rassisme en rassenkunde 94; Wey A. van der OCarm, Ideologische ondergrond

en uitbouw 459.
301 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge 148; Cazzani Abp. G., Pastoral, Lent 1939, in Brocchieri E., Scritti

pastorali di S.E. Mons. Giovanni Cazzani (Cremona 1952) 285-86; Goncalves-Cerejeira Card. M.,
Address, 18.11.38, 141; La Briere Y. de SJ, Histoire religieuse 808; Mancini A. SS, Del razzismo 66;
Messineo A. SJ, Ordine giuridico 509; Racialist religion, in Tablet 172 (1938) 524; Schmaus M., Vom
Wesen des Christentums 142-43.
 73

This system had already twice been officially condemned by the highest
teaching authority of the Church, namely, in the Syllabus of Pope Pius IX,302 and in
the constitution Dei Filius of the first Vatican Council.303 In a striking text Pope Pius
XI reiterated this rejection and confirmed the Christian belief opposed to it:304

He who, in pantheistic vagueness, equates God with the universe,

materializing God into the world, and deifying the world into God, cannot be
numbered among the true believers in God… Our God is the personal,
superhuman, almighty, infinitely perfect God, one in the Trinity of persons,
tripersonal in the oneness of the divine essence, the Creator of all creatures,
the Lord and King in Whom the history of the world finds its final fulfilment,
Who will not, and cannot tolerate a rival god at His side. This God in
sovereign power has given His commandments, which apply regardless of
time and space, of country or race.

As the Pope intimates in the above passage, it is the Christian doctrine of God
in three persons which gives the coup de grace to pantheism,305 because once and
for all it makes monism of any type impossible. Yet this is equally true of the
Christian view of man, who created by God as a spiritual being distinct from
Himself, endowed with intelligence and free will, is called to a personal relation with
the three divine Persons, and a participation of the very life of God in Christ.

The First Proposition

302 Pius IX, Syllabus prop.1 (DR 1701; DS 2901).

303 Vatican Cnl. I, Constitution ‘Dei Filius’ c.1 and canons 1-5 (DR 1782-84. 1801-05; DS 3001-03. 3021-
25).
304 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge 148-49:

“Wer in pantheistischer Verschwommenheit Gott mit dem Weltall gleichsetzt, Gott in der Welt verweltlicht
und die Welt in Gott vergoetlicht, gehoert nicht zu den Gottglaeubigen… Unser Gott ist der persoenliche,
uebermenschliche, allmaechtige, unendlich volkommene Gott, einer in der Dreiheri der Personon,
dreipersoenlich in der Einheit des goettlichen Wesens, der schoepfer alles Geschaffenen, der Herr und
Koenig und lezte Vollender der Weltgeschichte, der keine Goetter neben sich duldet noch dulden kann.
Dieser Gott hat in souveraener Fassung Seine Gebote gegeben. Sie gelten unabhaengig von Zeit und
Raum, von Land und Rasse.”
305 Schmaus M., Vom Wesen des Christentums 188.
 74

“Human races, by their innate and immutable character, differ so greatly from
each other, that the lowest of them is further removed from the highest race
of men than from the highest species of animals.”

The pantheistic foundation for a race idolatry becomes particularly dangerous

when it is linked to the notion of racial superiority and inferiority, because it divides
humanity into a hierarchy of groups, the maintenance of which can easily become
the object of a doctrinaire fanaticism. So it is that at the same time as rejecting the
pantheisitc basis, the Church has thought it wise also to condemn the exaggerated
grading of races propounded in some national socialist literature, though not by any
means confined to it. In his very last encyclical Pope John had to speak out against
the fallacy that some men are by nature superior to others.306
The existence of distinct races is nowhere denied, either in this instruction or
in other documents of Pope Pius XI’s: it was only against exaggerated racism that
he inveighed.307 Indeed the whole instruction, in concord with the general teaching
of the Church, presupposes the existence of various races. Neither would the
assertion that these races differ among themselves fall under the condemnation,
because if they exist it follows that there must be diversity in order that they be
distinguishable at all. In addition the acknowledgement of this difference is common
enough in Church documents. Nor do the words “by their innate . . . character” cause
difficulty, because races are essentially groups constituted by heredity, whose
qualities in so far as they are racial must be congenital. This fact is likewise
acknowledged by the catholic hierarchy.
The real poison of the statement lies in the word “immutable.” If races differ
among themselves “by their innate and immutable character,” how account for the
unitary origin of mankind? For if all the rest of men have descended from one couple
of proto-parents, there must have been fairly radical mutations in the course of time
to produce variations sufficient for humanity to be distinguished racially. Does the
phrase then necessarily imply the distinct and sporadic origin of the various existing
races? This probable polygenetic conclusion is unacceptable as being out of line with
the traditional monogenesis taught by the Church.

306 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 281.

307 Pius XI, Address to Propaganda College, 28.7.38, in OR 78, 175 (30.7.38) 1.
 75

Furthermore, considered in the light of the seventh proposition, this assertion

of immutability leads to a contradiction. The absolute immobility involved in an
“immutable character” appears to be irreconcilable with the continual evolution
envisaged by emanistic pantheism, according to which “all things . . . are . . . forms
emanating from the living Whole through long ages.” But even if these two positions
can coexist, there seems to be no guarantee of the permanent superiority of certain
races, since in a totality which is in a perpetual process of evolution, what is to
prevent an inferior race from evolving at a faster rate than the others until it overtakes
its erstwhile superiors?
What is principally condemned, however, is the assertion that the lowest race
of men differs from the highest more than from the highest species of animals must
follow from this erroneous statement, depending on whether the difference is
considered to be substantially accidental: either, the lowest race of men differs
substantially from the highest species of animals, in which case it differs even more
substantially from the highest race of men; or, the lowest race of men differs only
accidentally from the highest race of men, but then it differs even more accidentally
from the highest animal species.
The latter hypothesis condemns itself by denying the radical and insuperable
specific difference between human beings and animals. It implies materialistic
transformism, which, starting from the rejection of God’s special intervention, in the
creation of the human soul, ends up with the denial of the spiritual nature of man.
Man, created a little less than Elohim,308 is reduced to the level of “the horse and the
mule who have no understanding,”309 “he is compared to senseless beasts and
becomes like them,”310 his sublime dignity torn from him.311
The former hypothesis is subject to an equally decisive objection. The lowest
race of men belongs to a different species from that of the highest group of animals,
because it is substantially different. But if the highest race of men is even more
substantially different, then it must at least belong to a different species from the
lowest, and perhaps even a different genus, and is consequently of a different nature.
308 Ps. 8, 6. Although this Hebrew word is usually translated in the context of the psalm by “the angels,” it
would equally well bear the interpretation “God.”
309 Ps. 31, 9.
310 Ps. 48, 13.
311 Janssen A., Ras, natie, vaderland (Leuven 1945) 33; Rassisme in Richtlijnen uwer bisschoppen

(Antwerpen 1939) 171; La Briere Y. de SJ, Histoire religieuse 805; Mancini A. SS, Del razzismo 64;
Oesterreicher J., Racisme, antisemitisme, antichhristianisme, documents et critique (New York 1949) 59;
Obran M., Nouvelle idole 11; Rosa E. SJ, Tesi della S. Congregazione 181.
 76

This is a direct contradiction of the Christian doctrine of the unity of mankind, one
of the essential foundation of which is the possession by all men of a common nature.
It also goes against the received teaching in the Church of the great equality, at least
potential, of all the races of mankind, which is proclaimed simultaneously with the
acknowledgement of racial diversity. For ever since the sixteenth century the Church
has censured those who have had the presumption to proclaim that either the Indians
of South American or the Nergroes were no better than dumb animals to be reduced
to the service of the Europeans.312 No man, therefore, can be stigmatized as
essentially and ontically inferior solely on the grounds of race.313 Neither, for racial
reasons alone, can anyone be obliged to submit himself totally and absolutely in a
servile capacity to the members of a “superior” race,314 because no race can be
considered the normative race.315
It is worth recalling, before this discussion is concluded, the remark made
earlier to the effect that this proposition does not rule out the possibility of a limited
and accidental gradation of races. Because such a relative superiority and inferiority
would not as such destroy the unity of mankind. Nor does it seem to be incompatible
with the Church’s teaching concerning the general equality of all men.

The Third Proposition

“All the intellectual and moral qualities of man flow from the blood, in which
the characteristics of the race are contained, as from their principal source.”

Having seen what the position is regarding the existence of different races, the
next problem is, what do these racial differences mean for the individual?
The venom of this particular proposition is contained in the phrase “as from
their principle source,” which taken in conjunction with “flow from the blood,”

312 Paul III, Sublimus Deus 428; Veritas ipsa 482; Gregory XVI, In supremo apostolatus, in Martinis Bp. R.
de, Iuris pontificii de propaganda fide pars prima complectens bullas, brevia, acta S.S. (Romae 1893) V,
224b; Leo XIII, Letter to the bps. Of Brazil, 5.5.1888, 546.
313 Hier. South Africa, Declaration, 6.7.57 (Pretoria 1957) 2; Janssen A., Ras, natie, vaderland 33;

Rassisme 171; Semaine Religieuse de Lyon 1955, Notes doctrinales à propos du problème des Nord-
Africains en France et à propos de l’Afrique du Nord, in DC 52 (1955) 1191-1210.
314 Paul III, Veritas ipsa 483; John XXIII, Pacem in terris 281; Cazzani Abp. G., Pastoral, Lent 1939, 278;

Gonçalves-Cerejeira Card. M., Pastoral, 1.10.39, in Obras pastorais II, 168; Moussaron Bp. J.,
Declaration, 23.11.44, in DC n.s.12 (1944) 1; Roey Card. J. van, Address, Aug. 1938, in CMec 12 (1938)
574; Spellman Card. F., Letter, 27.9.49, in La Farge J. SJ, Catholic view-point on race relation 80.
315 Constantius OFMCap, Katholicisme en rasvraagstuk (‘s Hertogenbosch 1935) 11. 16.
 77

reduces man purely and simply to the level of a biological organism, subject to the
radical material determinism of the physical world. It makes him merely a moment
in the race, which becomes the primary reality.316
To hold that intellectual and moral qualities are to some degree determined by
hereditary factors, including racial, presents no difficulty in the general structure of
Christian truth. On the contrary, it concurs with the traditional doctrine of the integral
unity of the human person, provided that due proportion is observed, according to
the admonition of Pope Pius XII to remember that the primary value in man is not
the body, neither this earthly one, nor yet the glorified body of the future life, but the
spirit.317
If even the spiritual qualities of man, the intellectual and the moral, are
entirely subjected to a biological determinism, how can the spirituality and
originality of the human soul be salvaged? And of what significance does the
doctrine of God’s creation of each individual soul become?318 Again man emerges
stripped of his personal dignity, and robbed of his liberty.319
Furthermore what then remains of morality? The Church, the guardian of the
moral order, could never assent to a system which, by making man’s moral qualities
subject to biological determinism would minimalize or eliminate the power of self-
determination of the human person.320 On the contrary, the truth demands that,
although a person may be subject to racial determination in his whole composite, or
better still in his integral unity, nevertheless he remains free within this framework

316 Gregoire F., Use and misuse of philosophy and philosopher, in International Council for Philosophy
and Humanistic Studies, Third Reich (London 1955) 696:
“Race, the racial type, is the immanent law governing the development of the whole of the individual. This
internal law - which the word ‘blood’ designates symbolically - makes individuals of the same ancestry
members both of one and the same line of generations and of one and the same community . . . . . Thus
race defines the concrete man, the only kind of man that exists; race is the Urphaenomenon.”
The following observation is also of interest in this connection: “De ontmenschelijking van der mensch
door de rassentheorie grijpt dieper in on het weefsel van het persoonlijke bestaan dan de
dehumaniseering door de leer van de klassenstrijd. De klassentheorie belijt een relatief determinisme . . .
Het determinisme van het ras daarentegen heeft een absoluut karakter. Het komt op voor het fatum van
het bloed. Geen verandering van bewustzijn, geen zich eigen maken van de ideeën en opvattingen van
het uitverkoren ras kan den lageren rassen eenig heil brengen. Het erfgoed . . . bepalen volgens den
rassentheorie den menschelijken geest met absolute kracht.” Berdjajew N. Nationalisme en
veelgodendom, in Christendom bedreigd door rassenwaan en jodenhaat (Amsterdam n.d.) 65.
317 Pius XII, Address to the Congress of Gymnastics and Sport, 8.11.52, 871.
318 Lamberty M., Kritiek van het racisme 23.27.
319 Cazzani Abp. G., Pastoral, Lent 1939, 284.
320 Cnl. of Trent, Decree on justification canon 5 (DR 815; DS 1555); Leo XIII, Libertas praestantissimum

(DS 3245-46).
 78

to develop and perfect his personality by the use of his liberty. The fact that human
liberty is essentially limited,321 does not make man any the less a free spiritual agent.
The perversion of the truth involved in the theory of a radical racial, and
therefore biological, determinism with regard to the intellectual faculty must be no
less decisively repudiated. In place of permanent and universally valid truth and
values there remain only a type of knowledge, semblances of goodness and
perfection, of religion and morals, a social consciousness and wisdom peculiar to
each racial blood.322 In consequence of this

Each race has by nature its own scare of values, and its way of representing
the Whole, which are true for it, with a ‘truth’ which necessarily escapes every
other race. This is what causes the Weltanschauung to be true for the… race
alone. ‘True’ for it, and for it only, is all that expresses its essential tendencies,
its authentic values . . . The measure of all things, including our thoughts, is
the racial soul of the people. This is what, as opposed to ‘absolute truth,’
Rosenberg calls ‘organic truth.’323

Nevertheless this position does not lead to the complete relativism as

Lamberty thinks,324 because as Gregoire goes on to explain, granted the supposition
that some particular race is the supreme race, its vision of the universe should not be
considered true for it alone, but in many ways true and absolutely, even though other,
and inferior races are not capable of perceiving its truth.
As for the individual, so also for the group, the Church does not entirely
discount the racial factor, its influence and its value, but she does dissociate herself
from the elevation of race to the position of the principal, or worse still the sole
impetus and final purpose of human history and culture. 325 It is the personal and
provident God Who is the Lord of history. Men by their liberty do give direction to

321 Brunner A. SJ, Personne incarnée, etude sur la phénoménologie et la philosophie existentialiste (Paris
1947) 201; Ricoeur P., Philosophie de la volonté 454-55.
322 Gregoire F., Use and misuse of philosophy 703; Hilckman A., Nacionalsocialismo alemán, sus raíces

espirituales in Razón y fe 100 (1932) 154; Janssens L., Personne et société, théories actuelles et essai
doctrinal (Gembloux 1939) 84. 86; Lamberty M., Kritiek van het racisme 39.
323 Gregoire F., Use and misuse of philosophy 693-94.
324 Lamberty M., Kritiek van het racisme 29.
325 Holy Office, Decree condemning the book ‘Die deutsche Nationalkirche’ by E. Bergman; Roey Card. J.

van, Address, 2.9.45, in In den dienst van de Kerk VI, 210; Janssen A., Rassisme 171; Janssens L.,
Personne et societe 247; Wey A. van der OCarm, Ideologische ondergrond en uitbouw 436. 468.
 79

the social order as well as to their personal lives, and by their free creative activity
and spiritual courage can do great things for humanity and the progress of culture.326
And cultures are able to interfecundate each other by an exchange of material and
spiritual goods, because they are not completely fixed in the unique isolation of the
racial blood.

The Eighth Proposition

“Individual men do not exist except in virtue of the state and for the sake of
the state; any rights enjoyed come to them solely as a concession from the
state.”

We have already considered the particular philosophical foundation of racism

as condemned in the instruction, the ontic structure and differences of races, and
their characteristics. It now behoves us to pass on to discuss the state, to which we
have already had occasion to refer more than once as the incarnation and organ of
the race. For as Cornelissen with extraordinary insight has remarked in this context:
“It is clear that the modern concept of the state constitutes not so much a juridical
question, as a theological problem.”327
The proposition as it is actually worded in the instruction seems to have been
taken from fascist rather than from racist sources. For fascism the state is essentially
political, containing within itself the reason for its existence: it does not exist for the
sake of something else. Hence, as in this proposition, the individual is referred
directly and solely to the state, and to nothing beyond it. In the racist framework,
however, the state exists merely as the incarnation and instrument of the racial
community: it has no value in itself.328 Consequently the relations between the
individual and the state are merely utilitarian, and for the sake of the race, which is

326 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 296-97.

327 Cornelissen A., Moderne staatsgedachte in het licht der jongste encyclieken (Hilversum 1938) 55:
“Daar is toch gebleken, dat de moderne staatsidee niet een rechtsgeleerd vraagstuk, doch een
theologisch probleem vormt”.
See also O’Toole G., Pantheism latent in totalitarian absolutism, in O’Toole G., Race, nation, person 234-
321.
328 Cisneros V., Noción de genocidio 358; Cornelissen A., Moderne staatsgedachte 56; Delos J. OP,

Rights of the human person vis-a-vis of the state and the race, in O’Toole G., Race, nation, person 43;
Janssens L.m Personne et societe 81. 96; Meilberg A., Ethica van het rassisme, in NKS 39 (1939) 151;
Race, law, and religion 5; Saint-Denis A., Pie XI contre les idoles 94; Solzbacher W., Rome en afgoden
van onzen tijd 134.
 80

the source and norm of all rights, as is clearly stated in proposition six. Nevertheless,
as rabid racism leads to some form of totalitarianism or another just as inevitably as
fascism, the racist state deserves our attention. And this is more particularly so since
it provides the key to the full understanding of the propositions to be treated later on.
As is clear from the propositions already treated, a certain absolute, and in the
pantheistic view even divine value is given to the race, conceived as a giant
organism, in which the individual is absorbed. But because human nature demands
it, this organism must have a visible form and a means of operating effectively as a
collectivity. Hence arises that great living body, the personification of the people,
the god-state,329 which must be served with an enthusiasm rightly called
“statolatry.”330 Since this concretion is correlative to the race which it embodies, its
citizens belong to it by the same involuntary reason of blood which makes them
members of the race. Hence whithersoever they may wander across the world they
remain subject to the racial state in virtue of a permanent and unbreakable bond. 331
Since the racial organism and the political organization dovetail so
completely, political authority derives from the racial community, it is exercised by
an elite, who, because the qualities of the race have reached their fulfillment in them,
necessarily in practice give concrete expression to the will of the people by their
creative action. And the collective will is the dynamism behind the evolution of the
racial community. Obviously in such a system the distinction between the legislative
and executive functions ceases to be relevant.332
A Christian is bound to reject such a concept of the state for three reasons. In
the first place, the racists, like not a few sociologists of a biological turn of mind,
seduced by metaphors, treat expressions such as “national consciousness,” “social
conscience,” “the will of the people,” “the instinct of the race,” and others of the
same kind, as though the society, state, nation, or race was an organic subject capable
of thinking and willing, whereas in fact it is only a moral entity composed of human

329 Pius XI, Address to CFTC, 18.9.38, 158-59; Gonçalves-Cerejeira Card. M., Address, 18.11.38, 145;
Pastoral, 1.10.39, 171; Cisneros V., Noción de genocidio 358; Janssens L., Personne et societe 112.
333; Mancini A. SS, Det razzismo 67; Messineo A. SJ, Concezione dello stato nel terzo Reich in CC 85, 2
(1934) 354. 358; Oesterreicher J., Racisme, antisemitisme, antichristianisme 201; Wey A. van der
OCarm, Staatsdiee van het nationaal-socialisme, in Kultuurleven 9 (1938) 512.
330 Pius XI, Non abbiamo bisogna, in AAS 23 (1931) 302; La Brière Y. de SJ, Histoire religieuse 88; Race

et la droit, in Bressolles A., Racisme et christianisme 94.

331 Janssens L., Personne et societe 96. 99. 112; Messineo A. SJ, Concezione dello stato nel terzo Reich

358.
332 Delos J. OP, Rights of the human person 544-45; Guardin R., Chrétien devant le racisme 104;

Janssens L., Personne et societe 96-98.

 81

persons who think and will.333 Secondly the racial factor alone is insufficient to
account for the existence of the state, to the formation and continuation of which so
many elements contribute.334 “For the rest, as regards political authority, the Church
rightly teaches that it comes from God.”335
In practice the above statolatry of its very nature leads to totalitarianism,
subjecting the individual and “natural societies,” under all their aspects and in all
their relationships, to the state, as cogs in a machine.336 More than once Pope Pius
XII expressly condemned this totalitarianism which gives the civil authority undue
power to impose itself on all expressions of personal, local, professional, and ethnic
life reducing them all to a mechanical unity under the banner of the nation, race, or
class.337
In such a scheme of things it is obvious, as the proposition states, that
whatever rights an individual or a subordinate society may enjoy, are nothing but a
temporary concession from the state, and revocable at will by the governing
authority which incarnates the will of the race.338

333 Pius XI, Address to CFTC, 18.9.38. 158; O’Toole G., Pantheism latent in totalitarian absolutism 317.
334 Hier. Germany, Pastoral, 3.6.33, in KADT 77, 120 (1933) 103; Janssens L., Personne et societe 248;
Messineo A. SJ, Concetto di nazione nella filosofia dello stato, in CC 84, 1 (1933) 328; Scheiwiller O.
OSB, Rassenprinzip wird schicksal 676. 680-81.
335 Leo XIII, Diuturnum illud (DR 1856; DS 3151): “Ceterum ad politicum imperium quod attinet, illud a

Deo profisci recte docet Ecclesia.”

See also Vatican Cnl. I, First scheme of the constitution ‘De Ecclesia Christi’ with explanatory notes
distributed in writing to the fathers c.14 and canon 18 (M 51, 548.552).
336 Hier. Switzerland, Pastoral, 5.7.38 (Solothurn 1938) 7: “Der Zerstörung des Bildes folgt die Zerstörung

des Ebenbildes. Der Entgötterung folgt die Entmenschlichung. Die heutige Gottlosenbewegung und mit
ihr der Materialismus . . . und christenfeindliche Nationalismus misshandeln und vernichten mit noch nie
dagewesener Art und Brutalität di menschliche Person und lassen sie untergehen in der Masse . . . in der
Rasse, in der Nation, im Staat . . . Der Mensch ist nicht mehr ‘Er’ und “Sie,” sondern nur noch “Es’,
verkollektiviert, verstaatlicht, eine Nummer.”
See also Gonçalves-Cerejeira, Card. M., Pastoral, 1.10..39, 171; Cisneros V., Noción de genocidio 358;
Janssens L., Personne et societe 102. 116; Lopez U. SJ, Difesa della razza ed etica cristiana II, in CC 85,
2 (134) 27; Messineo A. SJ, Concezione dello stato nel terzo Reich 354; Orban M., Nouvelle idole 84;
Rosa E. SJ, Tesi della S. Congregazione 185; Scheiwiller O. OSB, Rassenprinzip wird Schicksal 680.
337 Pius XII, Address to UNRRA, 8.7.45, in DRM 7 (1945-46) 117; Address to the Roman Rota, 2.10.45,

in AAS 37 (1945) 257; Address to the Semaines Sociales, 10.7.46, in AAS 38 (1946) 316; Address to the
third International Catholic Press Congress, 17.2.50, in AAS 42 (1950) 255. Broadcast message,
24.12.54, in AAS 47 (1955) 25. St. Thomas makes an observation in this regard which is worth recalling:
“Homo non ordinatur ad communitatem politicam secundum se totum, et secundum omnia sua; et ideo
non oportet, quod quilibet actus eius sit meritorius, vel demeritorius per ordinem ad communitatem
politicam: sed totum quod homo est, et quod potest, et habet ordinandum est ad Deum”.
338 Vatican Cnl.I, First scheme ‘De Ecclesia Christi’ c.14 nd canon 19 (M. 51, 548. 553); Cisneros V.,

Noción de genocidio 358; La Briere Y. de SJ, Histoire religieuse 809; Messineo A. SJ, Concezione dello
stato nel terzo Reich 358; Orban M., Nouvelle idole 82.
The consequence of such a system in the life of the individual, which will be examined in detail in
subsequent articles cannot be better summed up than in the memorable words of Pope Pius XII:
 82

The deplorable picture which this whole concept presents to the eyes of faith
can hardly be better expressed that in the words of Cardinal Goncalves-Cerejeira.339

In different ways, depending on whether the starting point was the idea of
class or race, an altar has with equal brutality been erected to the new god,
upon the sacrifice of the human person freed by Christ.
Christ having been thrown out, once again the cruel system of government by
force returns to reign in the world; Caesar is deified anew, and, according to
the old aphorism, whatever pleases him enjoys the force of law. Man again
becomes the slave of the state, the absolute lord of conscience, to which
belongs the defining of all norms of justice and morality, and outside of which
no rights exist… The divinized state arrogates to itself the absolutely and
divine rights, which have no existence apart from it. It is an all inclusive view
of society and life. God (if he is acknowledged at all) reveals Himself in the
exalted conscience of the nation or race, which has for its highest organ the
state.

In the Christian vision of the world, by contrast, it is inconceivable that the

collectivity should be the sole, or even the principle foundation of the rights of the
individual, since these are inherent in his natural dignity as a person. 340 Hence,
already in the Syllabus of Pope Pius IX the following proposition had been
condemned: “The state, as the origins and font of all rights, enjoys a right unbounded

“Occorre forse risalire molto indietro nella storia per trovare un cosiddetto ‘diritto legale’, che toglie
all’uomo ogni dignità personale; che gli nega il diritto fondamentale alla vita e all'integrità delle sue
membra, rimettendo l’una e l’altra all’arbitrio del partito e dello Stato; che non reiconosce all’individuo il
diritto all’onore e al buon nome; che contesta ai genitori il diritto sui loro figli e il dovere della loro
educaione; che soprattutto considera il riconoscimento di Dio, supremo Signore, e la dipendenza
dell’uomo da Lui come senza interesse per lo Stato e per la comunità umana? Questo ‘diritto legale’, nel
senso ora esposto, ha sconvolto I’ordine stabilito dal Creatore; ha chiamato il disordine ordine, la tirannia
autoria, la schiavitù libertà, il delitto virtù patriottica.” Pius XII Address to the Roman Rota, 13.11.49, 606.
339 Goncalves-Cerejeira Card. M., Address, 18.11.38, 141. 145:

“Por vias diferentes, partindo da ideia de classe ou de raça, edifica-se con igual dureza, sobre o sacrifício
da pessoa humana libertada por Cristo, o altar erguido a novo Deus.
Expulso Cristo, volta a reinar no mundo o duro império da força - Cesar e dá novo divinizado e, segundo
o aforismo antigo, tudo o que lhe apetece tem força de lei; o homem volta a ser o escravo do Estado,
absoluto senhor das consciências, ao qual pertence definir as normas da justiça e da moral, fora do qual
não há direitos . . . O Estado divinizado arrogar-se direitos divinos absolutos: não os há fora dele. É uma
concepção total da sociedade o da vida. Deus (se o há) rivela-se na consciência sublimada da nação ou
da raça, que tem por órgão supremo o Estado”.
340 Groeber Abp. K., Kirche, Vaterland, und Vaterlandsliebe, zeitgemässe Erwägungen und Erwiderungen

(Freiburg im Breisgau 1935) 108.

 83

by any limits.”341 And more than once Pope Pius XI inveighed against the denial of
the natural rights created in human nature by God Himself, especially in the phrase:
“The state exists for man, not man for the state.”342 In the Christian scheme of things
states and their political organs are destined by the Creator precisely to protect and
nurture the rights of individuals and subordinate societies, so that all human persons
and their families may live in a way that befits their dignity. It is also incumbent
upon public authorities to foster that mutual help among the citizens which will
secure to each one the opportunity of bringing his natural talents to fruition. Since
the state does not exist, however, solely to protect individual rights, this duty has to
be performed in the larger context of securing the common good by maintaining
order and peace for the community as a whole.343 This is the Christian balance.

The Sixth Proposition

“The instinct of race is the primary source and supreme norm of the whole
juridical system.”

From what has been said already it will be clear that relativism and
totalitarianism respectively follow naturally from the system of racism as epitomized
in the instruction. It is now necessary to take a look at what happens when they unite
in a juridical system, which can be called either juridical positivism or racial
utilitarianism.344
Obviously there is no place here for the individual as a subject of rights, utterly
rooted as he is in his existence and purpose in the racial community: the individual
is more or less an abstraction taken in relation to the collectivity of which he is a

341 Pius IX, Syllabus prop.39 (DR 1739; DS 2939): “Reipublicae status, utpote omnium iurium origo et
fons, iure quodam pollet nullis circum scripto limitibus”.
342 Pius XI, Divini Redmptoris 79: “Civitas homini, non homo civitati exsistis.”
343 Hier. South Africa, Pastoral, 2.2.60, 5.
344 Pius XII, Address to the Roman Rota, 13.11.49, in AAS 41 (1949) 604-08; Messineo A. SJ,

Concezione dello stato nel terzo Reich 349.

 84

member, which constitutes the primary reality, and consequently the source and
foundation of all right and all law. Like the individual, neither the state nore the law
has any purpose in itself, but both have as their end the good of the race for whose
service they exist.345 Because all rights spring from the blood or the racial instinct,
there can be no other law than that of this temporal world as formulated by the racial
state.346
What the provision should be which in the concrete express this juridical
instinct of the race, is discernible by four means. The first task of the jurist is by
historical study to discover, judge, and give permanent expression to the peculiar
nature of the race as it is revealed in ancestral customs still prevailing, which by the
fact of their persistence manifest the racial instinct of self-preservation. Secondly,
by a process of selection, the elite emerges which embodies the racial character in
the highest degree, and is thus most sensitive to the voice of the racial instinct.
Spontaneously sensing what pertains to the authentic good of the race, they are its
natural lawgivers and judges. A further norm is provided by the principles: whatever
benefits the race is good and just; whatever injured it is evil and unjust. Lastly, since
the good of the individual is conceived solely in terms of the good of the race, all
that is given to him is given in view of his service to the community. Hence the
administrators of justice fulfill their office by conserving the collectivity against
those who try to escape their obligation of service to the community; and by
defending it against those who could in any way be judged injurious to it.347
To the challenge presented by this distorted view of the law Pope Pius XII has
replied in no uncertain terms. Ranking racism with totalitarianism and exaggerated
nationalism, he castigates it for giving positive law a pseudo-majesty, trampling
underfoot the natural rights of persons both physical and moral, in the interests of
the dangerous theory which vindicates to a particular nation or race or class the
345 Delos J. OP, Rights of the human person 44-45; Gregoire F., Use and misuse of philosophy 701;
Janssens L., Personne et societe 101-02. 110; Messineo A. SJ, Ordine giuridico 507; Race, law, and
religion 13.
346 Hier. Bavaria, Pastoral, 12.2.31, in SZuk 6 (1930-31) 532; Groeber Abp. K., Kirche, Vaterland, und

Vaterlandsliebe 108; Delos J. OP, Societe internationale et les principes du droit public (Paris 1929) 51;
Guardini R., Chrétien devant le racisme 104; La Brière Y. de SJ, Race et le droit 105; Oesterreicher J.,
Racisme, antisémitisme, antichristianisme 59.
347 Roey Card. J. van, Address, 4.3.42, in In den dienst van de Kerk V, 341; Cornelissen A., Moderne

staatsgendachte 57; Evola J., Mitto del sangue (Milano 1937) 228; Guardini R., Chrétien devant le
racisme 73. 103-04; Janssens L., Personne et societe 100-01; Marchant H., Nationaal-socialisme, in
Limburgsche Sociale Studieweek 1937, Verslagboek, De wereld in het licht van de jonste drie
encyclieken (Heerlen 1937) 27; Orban M., Nouvelle idole 82; Quinn E., Nazi apologetics, in Blackfriars 19
(1938) 595-96; Race, law, and religion 13-14.
 85

juridical instinct, as the ultimate imperative and unassailable norm.348 It ends up

indeed by denying the substantial identity of human nature, in which are rooted the
basic and immutable, permanent norms of right and law; though these do need to be
formulated differently in positive legal prescriptions according to diversities of
evolution and culture.349
It was for this dissolution of the bond between positive law and the natural
law secured and protected by revelation and father in God, that racist utilitarianism
was initially attacked by Pope Pius XI. Authentic morality is founded on belief in
God, so that no one except the fool who says “there is no God”350 tries to separate
religion and morality.351 The first norm of this morality is the natural law, which
expresses the creative knowledge of God as it appears in His creatures. This applies
equally to individuals and to society, so that whoever denies the dignity of the human
person common to all men, the natural law, and religion, destroys morality and
undermines the columns which support not only the peace, but also the very
existence of society.352 The positive prescriptions of every legislator, be he who he
may, must be evaluated and judged as regards their morality, legitimacy, and
obligation, in the light of the norms of the natural admonition which God has
enclosed in the human heart. Since no external criterion or authority can ever rectify
an inherently vitiated law, the principle, “that is just which benefits the people,” must
be entirely rejected.353
As Pope Pius XII has shown in the discourse referred to above, the racist
concept of law leads to a denial of the substantial identity of human nature. 354
Whence it follows that there is a disparity of rights between the superior and inferior
races, in virtue of which the former can legitimately impose themselves on the latter,
especially in the case of ethnic minorities within the confines of the state. 355 Since
the state and the juridical order are identified with the race, anyone not belonging to

348 Pius XII, Broadcast message, 24.12.42, in AAS 35 (1943) 14.

349 Pius XII, Address to the sixth International Congress on Penal Law, 3.10.53, in ASS 45 (1953) 739.
350 Ps. 52, 1.
351 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge 158; John XXIII, Mater et magistra 450.
352 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge 159-60; John XXIII, Pacem in terris 258.
353 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge 159: “Recht ist, was dem Volk nuetzt”.

See also Vatican Cnl. I, First scheme ‘De Ecclesia Christi’ c.14 and canon 20 (M 51, 584, 552); Pius XII,
Address to the Roman Rota, 13.11.49, 604-08.
354 Pius XII, Address to the Congress on Penal Law, 2.10.53, 739.
355 It should be noted that a minority in this context does not necessarily imply numerical inferiority, but

can be used also of a numerical majority which is deprived of social or juridical equality. Contraintes
necessaires et libertes inalienables, in Tam-tam 10, 5-6 (Oct.-Nov. 1961) 29.
 86

the race is outside the state and the juridical order, so that any rights he enjoys are
merely temporary concessions, revocable at will. It is not difficult to see how this
could lead to racial discriminations ad conflicts.356
As regards relations between states which differ racially, because the Church
does not acknowledge that some human beings are by nature superior and others by
nature inferior, but considers them all of equal dignity as persons, it rejects the view
that there are political communities by nature superior and others which are inferior
by nature.357 It does not follow, however that there may not be other accidental and
external reasons for grading political communities. Within the individual state the
racist position outlined above is in direct contrast with the Christian doctrine of
pluralism, which consequently forbids any assault by the state on the existence, or
even on the peaceful flourishing of ethnic minorities. Christianity demands that
whatever his race the dignity of every man be respected, together with the rights that
flow from it.358
Furthermore, in the racist world vision, since the concepts of good and evil,
right and obligation, are unique for each racial community in virtue of law and blood,
there can be no possibility of an objective code of universally binding moral
obligations valid for all peoples and for all times.359 In addition as the race is the
primary and fundamental value in reality, the good of the race must always be
preferred to the good of humanity or international justice, which are only
abstractions. Hence there can be no law except state law, because the racial state is
the only authority and dispenser of rights. International law, therefore, only has the
force of law so long as it happens to fit in with the pre ailing law of the state, and is
thus always subject to unilateral change and cancellation. At one go the coup de
grace is given to international peace and justice, to treaties and concordats.360

356 Paul III, Veritas ipsa 482-83; Brief to Card. Juan de Tavera, 29.5.1537, 27; John XXIII, Broadcast
message, 17.4.60, in AAS 52 (1960) 371; Goncalves-Cerejeira Card. M., Pastoral, 1.10.39, 168. 171;
Hinsley Card. A., Address, 30.1.39, in Tablet 173 (1939) 183; Moussaron Bp. J., Declaration, 23.11.44, 1;
Roey Card. J. van, Address, 2.9.45, 210; Barbera M., Giustizia tra le ‘razze’, in CC 88, 4 (1937) 533;
Cisneros V., Noción de genocidio 358. 365; Delos J. OP, Rights of the human person 45-46; Gregoire F.,
Wat is het racisme? 37; Harcourt R. d’, Religion du sang, in Bressolles A., Racisme et christianisme 39;
Race, law, and religion 33; Roulette A., Personne et les faits dans les régimes totalitaires, in Semaines
Sociales de France 1937, Personne humaine en péril (Lyon 1938) 160.
357 Pius XII, Address to the Union of Catholic Jurists, 6.12.53, 795; John XXIII, Pacem in terris 281.
358 Guerry Abp. E., Address, 22.5.62, in DC 49 (1962) 811.
359 Zaffrani Abp. G., Address, 25.1.39, in OR 79, 22 (27.1.39) 2; Janssen A., Ras, natie, vaderland 84;

Rassisme 181; La Brière Y. de SJ, Histoire religieuse 807.

360 Pius XI, Address to the consistory, 24.2.34, in OR 74, 46 (25.2.34) 1; Pius XII, Address to UNRRA,

8.7.45, 117; Broadcast message, 24.12.54, 23; Hier. USA, Declaration, 14.11.42, in Our bishops speak
 87

The Church, on the contrary, inculcates the mutual interdependence of states

in an international community, which springs from the basic unity of mankind, and
must be bound together by an international law, based on the natural law, to which
all submit,361 because the same moral law which governs the relations between
individual human beings serves also to regulate the relations of political
communities.362 Embracing the idea of a universal common good, it advocates not
only public authorities working effectively on a world scale for particular ends, but
even a public authority of the world community whose fundamental objective must
be the recognition, safeguarding, and promotion of the rights of the human person
in the structure of the universal common good as well as that of the particular state.363

The Second Proposition

“The vigour of the race and the purity of its blood are to be preserved and
fostered by every possible means; whatever, therefore, contributes to this end
is, for the reason, good and licit.”

It now remains to see how these general principles of racism as found in the
instruction are worked out with respect to particular aspects of human life, such as
marriage, education, and religion. On each of these the racist position is at variance
with the Christian vision, as will be seen from an examination of the three remaining
propositions.
The second proposition in objectionable on account of the words “every
possible” and “whatever”: the latter because it invokes the pernicious principle, that
everything which favors the race is good for that reason, the objections to which

111; Goncalves-Cerejeira Card. M., Pastoral, 1.10.39, 169; Hinsley Card. A., Address, 30. 1.39.183;
Guardini R., Chrétien devant le racisme 111; La Brière Y. de SJ, Histoire religieuse 807; Marchant H.,
National-socialisme 25-26; Messineo A. SJ, Concezione della stato nel terzo Reich 349; Race, law, and
religion 15. 23.
361 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge 159; Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 437-39; Address to the Union of

Catholic Jurists, 6.12.53, 795-96; Hier. USA, Declaration, 14.11.47, in Our bishops speak 143; Faulhaber
Card. M. de, Address, 3.3.40, 5 (ms. in the archiepiscopal archives at Munich); Goncalves-Cerejeira
Card. M., Pastoral, 1.10.39, 169-70.
362 Pius XII, Broadcast message, 24.12.41, in AAS 34 (1942) 16; John XXIII, Pacem in terris 279-81.
363 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 293-94, Paul VI, Address to U Thant, 11.7.63, 653.
 88

were outlined in the previous article; the former because it ranks man above all as a
racial procreator whose value is to be judged according to his biological
potentialities, which is a deprivation of the dignity of the human person. 364 Not
indeed that the contrary “by no means” and “nothing” is affirmed; but rather the
contradictory “not by every possible means” and “not everything,” which could bear
the above interpretation, but which would more usually signify “by some means”
and “somethings.”
In this proposition we come across another clear illustration of the basic error
of racism as condemned, namely, the attribution of supreme importance to that
which is only of subordinate value,365 by raising racial unity and purity to the apex
of human life an endeavor, not of the individual alone but also of the state.366 Hence
interracial breeding comes to be considered a type of original sin, known legally as
“contamination of the race,” and is held responsible for the physical and mental
degeneration of the society. For this reason there is a grace obligation upon the
individual as well as the state to eradicate any extraneous or feeble element, at
whatever cost to personal liberty and integrity.367
This idea, which under its ethical aspect had already been implicitly
condemned in the Syllabus of Pope Pius IX,368 was attacked directly by the Bishop
of Linz, Gfoellner, in these words:369

364 Evola J., Mitto del sangue 228; Meiberg . CSSR, Ethica van het rassisme 159; Messineo A. SJ,
Concezione della stato nel terzo Reich 358; Ordine giuridico 510-11; Rosa E. SJ, Tesi della S.
Congregazione 182.
365 Pius XII, Address to the Congress of Gymnastics and Sport, 8. 11. 52, 871.
366 Scheiwiller O. OSB,Rassenprinzip wird Schicksal 680.
367 Roey Card. J. van, Address, 24.9.45, 211; Evola J., Mito del sangue 1; Guardini R., Chrétien devant le

racisme 84; Messineo A. SJ, Concezione dello stato nel terzo Reich 355; Ordine giuridico 511: 514-15;
Wey A. van der OCarm, Ideologische ondergrond en uitbouw 437. 443.
The following are some of the means used to achieve this end: the suppression of beings inept for life
[Pius XII, Address to the Congress on Penal Law, 3.12.53, 733; Roey Card. J. van, Address, 2.9.45, 212];
sterilization [Pius XI, Casti connubii, in AAS 22 (1930) 564-65; Pius XII, Address to the Symposium on
Medical Genetics, 7.9.53, 605]; the total prohibition of marriage [Pius XII, Address to the Symposium on
Medical Genetics, 7.9.53, 607]; the prohibition of interracial marriages [Guardini R., Chrétien devant le
racisme 30. 52; Orban M., Nouvelle idole 13]; an auxiliary inseminator in the place of a sterilized husband
[Messineo A. SJ, Ordine giuridico 516]; extramarital intercourse between those of good racial stock
[Cavalli F. SJ, Nazionalsocialisme e la Santa Sede, in CC 97, 2 (1947) 255; Messineo A. SJ, Concezione
dello stato nel trezo Reich 356]; and prenuptial medical certificates [Pius XII, Address to the Symposium
on Medical Genetics, 7.9.53, 605; Guardini R., Chrétien devant le racisme 39].
368 Pius IX, Syllabus prop. 64 (DR 1764; DS 2964).
369 Gfoellner Bp. J., Pastoral, 23.1.33, 431b:

“Es ist frivoler Rassenwahn, die Blutreinheit des Ariers auf gleiche Stufe mit der Paradeunschuld unserer
Stammeltern zu stellen, den Sündenfall aber in Vergleich zu bringen mit Rassenmischung, ‘die Sünde
wider Blut und Rasse als die Erbsünde dieser Welt’ zu bezeichnen. Das alles ist Rückfall in
 89

It is nothing but frivolous racial hallucination to equate the . . . purity of blood

with the original innocence of our first parents in paradise, to compare their
fall with racial miscegenation, and to describe the ‘sin against blood and race
as the original sin of this world.’ All this amounts to nothing less than a relapse
into detestagle paganism, treating racial purity from an entirely materialistic
viewpoint.

In support of his condemnations of genocide370 and sterilization Pope Pius XII

gave the key to the Christian answer to this racist tenet. He distinguished between
the world of plants and animals on the one hand, and men on the other. With regard
to the former the scientist and specialist may freely use whatever means he likes for
the improvement of the species; but in respect of the latter, on the contrary, the
integrity of the person on all levels must be preserved inviolate, because it is
defended by inflexible moral laws.371 The theory which underlies this is simple. All
inferior creatures were made by God for the sake of man, to whom He gave the
lordship over the earth and all that it contains.372 But man himself is not merely a
physical creature. He is a person. Thus under no aspect is man an animal” his body
only exists in virtue of a spiritual soul, and even his most animal-like functions are
not the functions of an animal, but of a man, and subordinate to his human and
spiritual ends,373 because he is an incarnate liberty.374
The other side of the picture, however, is this: provided that the basic rights
to life, bodily integrity, marriage, and family life are assiduously safeguarded, the
Church by no means forbids the preservation of purity of blood and racial
characteristics, even if this involves sacrifices on the part of individuals, whether it
be by promoting health and vitality, by restraining feeble elements, or by preventing
the penetration of alien strains and influences.375

abscheuliches Heidentum und betrachter die Rassenreinheit nach rein materialistischen

Gesichtspunkten”.
370 Pius XII, Broadcast message, 24.12.42, 23; Address to the International Society for Blood

Transfusion, 5.9.58, in AAS 50 (1958) 731.

371 Pius XII, Address to the Symposium on Medical Genetics, 7.9.53, 607.
372 Gen. 1, 28-30.
373 Congar Y. OP, Catholic Church and the race question (Paris 1953) 22.
374 Ricoeur P., Philosophie de la volonté 455.
375 Pius XI, Casti connubii, 563-64; Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428-29; Address to the Symposium on

Medical Genetics, 7.9.53, 604--5; John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444; Cazzani Abp. G., Pastoral, Lent
1939, 285; Piazza Card., Address, 6.1.39; Zaffrani Bp. G., Address, 25.1.39, Gleason R. SJ, Immorality of
 90

This last mentioned item deserves more detailed attention in as much as it

includes laws against marriage between people of different races, constituting what
is known as “the impediment of disparity of blood.”
From what has been said above no one could fail to agree with Engering’s
statement to the effect that miscegenation cannot be considered sinful,376 at least in
itself and taken in the abstract. For, although race is something good even to the
point of enjoying rights, so that a person may legitimately lay down his life for the
defense of his race against an aggressor, and spend himself in promoting its growth,
and nurturing its natural characteristics; nevertheless, there can be no obligation on
the members taken individually to do this. No single person is obliged as an
individual to promote even mankind by procreation, though collectively men are
bound to this, how much less, then, can he be under moral constraint to cooperate in
the pure increase of the race by procreation within its confines.
On the other side, however, there is this to be said, that while everyone has
the natural right to marry, the exercise of this right may legitimately be curtailed in
the interests of the community, because it is not a right which is of its very nature
unlimited and unlimitable. If it were, the Church would be wrong both in vindicating
its own right to institute diriment impediments, and in acknowledging those
established by the civil authority.377
So far as the faithful are concerned the position is quite clear. Everything
which concerns their marriages pertains to the Church;378 and it is a solemnly defined
truth that the Church by divine right has the power to establish diriment impediments
to the marriages of Christians.379 Should the civil authority establish a diriment
impediment of disparity of blood, with the intention of regulating Christian

segregation, in Theology review 4 (1961) 37; Guardini R., Chrétien devant le racisme 38; Janssen A.,
Ras, natie, vaderland 44; Rassisme 178; Lopez U. SJ, Difesa della razza I, in CC 85, 1 (1934) 585; II, 32;
Orban M., Nouvelle idole 12; Rosa E. SJ, Tesi della S. Congregazione 181; Saint Denis A., Pie XI contre
les idoles 89; Solzbacher W., Rome en afgoden 128.
376 Engering S., Rassevermenging - is dit sondig?, in Brug 8, 8 (Aug. 1959) 4.
377 Cnl. of Trent, Decree on the sacrament of marriage canon 4 (DR 974; DS 1804); Codex iuris canonici

canon 1080; Gasparri Card. P., Tractatus canonicus de matrimonio, 3 ed. (Paris 1904) I, 191-94.
378 Cnl. of Trent, Decree on the sacrament of marriage canon 12 (DR 982; DS 1812); Pius VI, Letter to

the Bp. of Motula, 16.9.1788 (DR 1500a; DS 2958); Pius IX, Syllabus prop. 74 (DR 1774; DS 2974); Leo
XIII, Arcanum divinae (DR 1854; DS 3144-46).
For a fuller treatment of this subject consult Sola F. SJ, De sacramentis vitae socialis christianae, in
Sacrae theologiae summa, patrum Societatis Jesu IV, 835-43.
379 Cnl. of Trent, Decree on the sacrament of marriage canon 4 (DR 974; DS 1804); Pius XI, Syllabus

prop. 68-70 (DR 1768; DS 2968-70).

 91

marriages as regards their validity, it would certainly act beyond its competence, and
the Church could never acknowledge such an usurpation of its prerogatives.
There are both negative and positive arguments to show that the Church
herself has so far never instituted this impediment of disparity of blood with regard
to the marriages of the faithful. An examination of the decrees of synods held in
regions where the interracial problem existed, does not reveal any law against them,
nor even an implicit obstacle, simply complete science about the matter.380 Indeed
the marriages of parties of different racial origin, such as Ethiopianos, Indians, and
Europeans, as well as those of the offspring “of mixed unions, generally called
mestisos,” were positively regulated by Pope Urban VIII’s decree Animarum saluti
of 15th September 1629, without there being any hint of disapproval.381
Furthermore, while the concessions of Popes Gregory XIII and Leo XIII could easily
give rise to interracial marriages, no bulwark was erected against them in either
document.382 To this may be added the witness from the practice of the Church for
more than four hundred years especially in South and North America. It seems
justifiable, therefore, to conclude that in the eyes of the Church neither an
impedement nor the stigma of sin stand in the way of interracial marriages.
Nevertheless when biological, social, or moral circumstances do make such
action advisable, the Church will, in the interests of prudence, try its utmost to
prevent such marriages taking place, by persuasion, however, not by force of law.383
This is more especially so in places where there does in fact exist a legal penalty
applicable to anyone attempting an interracial marriage. For it is the constant policy
of the Church to try and preserve friendly relations with the state in matrimonial
matters, in the interest of the common good.384
The situation takes on a different aspect, however, when it comes to the
question of the marriages of non-Christians. Catholic writers are not of one mind
concerning the state’s right to establish diriment impediments to these unions. Some
authors in the last century and a handful in this have either denied that the state has

380 Doherty J., Moral problems of interracial marriage (Washington 1949) 29-33.
381 Urban VIII, Decree ‘Animarum saluti’, 15.9.1629, in Martinis Bp. R. de, Iuris pontificii de propaganda
fide pars prima I, 114a: “de mixtim progenitis, quos mestisos vocant”.
382 Gregory XIII, Constitution ‘Populis’, 25.1.1585, in Codex iuris canonici document 6; Leo XIII, Apostolic

letter ‘Trans oceanum’, 18.4.1897, in AAS 29 (1897) 659-63.

383 A proposito di un nuovo decreto legge, in OR 78, 265 (14-15. 11. 38) 1; La Farge J. SJ, Interracial

justice, 145-46; Nau L., Marriage laws of the Code of canon law (New York 1933) 15.
384 Leo XIII, Arcanum divinae, in AAS 12 (1879) 399-400.
 92

this authority,385 or at least considered it more likely that everything which concerns
marriage, even of non-Christians, falls within the province of the Church.386 By far
the greater number on the contrary, together with Cardinals Cavagnis and Gasparri,
hold it as certain that the civil authority can legitimately establish impediments, both
impediant and diriment, to non-Christian marriages.387 The only conditions
prescribed are that this power should be used in a reasonable way, in conformity
with the natural law.
388

This majority opinion is supported by both external and internal arguments.

The extrinsic arguments are taken from the constant practice of the Holy See in
individual cases, and from policy decisions contained in ecclesiastical documents,
especially those of the Holy Office and the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation
of the Faith, which are quoted and analysed in Cardinal Gasparri’s monumental
work.389 Even though these documents do not carry the weight of the pope’s personal
authority, they do manifest the accepted teaching of the Church. It does not seem
likely that for three hundred years the Church would, in theory and in practice, have
erred in a matter affecting the validity of a sacrament, since these regulations and
decisions naturally concern the freedom to marry of converts to Christianity in the
light of unions entered into before baptism.
The principal intrinsic reason is that human affairs are subject both to the
divine law, and also to civil government in the things which concern it unless God
has established some other authority. Now marriage certainly is of great importance
to the civil authority as being the basis of sound family life, which is crucial to the

385 See Gasparri Card. P., Tractatus canonicus de matrimonio I, 187; Pohle J., Sacraments, ed. A.
Preuss, 2 ed. (London 1918) IV, 238-39.
386 Sola F. SJ, De sacramentis vitae socialis christiane 853.
387 Cavagnis Card. F., Institutiones iuris publici ecclesiastici, 4 ed. (Romae 1906) III, 105; Gasparri Card.

P., Tractatus canonicus de matrimonio I, 187.

Among theologians who hold the same opinion can be numbered Billot Card. L., De Ecclesiae
sacramentis, 3 ed. (Romae 1901) II, 429; Huarte G. SJ, De ordine et matrimonio (Romae 1913) 232-33;
Joyce G. SJ, Christian marriage, an historical and doctrinal study (London 1948) 254;Pohle J.,
Sacraments IV, 239; Tanqueray A., De poenitentia et matrimonio, 7 ed. (Paris 1959) 202-03; Zubizarreta
V., Theologia dogmatico-scholastica (Bilbao 1939) IV, 461-62; and among moralists and canon lawyers
D’annibale, Resemans, Wernz, Lehmkuhl, Cappello, Vlaming, De Smet, Vidal, Triebs, Chelodi, Corre,
Dantes Manerati, Schaefer, Zitelli, Vermeersch-Creusen, Genicot-Salmsmans, Payen, Chabagno, V.
Heylen, Vromant [See Vromant G., De matrimonio, 3 ed. (Paris 1952) 18], to whom may be added Noldin-
Schmitt, and Aertnys-Damen.
388 Davis H. SJ, Moral and pastoral theology, 8 ed. Rev. L. Geddes SJ (London 1959) IV, 78; Jelicic V.

OFM, Praelectiones de matrimonio et ordine sacro habitae 1935-36 54 (as ms.).

389 Gasparri Card. P., Tractatus canonicus de matrimonio I, 191-94.
 93

welfare of any society. Because it is not evident that God has established any other
authority with competence over non-Christian marriages, the regulation of these
pertains to the civil authority, though only secondarily, because they are governed
in the first instance by divine law, and by human law in dependence upon and only
within the limits set by divine law. Nevertheless the formulation of human law does
belong to the civil authority, established by God precisely to regulate human affairs
in the light of the common good. 390
Granting the common opinion on the state’s right to constitute diriment
impediments to the marriages of non-Christians in the interest of the common good,
however, the further question still remains as to whether or not a diriment
impediment of disparity of blood can in fact be in the interests of the common good.
The common good is a highly complex notion, especially in our day when it
has been officially extended beyond the restricted sphere of the individual state into
the broad field of the whole of humanity. Simultaneously, by good fortune, the
concept of the common good and its constituent elements have been clearly
expounded in Pope John’s two major encyclicals. In general the common good is the
sum total of those conditions of social life by which men are able to achieve their
integral perfection more fully and more easily.391 It demands a balancing of the
common good of the individual state with that of the entire human family considered
on a world scale.392 The very reason for the existence of public authority, whether
within the state or on the world level, is the promotion of the common good.393 The
norm for the exercise of this power in the interests of the common good is the moral
law, which applies equally to individuals and to public authorities.394 This in turn is
based on human nature,395 having as its cardinal point the appreciation of the human
person taken as a whole, body and soul,396 with the recognition, safeguarding, and
promoting of his rights and legitimate sphere of freedom.397 These human values,
therefore, must constitute the primary objective of the public authority.398 Although
not exhausted and defined by them, the common good does include the innate

390 Carvagnis Card. F., Institutiones iuris publici ecclesiastici III, 106-07.
391 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 419; Pacem in terris 273.
392 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 419. 421; Pacem in terris 284.
393 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 285-86.
394 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 279-81.
395 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 272.
396 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 273. 294.
397 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 273. 275. 285-86.
398 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 294.
 94

characteristics proper to particular racial groups.399 But these must be respected in

such a way that neither individuals nor groups derive special advantage from the
preferential protection of their rights.400
Of the authors consulted who expressly treat of the question whether or not a
diriment impediment of disparity of blood can be for the common good, only Nau
replies negatively, and that in the concrete circumstance of the United State, where,
he maintains, it was introduced solely to protect the political and economic
domination of the whites.401 Should this allegation be true, then the impediment
would have to be judged wrong in terms of the doctrine of the common good outlined
above.
All the other, and later writers, on the contrary, hold that such an impediment
can serve the common good, for which opinion various arguments are deduced. First
of all, as we have mentioned, and will later deal with in greater detail, the defense
and maintenance of the identity of a race is in itself quite legitimate, and
consequently laws made to give concrete expression to this are valid.402 Secondly,
in the present state of evolution of certain political communities, interracial
marriages often enough produce such serious tensions in family life, not unlike those
arising from a mixture of religions, tat their prohibition can be morally justified in
the interest of family life which is fundamental to the good of society.403 This
personal opinion of La Farge’s is confirmed by the conclusions of the theologians,
philosophers, and sociologists from all over the world, who under the presidency of
Cardinal Van Roey constituted the Union Internationale d’Etudes Sociales.404 Their
view was accepted again in full by Guzzetti in his Morale Cattolica.405 Neither of

399 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 272.

400 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 272. 275.
401 Nau L., Marriage laws 15.
402 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428-29; John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444; Mulder W., Nieuwe Duitsche

huwelijkswetgeving, in NKS 36 (1936) 110; O’Hern C., Matrimonial impediments of the State of Arizona
and the Code of canon law compared (Rome 1961) 42.
403 La Farge J., SJ, Interracial justice 146. See also Golden J., Patterns of Negro-White inter-marriage, kn

American sociological review 19 (1954) 144-47.

404 Union Internationale d'Études Sociales, Code de moral international, nouvelle synthèse (Bruxelles

1948) 49:
“Au degré ou a été poussée la différenciation des grands rameaux de la famille humaine, la fusion des
races, physiologiquement toujours possible, présente, au point de vue moral et social des inconvénients
graves qui ne la rendent pas souhaitable. On ne peut, dès lors, condamner d’une manière absolue toute
mesure destinée à prévenir une préjudiciable fusion de races. Mais la justice et la charité commandent
alors qu’aux peuples atteints par ces mesures il soit reconnu un champ d’expansion approprié dans les
continents que la nature même paraît avoir plus spécialement désignés”.
405 Guzzetti G., Morale cattolica (Milano 1958) III, 170.
 95

these reasons has been invalidated by the extension of the notion of the common
good beyond the frontiers of the particular state, especially as this dimension was
not absent from the perspectives of the Union Internationale d’Etudes Sociales.
Indeed the very documents which advocate this extension still make the surveillance
of the common good of the particular political community the primary function of
the state,406 and still adhere to the Church’s traditional teaching on the value of
distinct ethnic groups.407
Whence in conclusion it can be said that civil laws which prevent interracial
marriages of non-Christians seem to be justified in certain conditions of society, in
the interests of the two parties themselves and the children, and for the sake of the
peaceful coexistence of different racial groups in one political community. Also, the
making of laws regulating the validity of non-Christian marriages is normally held
to be, as we have seen, a legitimate exercise of authority on the part of the state.
Hence, until the contrary is proved, or the matter is authoritatively decided otherwise
by the Church, the opinion which attributes to the state the competence to institute
the diriment impediment of disparity of blood seems to be likely enough.408

The Fourth Proposition

“The primary end of education is the cultivation of the racial character and the
enkindling of a burning love for one's own race as the highest good.”

Having examined the individual’s relation to the welfare of the race on the
procreative level, it is time to consider this relation from a more spiritual viewpoint.
The proposition as presented has three vitiating expressions, without which it
would not constitute a contradiction to the Christian scheme of things. These are
“primary,” “burning,” and above all “highest.”

406 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 284.

407 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 442-43; Pacem in terris 283-84.
408 Alford C., Ius civile matrimoniale in Statibus Foederatis Americae Septentrionalis cum iure canonico

compartatum (Romae 1937) I. 146; O’Hern C., Matrimonial impediments of the State of Arizona 42.
 96

That the Church recognizes race as something good in the created order,409
has already been shown in various ways in the course of the preceding discussion,
and will be yet more amply illustrated by subsequent references to the doctrine of
the Catholic hierarchy and writers. For, like all other aspects of creation, races
partially reflect the divine fulness of being, so that by using what the racial factor
can contribute to their total development men are able to perfect themselves and
glorify God.410
Hence here again the error of racism does not consist in a total falsehood, but
in the exaggeration of elevating what is only of relative importance to the rank of
supreme value.411 This exaltation may be understood in two possible ways: if it be
taken in the absolute sense, then it ends up in the heresy of materialistic pantheism;
if accepted merely relatively, in the sense that race is the summit of terrestrial values
it will not completely escape the strictures brought against the second, third, and
sixth propositions. For in either case the biological element is given undue
importance, to the disparagement of true personality and the transcendent personal
end of man, and to the depreciation of many earthly values of greater merit for
human life than race.412
According to the racist vision, as we have seen it in the analysis of these
propositions, the state is the embodiment and organ of the race by which it expresses
itself and acts collectively, and the supreme glory of man lies in his being a racial
progenitor. Hence his offspring, since they are first and foremost for the sake of the
race, belong primarily to the state. They are thereby subject to the state in the first
place, especially as regards education, which must be properly directed to the
preserving and fostering of “the vigour of the race and the purity of its blood.”413 No
other society has a right to interfere in this mission of the racial state, neither the

409 Pius XI, Address to Propaganda College, 28. 7. 38; John XXIII, Pacem in terris 272; Meiberg A.
CSSR, Ethica van het rassisme 157.
410 Pius XI, Address to Propaganda College, 28. 7. 38; Hier. FWA and Togo, Declaration, 24. 4. 55, in DC

52 (1955) 672; Hier. Upper Volta, Pastoral, 27. 1. 59, in DC 56 (1959) 547; Congar Y. OP, Catholic
Church and the race question 14; Constantius OFMCap, Katholicisme en rasvraagstuk 26; Coonen J.,
Catholics and colour prejudice, some reflections, in Clergy review 44 (1959) 288; Gleason R. SJ.,
Immorality of segregation 30; Kaelin B. OSB, Vom erwigen Gesetz, der kirchliche Geischtspunkt, in
Schweizerische Rundschau 38 (1938-39) 686; Meiberg A. CSSR, Ethica van het rassisme 157; Pinsk J.,
Christianity and race, tr. C. Bonacina (London 1936) 33.
411 Hier. Switzerland, Pastoral, 5. 7. 38, (Fribourg 1938, French text) 3; Roey Card. J. van, Address, 4. 3.

42. 330.
412 Gregoire F., Use and misuse of philosophy 700; Wat is het racisme? 37; La Brière Y. de SJ, Histoire

religieuse 806; Lamberty M., Kritiek van het racisme 10; Rosa E. SJ, Tesi della S. Congregazione 183.
413 Prop. 2
 97

family nor the Church.414 Then, because “all intellectual and moral qualities flow
from the blood, in which the characteristics of the race are contained, as from their
principal source”,415 the place of honour must be given to the cultivation of the body,
and the next to the nurturing of the other innate characteristics of the race.416
This theory of education is a total subversion of the Christian system. It
confounds above all the relative emphases to be placed on the different items in the
programme, which for a Christian must always start with preparing citizens for
heaven;417 the next place being given to the cultivation of the spiritual faculties, so
that the person may become a responsible citizen on earth, working for the universal
common good as well as that of the local community;418 the third place going to the
physical development precisely in order than the first two might be fulfilled, because
it is not the body which is f primary importance in man but the spirit,419 since human
society must be regarded above all as a spiritual reality.420 In addition it violates the
hierarchy of authorities responsible for education, which are firstly the Church,
secondly the parents, and lastly the state, and then only in terms of its subsidiary
function.421 But perhaps theologically speaking the most dangerous perversion is that
the racist system implies that everything in man as he is born has only to be
cultivated in its own natural direction for his perfection to be achieved. Hence it
takes no account of the profound disorder in man, wounded in his natural being and
powers by original sin, on account of which his innate tendencies have to be purged
and corrected, and diligently redirected according to the order revealed by God.422
Yet it must not be thought that in rejecting the presumptions of exaggerated
and separatist racism, the Church undervalues the innate qualities of races and their
cultivation. Let us listen for a moment to the voice of Pope Pius XII, whose words
were re-echoed verbatim by Pope John XXIII:423
414 Pius XI, Non abbiamo bisogno, in AAS 23 (1931) 302; Guardini R., Chrétien devant le racisme 67-68.
80; Messineo A. SJ, Concezione dello stato nel terzo Reich 354-55. 358; Ordine giuridico 512.
415 Prop. 3
416 Guardini R., Chrétien devant le racisme 72-73; Janssen A., Ras, natie, vaderland 45; Rassisme 179;

Messineo A. SJ, Concezione dello stato nel terzo Reich 354-55.

417 Pius XI, Divini illius Magistri 51.
418 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 296.
419 Pius XII, Address to the Congress of Gymnastics and Sport, 8. 11. 52, 871.
420 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 266.
421 Pius XI, Divini illius Magistri 52-65.
422 Pius XI, Divini illius Magistri 69; Bornewasser Bp. F., Pastoral, 2. 4. 34, in KADT 78, 87 (1934) 56;

Racialist religion 524; Rongen H. OCR, Nationaal-socialisme en katholicisme, stemmen pro en contra, in
Kultuurleven 9 (1938) 586.
423 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428-29; John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444:
 98

The Church of Jesus Christ, the bountiful and faithful steward of His divine
wisdom, by no means strives either to trample upon or to belittle the peculiar
characteristics and properties of any nation. The different peoples legitimately
and with good reason jealously cherish these peculiarities and defend them as
sacred heritage. The Church does, however, exert herself vigorously to draw
these differences into a unity, a unity strengthened and exalted by supernatural
love, which should be the driving force in everyone; she does not aim at
reducing everything to a single uniform pattern, which, being merely external,
would seriously enfeeble their innate powers. The Church readily approves
of, and follows with her maternal blessing, all regulations and practical efforts
that, in a spirit of wisdom and moderation, lead to the evolution and increase
of the potentialities and powers which spring up from the hidden sources of
life of each race. She does, however, lay down one provision, namely, that
these regulations and efforts must not clash with the duties incumbent on all
men in virtue of the common origin and destiny of all mankind.

In the field of practical education then one has to seek to find a way out of the
difficulty posed by La Farge, that the preservation of a sound and positive racial
heritage, while escaping from the trammels of racism, is among the most delicate
and difficult problems that the educator has to face.424
For everyone indeed this legitimate love towards the natural group to which
he belongs, whether it be country, nation, or race, of which the Pope spoke, is so
instinctive,425 that, like all man’s instinctive drives, it can easily get out of hand in a
selfish way and make havoc of the justice and charity due to all men. 426 Sound

“ Iesu Christi Ecclesia, utpote fidelissima almae divinaeque sapientiae custos, non ea pro certe nitiur
deprimere vel parvi facere, quae peculiares cuiusvis nationis notas proprietatesque constituant, quas
quidem populi jure meritoque quasi sacram hereditatem religiose acrrimeque tueantur. Ea siquidem ad
unitatem cotendit, superno illo amore comfortatam et altam, quo omnes actuose exerceantur; non vero ad
unam assequendam rerum omnium aequabilitatem, externam tantummodo atque adeo insitas vires
debilitatem. Et curas omnes ac normas, quae facultatibus viribusque sapienter explicandis temperatque
aygendis inserviunt - quae quidem ex occultis cuiuvis stirpis latebris oriuntur - Ecclesia approbat
maternisque votis prosequitur, si modo officiis non adversentur, quae communis mortalium omnium origo
communisque destinatio imponant”.
See also Hier. Germany, Pastoral, 7. 6. 34 (1934) 9.
424 La Farge J. SJ, Racial truth and racist error, in Thought 14 (1939) 29.
425 Halliman Bp. F., Pastoral, Lent 1961 (Charleston 1961) 1; Hyland Bp. F., Pastoral, Lent 1961 (Atlanta

1961) 1; McDonough Bp. T., Pastoral, Lent 1961 (Savannah 1961) 1; Messineo A. SJ, Internazionalismo
cosmopolita 16; Semaine Religieuse de Lyon, Notes doctrinales 1194.
426 Pius XI, Ubi arcano, in AAS 14 (1922) 682; Caritate Christi compulsi, in AAS 24 (1932) 179; Hinsley

Card. A., Pastoral, Lent 1939, in Tablet 173 (1939) 267; Orban M., Nouvelle idole 77.
 99

doctrine, on the contrary, demands that collective egoism be overcome, so that the
instinctive human urge towards solidarity with others, rooted basically in the unity
of mankind, may be evolved to such a point that it includes not only other groups,
but reaches out to embrace the whole of mankind in an ever increasing surge of
love.427 Granted that all do not have to be loved with equal tenderness, the minimum
required is that no one be positively excluded.428

The Fifth Proposition

“Religion is subject to the law of the race and must be adapted to it.”

As the detailed examination of these condemned propositions draws to a

close, it becomes apparent that all the various tendencies coalesce towards a concept
of man’s relation to God which cannot be reconciled with Christianity.
Racism, as presented in the instruction, elevates race to the apex of human
values. Consequently it must perforce accept one of the two possible conclusions
which follow necessarily from this exaltation: either by an absolute apotheosis of
race it falls into that “idolatry of race and blood,”429 which is in fact nothing else
than a particular aspect of materialistic and biological pantheism more than once
solemnly rejected by the Church; or, while not expressly denying the existence of a
transcendent God, in assigning to race a primordial and deterministic place among
created things, it destroys objective religion by its inherent relativism which leads at
best to agnosticism and more likely ends in atheism.430
In terms of either hypothesis religion becomes completely anthropocentric,
not in the individualistic sense, but racially, for the reason that all intellectual and

427 St. Pius X, Lacrimabili statu Indorum 524; Pius XII, Summi ponticatus 430; Address to the Congress ‘ I
Cattolici e la Vita Internazionale ‘, 16.7.52, in DRM 14 (1952-53) 258; Hier. Switzerland, Pastoral, 5.7.38,
6 (German text); Messineo A. SJ, Internazionalismo cosmopolita 16.
428 Hier. Uganda, Pastoral, 1.6.52 in Church to Africa (London 1959) 50; Guzzetti G., Morale cattolica III,

157.
429 Pius XII, Address to the cardinals 2.6.45, in AAS 37 (1945) 162: “I idolatria della razza e del sangue”.

See also Hier. Germany, Pastoral, 7.6.34, 5. 10.

430 Hier. Germany, Pastoral, 28.8.38, 64; Mancini A., SS, Del razzismo 66; Rosa E. SJ, Tesi della S.

Congregazione 184. See also St. Pius X, Pascendi in ASS 40 (1907) 634.
 100

moral qualities flow from the blood.431 This deterministic fatalism makes any
universally valid, supernatural revelation simply impossible;432 and because, like the
juridical order, religion is an epiphenomenon of the racial instinct, we end up with
another form of the immanentism and sentimentalism of the modernists.433
Religion as such having been rendered relative by its dependence on the blood
of each race, it obviously follows that religious truth is likewise deprived of
objectivity and universality, becoming subject like all other knowledge to the
biologically determined intellectual characteristics of the particular race. Whence
the upholders of this viewpoint concluding that the Christian religion, and especially
Catholicism, is nothing more than a product of Semetic and Roman culture, 434
logically demand a racial religion incorporated in a racial or national church, and
subject to the law of the race.435
Furthermore, since this law is known and given palpable form by the
embodiment and organ of the race, the state, to which all things are subject, it follows
naturally that religious matters too should be regulated by this authority. This
distinction between the spiritual and the temporal domains no longer has any
meaning. A concordat, therefore, between the Catholic Church and any state cannot
possibly be an agreement binding the state,436 since it alone is competent in religious
matters, which like all other public affairs, are regulated according to the good of the
race as perceived by the governing racial elite.
Pruning off this wild branch which had been grafted onto the tree of religion,
Pope Pius once again made the characteristics of the true stock perceptible. God, the
transcendent Creator of all things apart from Himself, is the God of all men,
considered both individually and in their various groupings; thus it is false to talk of

431 Hier. Germany, Pastoral, 7.6.34, 5; Hilkman A., Nacionalsocialismo aleman 154.
432 Harcourt R. d’, Religion du sang 42; Radl E., Philosophie der rassentheorieeen, in Christendom
bedreigd door rassenwaan 116.
433 Harcourt R. d’, Religion du sang 42; Orban M., Nouvelle idole 78.
434 Holy Office, Decree condemning the book ‘Die deutsche Nationalkirche’ by E. Bergman; Hier

Germany, Pastoral, 7.6.34, 6; Pastoral, 28.8.38, 61; Guardini R., Chrétien devant le racisme 85. 94;
Harcourt R. d’, Racisme dans la vie de l'âme de la jeunesse, in Bressolles A., Racisme et christianisme
157; Racialist religion 524.
435 Holy Office, Decree condemning the book ‘ Der Mythus des 20 Jahrhunderts’ by A. Rosenberg; Hier.

Bavaria, Pastoral, 12.2.31, 533; Roey Card. J. van, Address, 2.9.45, 211; Wey A. van der OCarm,
Ideologische ondergrond en uitbouw 457.
436 Pius XI, Letter to Card. Schuster, 26.4.31, in Actes 7 (1931) 39-40; Hier. Germany, Pastoral, 7.6.34; 9;

Gfoellnes Bp. J., Pastoral, 23.1.33, 433a; La Brière Y. de SJ, Histoire religieuse 808-09; National-
socialism, a religion, in Tablet 171 (1938) 202; Roullet A., Personne et les faits 163.
 101

the god of a particular nation or race.437 Consequently there can be no such thing as
a racial religion or a national church, since the Church of Jesus Christ is one,
indivisible, and universal, apt for all men of whatever race, era, or region.438 If any
society can by right be considered to embrace the whole man, it is the Mystical Body
of Christ: “the whole, integral man belongs to the Church, because wholly and totally
he belongs to God.”439 To this Church Christ has bequeathed His divine revelation,
so definitive, sufficient, and obligatory, that there is no place left for any appendix
or substitute of human “revelation” arising from the blood of the race or the history
of the nation.440 Neither can the racial blood be spoken of as a redeemer or means of
salvation, since these titles belong by right to Christ alone.441 In addition,
immortality properly belongs to the human person as such, by no means, therefore,
to the survival and continuation of any particular collectivity; so that whoever holds
the contrary overthrows the foundations of the Christian faith and indeed all religion,
as well as the good order of the world.442 Finally, to have a confident solicitude for
the prospering of one’s people which is dear to all men, is perfectly legitimate; but
to give this the title of “faith” with a religious signification is only playing with
words and confusing terminology.443

437 Pius XI. Mit brennender Sorge 149.

438 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge 152. 156. See also Hier. Germany, Pastoral, 7.6.34, 5. 8-9; Hier.
Sundan, Pastoral, 15.2.56, in Church to Africa 118-19; Hier. Switzerland, Pastoral, 5.7.38, 6 (German
text); Bornewasser Bp. F., Pastoral, 2.4.34, 55; Faulhaber Card. M. de, Address, 30.11.30, in SZuk 6
(1930-31) 201; Address, 31.12.33, in Judentum, Christentum, Germanentum, Adventspredigten gehalten
in St. Michael zu Muenchen 1933 (Muenchen 1934) 102. 116-18; Groeber Abp. K., Kirche, Vaterland, und
Vaterlandsliebe 110-11; Address, 31.12.35, in Hofmann K., Hirtenrufe des Erzbischofs Groeber in die Zeit
(Freiburg im Breisgau 1947) 56.
439 Pius XI, Address to CFTC, 18.9.38, 159: “l’homme tout entier appartient à l'Église, parce que, tout

entier, il appartient à Dieu".

See also Cornelissen A., Moderne staatsgedachte 73-74; Tromp S. SJ, Ware wereldorde, in Limburgsche
Sociale Studieweek 1937, Verslagboek 9.
440 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge 151. 156. See also Groeber Abp. K., Pastoral, Sept. 1935, in Hofmann

K., Hirtenrude des Erzbischofs Groeber 40; Address, 31.12.35, 56.

441 Pius XI Mit brennender Sorge 151. See also Hier. Germany, Pastoral, 7.6.34, 5-7; Bornewasser Bp.

F., Pastoral 2.4.34, 55; Faulhaber Card. M. de, Address, 31.12.33, 118.
442 Pius XI. Mit brennender Sorge 156.
443 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge 152. 156.
 102

Chapter 5

Race

In the preceding chapter the theological view of race was given

principally in its negative aspect, by considering the propositions concerning races
which the Holy See has deemed necessary to condemn as being irreconcilable with
the complexus of Christian truth. Nevertheless from time to time in the course of this
exposition reference was made to certain positive tenets with regard to our subject
which are common in the teaching of the Church. It is to this positive doctrine that
we shall now turn our attention in order to try and uncover what can be gleaned from
theological sources about the existence and nature of races, and their place in the
integral Christian vision of the universe.
To this end we shall first take a look at the idea of race in itself,
following a scheme similar to that used in the second chapter when dealing with the
racial findings of the positive scientists. As this latter for completeness’ sake was
brought to a close with certain observations about culture and its connections with
race, so here too the relation between race and culture will be examined, but for
convenience in a separate chapter. Then, since man in the full dimensions of his
being has a supernatural destiny, in the final chapter an attempt will be made to
situate race and culture in that sublime supernatural mystery which is the Mystical
Body of Christ, in both its temporal and eschatological dimensions.

The Existence of Races

In the first chapter we had occasion to point out that the contemporary ideas
about race are relatively recent origin, in fact, scarcely antedating the last century. It
 103

is little wonder then that the term is found for the first time in episcopal statements
as late as 1891,444 and not until 1916 in papal documents.445 Since then it has been
used with increasing frequency, especially since the emergence of doctrinaire racism
as a political force in the 1930s, though in the postwar years it has been employed
in an ever widening context as racial problems have progressively assumed greater
significance on the world stage. Yet from the beginning the use made of the word
'race' in ecclesiastical circles has been such that it was undoubtedly intended to
signify something fairly definite.
How far this concept of race extends can be gathered, by way of a brief outline
prior to a more detailed examination, from statements made by catholic writers.
Because every heresy contains within itself a nucleus of truth, which in this case is
simply that various races of men exist, each with its own distinctive character,446 the
Church, while rejecting completely the tenets of exaggerated racism, nonetheless
willingly accepts the actual facts of race in their concrete historical circumstances.447
Consequently at the same time as acknowledging the diversity and singularity of
races,448 the Church rejects, equally with the racist assertions of radical racial
superiority and inferiority, the tendency towards a depreciation and leveling of races
found at the opposite extreme.449 It does this in the confidence that Christianity,
grounded in reality and truth, is able to harmonize the affirmation of the radical unity
of mankind with the recognition of racial diversity.450 Hence the Church combines a
sane realism with a lofty idealism in such a way that its realism is infused with the
ideal while its idealism remains firmly anchored in reality, because there are two
complementary aspects of the truth. There can therefore be no better way of
combatting racism and racial discrimination, than by a sane and realistic
acknowledgement of the facts of race and of historical and cultural inequalities.451
It is not an isolated phenomenon, however, to find members of the hierarchy

444 Ireland Abp. J., Address, 1.1.1891, in Tam-tam 4, 2 (Nov. 1954) 1-2.
445 Benedict XV, Letter of the Bps. of Canada, 8.9.16, in AAS 8 (1916) 390.
446 Janssen A., Ras, natie, vaderland 32; Rassisme 170.
447 Boileanu D., Ethical principles and discrimination in the United States of America, unpublished thesis

(Louvain 1961: University Catholique de Louvain, Institut Superiur de Philosophie, thesis 1961 Boileau
D.A.I. & II)
448 Kaelin B. OSB, Vom ewigen Gesetz 686.
449 Constantius OFMCap, Katholicisme en rasvraagstuk 10.
450 Gleason R. SJ, Immorality of segregation 30.
451 Congar Y. OP, Attitudes de l’Eglise devant les faits de race, in Centre Catholique des Intellectuels

Français, Colonisation et conscience chrétienne (Paris 1953) 62.

 104

and catholic writers treating of the racial factor as irrelevant. Yet an examination of
the context of these statements makes it clear that they are referring either to the
personal dignity common to all men in virtue of their human nature, or to the purely
spiritual plane.452 This is equally true with regard to the citing of Saint Paul’s
statement to the Galatians,453 that “there is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither
bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”454
Never has the Church sought to play down this latter distinction between male and
female. Indeed she rather emphasizes it as the theological foundation of marriage,
which, raised by Christ to the supernatural dignity of a sacrament, forms the basis of
family life and hence of society. The Apostle to the gentiles cannot, therefore, have
intended to reject the other natural distinctions which he cites, since these are all
mentioned in the same way without qualification: Christian realism does not permit
us to ignore any human factor.455 This had already been made clear by Saint
Augustine fifteen centuries ago in his commentary on the abovementioned
passage,456 where he insists that all these natural differences retain their validity in
the affairs of this world, since Saint Paul himself laid down prescriptions by which
Jews and Greeks, masters and servants, husbands and wives might live together
peacefully in terms of their natural differences. In our own century Pinsk has
reiterated this explanation in terms on the modern problematique.457

452 Pius XI, Address to CFTC 18.9.38, 158; Pius XII, Address to a group from the state schools of
Belgium, 12.4.52, in DRM 14 (1952-53) 60; Hier. South Africa, Pastoral, 2.2.90, 3; Hier. USA, Pastoral,
26.9.19, in Our bishops speak 20; Chappoulie Bp. H., Address, 2.10.55, 1347; Cushing Card. R.,
Address, 21.12.47, (ms. in the archives of the Daughters of St. Paul, Boston); Shuster Card. A., Address,
13.11.38, in Rivista diocesana milanese 28 (1938) 617; Stritch Card. S., Letter, 18.4.44, (in the archives
of the Archdiocese of Chicago); Gleason R. SJ, Immorality of segregation 34; Guardini R., Chrétien
devant le racisme 22. 69; Masson J. SJ, Chrétien devant le ‘colour-bar’, in NRT 78 (1956) 631.
453 John XXIII, Decretal for the canonization of Martin de Porres, 6.6.62, in AAS 55 (163) 197; Agagianian

Card. G., Address, 2.10.55, 1374; Schuster Card. A., Address, 13.11.38, 617; Gleason R. SJ, Immorality
of segregation 34.
454 Gal. 3, 28.
455 Congar Y. OP, Catholic Church and the race question 17. 35.
456 St. Augustine, Epistolae ad Galatas expositionis liber unus (PL 35, 2125).
457 Pinsk J., Christianity and race 38:

“And yet it would show a complete misunderstanding of these Pauline passages if we sought to eliminate
altogether from the life of the Church such earthly forms of existence as we find established in male and
female, in the classes of society, in the political organism, and in racial diversity. Thus though it is a
positive and vital truth that man and woman, for example, receive the same plentitude of divine life, yet for
the form of the Church’s manifestation in this world, the sexual differentiation retains its significance, not
only in the external things, but also in the ordering of the intrinsic life of grace. . . This makes us careful
lest we be tempted to interpret the Pauline texts in the sense of a natural forms of life. That these retain
their significance for the being and activity of the Church in the world is due to the fact that the Church is
not a purely spiritual construction, but that her divine structural principle, although in itself absolutely
 105

The Characteristics of Race

That racial differences are not only somatic but also psychic, not only material
in their influence but also spiritual, is among the facts of race which are readily
accepted in the Church, and regarded as fundamental by catholic writers, because of
the integral unity of the human person,458 which was discussed earlier. Not that
psychic or spiritual characteristics as such are transmitted directly, but rather that
they accompany the hereditary physical constitution, in which they are rooted.459 Yet
they are not fixed in a deterministic manner, but on account of their plasticity are
capable of maturing in many and various ways.460 And all this in a total ontic
dependence on God Whose causality extends to all things without exception, to the
principles of similarity of the species equally with the principles of individuality, to
the elements of permanence as well as to elements of change.461
This, however, is not the teaching of catholic writers alone, but also of the
bishops,462 and more especially of the popes.
In three of his discourses to the medical profession, Pope Pius XII, speaking
of the human composite, emphasized the perfect union of soul and body, which he
called man’s essential talents, intimately united and intimately independent. This
unitary whole has four dimensions: it is an integral psychic unity, a unity structured
within itself, a social unity, and lastly a transcendental unity orientated towards
God.463

independent of all natural conditionings, must go through a process of incarnation, in order that the
specifically Christian Church may rise at all.”
458 Brown S. SJ, Racialism, in Irish ecclesiastical record 55 (1940) 142; Folliet J., Racisme devant la

raison 28. 33; Kaelin B. OSB, Vom ewigen Gesetz 683. 686; Mancini A. SS, Del razzismo 65; Messineo
A. SJ, Alla ricerca di una soluzione, chiarimenti e distinzioni, in CC 90, 1 (1939) 213; Orban M., Nouvelle
idole 15; Vansteenkiste C. OP, Rassenvraagstuk 55; Waesberghe H. SJ, Nederlands rassenboek 513-14.
459 Boelaars H. CSSR, Rassisme en rassenkunde 102; Gregoire F., Wat is het rassisme? 10; Meiberg A.

CSSR, Ethica van het rassisme 157.

460 Messineo A. SJ, Minoranze nazionali, in CC 95, 2 (1944) 89.
461 St. Thomas, S. theol. I q.22 a.2 in corp. (121a).
462 Hier. USA, Declaration, 14.11.42, 119; Faulhaber Card. M. de, Address, 3.3.40.
463 Pius XII, Address to the Italian Medico-Biological Union of St. Luke, 12.11.44, in DRM 6 (1944-45)

184-85; Address to the third European Congress of Gastro-Enterology, 26.4.52, in DRM 14 (1952-53)
106; Address to the National Convention of Nurses, 1.10.53, in AAS 45 (1953) 782.
 106

In virtue of this integral wholeness he pointed out the value, but also the
unfathomableness, of the transmission of a treasure of material and spiritual riches
in a hereditary group, perpetuating the same physical and spiritual type from
generation to generation. There is no denying the material substratum of this
transmission, since, on account of the intimate union of soul and body, even the most
spiritual activities depend on the body. Hence heredity is worthy of high esteem,
even from the supernatural viewpoint.464
For this reason, exhorting lawyers to a deeper study of various problems of
human rights which are too complex to be solved by a simple “yes” or “no,” the
Pope put at the head of the list races, with their biological, psychic, and social
consequences.465 For the community of blood between people, whether in families
or in larger collectivities, brings with it duties and responsibilities, because, granted
that the formal element of human societies is of the psychic and moral order,
nevertheless heredity is its material foundation, which merits great respect and must
not be injured. So it is that whatever can be said about heredity in a restricted sphere
can also be applied in a modified way to the vast groups which constitute the races
of mankind.466 Nevertheless, like his successor, Pope John XXIII, Pope Pius XII did
not stop at the merely negative point of censuring the injury of the hereditary racial
factors,467 but gave his blessing to all wise and moderate regulations and efforts
aimed at the evolution and flourishing of the potentialities and powers that spring up
from the hidden sources of life of the different races.468
All this had already been foreshadowed in Pope Pius XI’s encyclical against
racism, when he ranked race among the fundamental values of human society in the
order of the world as designed and created by God.469 This he would hardly have
done had he considered race a superficial and incidental matter of little or no import,
simply a “question of colour” as some would put it.

The Differences and Equality of Races

464 Pius XII, Address to the Roman nobility, 5.1.41, 364.

465 Pius XII, Address to the Union of Catholic Jurists, 6.12.53, 796.
466 Pius XII, Address to the Society for Blood Transfusion, 5.9.58, 731.
467 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 283.
468 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428-29; John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444.
469 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge 149.
 107

From what has been said above it is clear that the Church recognizes a real
diversity among the races of men, in virtue of which each race has something which
is peculiar and native to it, and which Popes Pius XII and John XXIII call “innate
potentialities”470 or “innate dispositions.”471 It is by no means surprising, therefore,
to find numerous explicit testimonies to this racial diversity,472 which some authors
even go so far as to compare with the differences existing between the two sexes.473
It follows necessarily that no one race can possess completely the full riches
and potentialities of humanity, since it will lack that which constitutes the peculiarity
of the other races and makes them distinct from it. The exemplar of human nature in
the mind of God is too rich to be exhausted by any single race, so that in the present
order of things mankind is enriched by a multiplicity of races.474 For this reason the
Church does not accept any particular race as being the absolute norm by which to
judge others, as though it possessed wholly what others had only in part.475
The question could possibly be asked: would it not be for the greater enriching
of mankind, and thus to the greater glory of God, if the existing races should
intermingle to the point where the genetic complex would become so uniform that
racial distinctions would no longer exist or be observable, so that there would be in

470 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428; John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444.
471 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 272.
472 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 284; Decretal for the canonization of Martin de Porres, 6.6.62, 200; Vatican

Cnl. II, Message to all men, 20.10.62, 824; Hier. France, Déclaration, 6.3.53, in DC 50 (1953) 324; Hier.
FWA and Togo, Déclaration, 24.4.55, 672; Hier. Sudan, Pastoral, 15.2.56, 121; Hier. Tanganyika,
Pastoral, 11.7.53, in Church to Africa 60; Hier. Upper Volta, Pastoral, 27.1.59, 547; Cazzani Abp. G.,
Pastoral, Lent 1939, 276-77; Chappoulie Bp H., Address, 2.10.55, 10; Feltin Card. M., Address, 10.5.59,
in DC 56 (1959) 789; Lienart Card. A., Pastoral, 21.2.60, in DC 57 (1960) 298; Mattieu Bp. C., Harmonie
de la vie personnel et société dans l’Eglise; comment l’Eglise défend la personne de ses enfants, in
Semaines Sociales de France 1937, Personne humaine en péril 468; Roey Card. J. van, Address, Aug.
1938, 547; Address, 2.10.40, in CMec 14 (1940-44) 9; Address, 4.3.42, 340; Zaffrani Bp. G., Address,
25.1.39; Congar Y. OP, Attitudes de l’Eglise devant les faits de race 62; Corte N., Origines de l’homme
74; Daniélou J. SJ, Essai sur le mystère de l’histoire 60; Folliet J., Racisme devant la raison 33. 42;
Gleason R. SJ, Immorality of segregation 30; Janssen A., Ras, natie, vaderland 32. 36; Rassisme 170;
Kaelin B. OSB, Vom ewigen Gesetz 686; Pinsk J., Christianity and race 33. 38; Radl E., Philosophie der
rassentheorieen 107.
473 Folliet J., Racisme devant la raison 42-43; Marcos V. OMI, De animarum humanarum inaequalitate

449; Pinsk J., Christianity and race 33. 35. 38; Verdum M. SJ, Probleme racial 87.
474 Pius XI, Address to Propaganda College, 28.7.38; Hier. FWQA and Togo, Declaration, 24.4.55, 672;

Bea Card. A., Address, 1.4.63, 731; Congar Y. OP, Catholic Church and the race question 14;
Constantius OFMCap, Katholicisme en rasvraagstuk 26; Coonen J. Catholics and colour prejudice 288;
Danielou J. SJ, Essai sur le mystère de l’histoire 60; Gleason R. SJ, Immorality of segregation 30; Kaelin
B. OSB, Vom ewigen Gesetz 686; Meiberg A. CSSR, Ethica van het rassisme 157; Pinsk J., Christianity
and race 33.
475 Constantius OFMCap, Katholicisme en rasvraagstuk 11. 16.
 108

the strict and technical sense of the word only one race of men? Unfortunately the
speculative discussion of the question lies outside the scope of this work, which, as
has been intimated, does not go beyond discussing and unifying the ideas about race
that are to be found in the official statements of the hierarchy and theological
writings. To the best of our knowledge no catholic writer in his capacity as a
theologian has raised this question, nor has it been mooted in the public teaching of
the Church. Even should such a state of racial uniformity come about at some future
stage in the history of mankind, it would not invalidate what is said here about the
value of distinct races in the order of the world designed and created by God. For,
granting that a time may come when there will be only one race occupying the whole
earth, it would not alter the fact that looking back down past ages mankind would
present a variegated pattern of diverse genetic complexes. Nor in the light of the
Church’s attitude towards the rights of races would it be licit to procure such a state
of racial uniformity by political coercion. It would have to arise in the natural course
of social intermingling.
As we have already seen, the assertion that races are superior and inferior by
an innate substantial difference, which would in fact constitute them into diverse
species, is incompatible, with the Christian doctrine of the essential unity of
mankind; and time and again the teaching authority of the Church has declared
against a radical superiority of one race over others.476 Hence it is that Pope John has
insistently denied that some human beings are by nature superior and others by
nature inferior.477 Which can be put positively by saying that human races are
substantially equal, at least potentially.478 This does not rule out the possibility of a
gradation of races built on an incidental superiority and inferiority.479
476 Pius XI, Rerum Ecclesiae, in AAS 18 (1926) 77; John XXIII, Pacem in terris 281; Hier. Southern
Rhodesia, Pastoral, 21.5.61, (Gwelo 1961) 10; Bornewasser Bp. F., Pastoral, Lent 1934, 659; Cazzani
Abp. G., Pastoral, Lent 1939, 277-78; Gfoellner Bp. J., Pastoral, 23.1.33, 430a; Guerry Abp. E., Address,
22.5.62, 810; Ireland Abp. J., Address, 1.1.1891, 2; Mathieu Bp. C., Harmonie de la vie personnelle 468;
Moussaron Bp. J., Declaration, 23.11.44, 1; Piazza Card. A., Address, 6.1.39; Roey Card. J. van,
Address, Aug. 1938, 574; Address, 4.3.42, 340; Address, 2.9.45, 210; Gleason R. SJ, Immorality of
segregation 36; Kenealy W. SJ, Legal profession and segregation, in Social order 6 (1956) 488-89;
Semaine Religieuse de Lyon, Notes doctrinales 1194.
477 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 281.
478 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 268. 281. 292; Hier. FWA and Togo, Declaration, 24.4.55, 672; Cazzani

Abp. G., Pastoral, Lent 1939, 287; Cushing Card. R., Address, 21.12.47; Feltin Card. M., Address,
20.4.56, 616; Congar Y. OP, Question raciales et théologie, in Revue de l’action populaire 142 (Nov.
1960) 1036-37; Janssen A., Ras, natie, vaderland 36; Semaine Religieuse de Lyon, Notes doctrinales
1194.
479 Mathieu Bp. C., Harmonie de la vie personnelle 468; Roey Card. J. van, Address, 4.3.42, 340;

Janssen A., Ras, natie, vaderland 32; Rassisme 170; Pinsk J., Christianity and race 33.
 109

The principal reasons adduced for this general equality of races can be reduced
to four. All belong to the same species and share a common nature, having the same
origin and destiny, but one universal Redeemer, and the same fundamental rights
and obligations consequent upon this common heritage.480 Besides their distinctive
characteristics, and talents by which they are distinguished from others, men of
whatever rave have things of great importance in common, in terms of what they are
able progressively to perfect themselves, especially with regard to riches of the
soul.481 Because races are not fixed and static phenomena, but rather flexible and in
constant process of flux, they are all capable of evolution and are all perfectible. 482
Finally all are capable of receiving the Christian faith and eternal salvation.483
Naturally these differences between races, and inequalities should they exist,
since they do not pertain to human nature as such, and consequently are not essential
with regard to the specific difference, are always called by Catholics “accidental.”484
This is perfectly legitimate in terms of a logical system in which the whole of reality
is exhausted by the two categories of “essential” and “accidental,” so that what is
not essential must need be accidental, and vice versa. It can, however, easily mislead
the uninitiated, because “accidental” in common parlance is so often taken to mean
external, fortuitous, or unimportant. Philosophically it has not this connotation at
all.485 Another thing to be borne in mind is that something which is of little moment
in one sphere of discourse, say the ontological, may be of enormous importance in
another, for example the psychological. Thus for instance the age of a man falls
within the accidental logical category of quality, and ontologically speaking it does
not make much difference whether a man is an infant, an adolescent, an adult, or
senile; but from the point of view of the person’s psychic life, which for actual living

480 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 268. 281. 292; Feltin Card. M., Address, 20.4.56, in DC 53 (1956) 616;
Gfoellner Bp. J., Pastoral, 23.1.33, 430a; Lienart Card. A., Pastoral, 21.2.60, 298; Meyer Card. A.,
Address, 21.9.60, in Archdiocese of Chicago, Catholic Church and the Negro 25; Moussaron Bp. A., 214;
Zaffrani Bp. G., Address, 25.1.39.
481 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 284.
482 Roey Card. J., van, Address, Aug. 1938, 574; Address, 4.3.42, 340; Janssen A., Ras, natie, vaderland

32; Rassisme 170.

483 Paul III, Sublimus Deus 428; Veritas ipsa 482; Brief to Card. Juan de Tavera, 29.5.1537, 27; Brief to

Charles V., 29.6.1547, in Pastor L., History of the popes from the close of the middle ages, ed. R. Kerr
COr (London 1912) XXI, 520.
484 Hier. Northern Rhodesia, Pastoral, 6.1.58 (Lusaka 1958) 3; Hier. Switzerland, Pastoral, 5.7.38, 6

(German text); Hier. USA, Declaration, 13.11.58, in Irish ecclesiastical record 92 (1959) 193; Ireland Abp.
J., Address, 1.1.1891, 2; Meyer Card. A., Address, 27.10.49, 80; Guardini R., Chrétien devant le racisme
16; Janssen A., Ras, natie, vaderland 33; Rassisme 171; Solzbacher W., Rome en afgoden 132.
485 Siegfried, F., ‘Accident’, in Catholic encyclopedia (London 1913) I, 96b-97b.
 110

is what counts, the difference is enormous. Likewise, although race is only

accidental from the metaphysical standpoint, because human nature is common to
all men, it does not follow that, either in itself, especially as regards the individual,
or in its influence in the psychic life of people, it can be dismissed a priori as being
negligible. In fact the Church does not even make light of the racial factor a
posteriori.486
When it comes to asking what or how many races there are in fact, very little
can be found in the sources used and then only incidentally. Archbishop Cazzani
mentions three races, living respectively in Africa, Asia, and Europe.487 Pope John
and the bishops of the United States talk of the Negro race.488 Archbishop Ireland
and the Southern African hierarchy address themselves to members of the white
race.489 By and large, however, it is clear that the teaching authority of the Church
has little interest in these matters.

The Rights of Races

There is, however, another question about race in which the Church has shown
herself particularly interested, and which in itself and in its practical consequences
is of much greater import, namely, the problem of the rights of races. Twice
explicitly referring to this problem Pope Pius XII described it as most difficult and
too complex to be settled by simple affirmatives and negatives.490
The crucial difficulty is to establish a basis for these rights because races,
together with cultures, and indeed mankind itself are not collectivities the
membership of which depends on the choice of the individual concerned, like being
the citizen of a state or the husband in a family. These latter societies are readily
acknowledged to be moral persons, and therefore the subjects of rights. It is of

486 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428-29; John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444; Address to the second World
Congress of Negro Writers and Artists, 1.4.59, in AAS 51 (1959) 260.
487 Cazzani Abp. G., Pastoral, Lent 1939, 276.
488 John XXIII, Address to the Congress of Negro Writers and Artists, 1.4.59, 259; Hier. USA, Pastoral,

11.11.43, 119; Declaration, 13.11.58, 191.

489 Hier. South Africa, Declaration, 6.7.57, 1; Ireland Abp. J., Address, 1.1.1891, 2; Kozlowiecki Abp. A.,

Pastoral, 22.1.60, 11 (in the archives of the Secretariate of the Bishops of Southern Rhodesia).
490 Pius XII, Address to the Union of Catholic Jurists, 6.12.53, 796; Address to the Society for Blood

Transfusion, 5.9.58, 731.

 111

interest that this status of moral person is assigned to the family as a whole, not only
to the parents, although the children are born into it without being given any option
in the matter, and at least for some years being unable to extricate themselves from
it. By contrast with these voluntarily formed groupings the first-mentioned
collectivities, in which we are interested, arise spontaneously. A person belongs to
them by the very fact of birth, is influenced in the depths of his being by them, and
can never escape from them, which is especially true of mankind as a whole and not
the particular race, since these are biological groups. They do not, therefore, fall into
the normal categories of moral persons. But if they are not moral persons, how can
they be the subject of rights?
The solution to this problem gathers into three main streams, depending on
the initial postulates.
Taking as his basis the principles that a race is something good in the order or
creation,491 and that mankind is enriched by a diversity of races, Folliet reasons as
follows. Since being and goodness are convertible, race, like any other human factor
not inherently vitiated by error or evil, being a positive good, has the right to
existence and identity. But race is not an end in itself, because it exists for the
enriching of mankind, to which it is subordinate, and so necessarily relative. It is not,
therefore, the immediate cause of the rights which accrue to it, but only the occasion
of them, for the sake of mankind as a whole, the fullness of which will be enhanced
by these particular racial potentialities being brought to maturity. Since mankind has
a right not to be mutilated by the violent destruction of any race, it is licit for a person
even to lay down his life for the conservation of his race.492
Another way of looking at this problem emerges from a scrutiny of the works
of Delos and Messineo.493 Their argument is that, because nature in producing its

491 Pius XI, Address to Propaganda College, 28.7.38; Kaelin B. OSB, Vom ewigen Gesetz,686; Meiberg
A. CSSR, Ethica van het rassisme 157.
492 Folliet J., Race, la raison et le Christ 222. See also Grundlach G. SJ, Solidarsimus, Einzelmensch,

Gemeinschaft, in Gregorianum 17 (1936) 266; Schmaus M., Vom Wesen des Christentums 129.
493 Delos J. OP, Qu’est-ce-que la société, in Semaines Sociales de France 1937, Personne humaine en

péril 205; Societe internationale et les principes du droit public 24-25. 36. 51. 141; Messineo A SJ, Diritti e
doveri delle minoranze, in CC 96, 3 (1945) 338-39; Diritto di conservazione, in CC 92, 2 (1941) 175;
Elementi costitutivi della nozione e la razza, in CC 92, 2 (1941) 252; Minoranze nazionali 83-84. 87. 89;
Minoranze nazionali e personalità giuridica, in CC 95, 3 (1944) 14; Natura e essenza della nozione, in CC
89, 3 (1938) 317.
There is a difference between these two authors on the question as to whether or not the voluntary factor
must be considered absolutely necessary in order that an ethnic group be the subject of rights. Messineo
on the one hand holds that a consciousness of ethnic solidarity and the will to adhere to it is necessary for
 112

effects does not operate aimlessly and by chance, but rather gives concrete form to
and reflects the pattern of things in the mind of the supreme Architect, it must
therefore be admitted that ethnic groups, “solidarities of similarity,” have their own
inherent purpose. The consciousness and will of the individual gravitate naturally in
the first place towards the ethnic group to which he belongs. The innate human
tendency towards solidarity aroused and stimulated by this consciousness gives rise
to that communal aspiration, which is the psychic prerequisite for the existence of
any social life and any society. Thoughts similar to these were perhaps responsible
for Pope Pius XI’s assertion that race constitutes a fundamental value of human
society in the order of the world designed and created by God. 494 Be that as it may,
our authors continue: any unitary subject, whether physical or moral, arising in the
course of nature, if it is in any way at all able to promote the purpose for which it
exists, even if only by self-preservation, has the capacity for those rights which are
called “original and fundamental.”
Distinction between strong and weak subjects should not be made, since all
are rendered equally worthy by the dignity of human personality, especially when
there is a question of those things which are connected with the human person in an
immediate and perpetual bond. This latter condition is certainly fulfilled by
hereditary factors, including race, which are therefore worthy of esteem and must
not be injured.495 This thesis finds support in Pope Pius XII’s Christmas message of
1942:496

a natural society to be the subject of rights. Yet on the other hand he maintains that this consciousness
and will arise by virtue of an instinctive movement of solidarity towards those similar to oneself.
Delos denying this necessity argues as follows:
“Ainsi la valeur intrinsèque et la valeur psychologique des ‘formes’ nationales dont nous avons montré la
fonction naturelle, l'avance héréditaire' que nous devons au milieu national, sont-elles la véritable
justification rationnelle des droits de la Nation . . . Toutes les Nations, de si bas étage qu’on les suppose,
ont de soi une valeur humaine . . . elle possède une valeur intrinsèque proprement humaine, qui est le
principe de son droit . . . La nationalité nous orne en même temps qu’elle nous enrichit . . . Les
préformations physiques, mentales, et morales qui nous orientent vers certaines façons de sentir, de
penser et d’agir nous limitent et nous déterminent . . . L'idée même de détermination, si elle implique un
perfectionnement quand on la compare à l'indétermination et à la potentialité de la nature humaine, inclut
une fixation, une restriction, une limitation, quand on pense à l'amplitude indéfinie de nos puissances
naturelles . . .Si donc c’est enrichir l’homme que de nationaliser, c’est aussi le borner.” Delos J. OP,
Societe internationale et les principes du droit public 24-25.
494 Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge 149.
495 Pius XII, Address to the Society for Blood Transfusion, 5.9.58, 731.
496 Pius XII, Broadcast message, 24.12.42, 12:

“Se la vita sociale importa unità interiore, non esclude però le differenze cui suffraganea la realtà e la
natura. Ma quando si tiene fermo al supremo regolatore di tutto ciò che riguarda l uomo, Dio, le
somiglianze non meno che le differenze degli uomini trovano il posto conveniente nell’ordine assoluto
dell’essere, der valori, e quindi anche della moralità.”
 113

If social life implies an internal unity, it does not therefore exclude the
differences demanded by reality and nature. But so long as we hold firmly to
God, the supreme Regulator of all that concerns man, the similarities no less
than the differences between men find their proper place in the absolute order
of being, of values, and consequently of morality, because these norms and
values have been “taught to each man and to the whole of mankind, both in
its entirety and in its natural ramifications.”
The third theory turns on the more traditional pivot of the conservation and
evolution, the maturing and perfection of human persons as such.497 As we have
seen, the human person in his unity and totality is determined by racial generation.
Furthermore each one is entitled to his heritage of race and culture, as these are
indispensable to his personality, not for himself only but also for his descendants,498
because man is of his very nature social.499 An attack from the outside upon these
things is an infringement of his personal right. Whence it follows that, since they
exist only in virtue and for the sake of the individual person, racial rights have only
an analogical meaning and a relative and dependent value.
Whatever may be the respective validity of these various arguments in
establishing a theoretical basis for the rights attaching to races, there can be no doubt
that in the teaching of the Church there are rights which are vindicated equally for
all race.500 In the first place races have the right to exist, as Folliet points out, 501 a
statement confirmed by Pope Pius XII’s triple condemnation of genocide.502 In terms
of this there can be no doubt of the lawfulness of conserving and defending one’s
own race,503 even in war, and the point of laying down one’s life, if circumstances

“Origine e scopo essenziale della vita sociale vuol essere . . . il perfezionamento della persona umana,
aiutandola ad attuare rettamente le norme e i valori della religione e della cultura, segnati dal Creatore a
ciascun uomo e a tutta l'umanità, sia nel suo insieme, sia nelle sue naturali ramificazioni.”
497 Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris 79-80; Pius XII, Broadcast message, 24.12.42, 12; Roulette A., Personne

et les faits 152.

498 Lucien-Brun J. SJ, Libertés culturelles, in Archives de philosophie 9 (1932) 254.
499 Pius XI, Quadragesimo anno 215; John XXIII, Mater et magistra 452-53.
500 Barbera M. SJ, Giustizia tra le ‘razze’ 532.
501 Folliet J., Race, la raison et le Christ 222.
502 Pius XII, Broadcast message, 24.12.42, 23; Address to the Congress on Penal Law, 3.10.53, 733;

Address to the Society for Blood Transfusion, 5.9.58, 731. See also John XXIII, Pacem in terris 283;
Seredi Card. J., Pastoral, 29.6.44 (Budapest 1944) 2.
503 Cazzani Abp. G., Pastoral, Lent 1939, 277. 285; Piazza Card. A., Address, 6.1.39; Alessandrini F.,

Impossible razzismo, in Studi cattolici 4, 18 (May-June 1960) 27; Bavinck J., Rassenvraagstuk 49; Saint-
Denis A., Pie XI contre les idoles 89; Solzbacher W., Rome en afgoden 128; Waardenburg P.,
Rassenvraagstuk in onzen tijd 223.
 114

demand this.504 This of course implies a complimentary obligation not to destroy

other races, to neither repress their racial vigour and numerical increase, nor
persecute and insult their members, because these things constitute a serious breach
of justice.505 For each race has the right to peaceful expansion, by multiplying itself
through procreation, by promoting the purity of its blood and its physical vigour, and
by cultivating its psychic potentialities,506 in all of which the civil authorities should
cooperate.507 Whence the members of a race have a responsibility towards their
racial heritage.508
These rights, however, are neither supreme nor absolute, but have only a
relative value in human life.509 No individual, therefore, has a personal obligation to
keep his race going by procreation, as was pointed out when dealing with interracial
marriages. Any wish which he may have to do this must be implemented in terms of
the absolutely binding obligations toward himself and others springing from natural
law. The same is equally true of the cultivation of racial potentialities, whether
physical or psychic. Likewise, since the rights of the race do not prevail over the
fundamental right of the individual, any measure proposed for the preservation or
promotion of the race which conflicts with primary personal rights must be laid aside
as unjust. Such measures may be applied in a homogeneous society for eugenic
reasons, but they are more likely to be found in political communities embracing a
diversity of races. A recent example is to be found in the United States, where the
bishops, having come to the conclusion that racial segregation could not be practised
in territories subject to them without bringing in its train a form of discrimination

504 Folliet J., Race, la raison et le Christ 222.

505 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 283; Hier. USA, Declaration, 18.11.51, in Our bishops speak 374; Cisneros
V., Noción de genocidio 365; Folliet J., Race, la raison et le Christ 222.
506 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428-29; John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444; Pacem in terris 283;

Bornewasser Bp. F., Pastoral, Lent 1934; in SZuk 9 (1933-34) 659; Faulhaber Card. M. de, Address,
31.12.33, 116; Teilhard de Chardin P. SJ, Unités humaines naturelles 28; Folliet J., Race, la raison et le
Christ 222. Janssen A., Ras, natie, vaderland 44; Rassisme 178; Kaelin B. OSB, Vom ewigen Gesetz
686; Lopez U. SJ, Difesa della razza II, 32; Rosa E. SJ, Tesi della S. Congregazione 181; Verdum M. SJ,
Probleme racial 87.
507 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 283.
508 Pius XII, Address to the Roman nobility, 5.1.41, 364; Address to the Society for Blood Transfusion,

5.9.58, 731; John XXIII, Address to the Congress of Negro Writers and Artists, 1.4.59, 259; Folliet J.,
Race, la raison et le Christ 222.
509 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 272; Bornewasser Bp. F., Pastoral, Lent 1934, 659; Cazzani Abp. G.,

Pastoral, Lent 1939, 277; Piazza Card. A., Address, 6.1.39.

 115

injurious to primary and fundamental human rights, opted for a policy of

integration.510

The Origin of Races

Having culled what we could from the documents at our disposal about the
existence and nature of races together with the consequences which flow therefrom,
it is now time to turn our attention to the remaining major problem, namely, where
do these races come from? What do theological sources tell us about the origin of
races?
It is useful to make clear at the outset that the ais on which the discussion turns
is the doctrine of monogenesis. Traditionally the Church has taught that all men now
existing have descended from one original pair of parents;511 and Pope Pius XII did
not hesitate, even in the context of positive anthropology, to lay down a disciplinary
doctrinal norm in this regard,512 because it involves a physical phenomenon
intimately bound up with matters of faith, like the other matters treated in this work.
While holding to this position, however, the Church, as we have seen, by no
means denies the ulterior ramification of mankind into distinct races. Indeed the
affirmation of this diversification is one of the recurring themes in the documents
dealing with racial matters. Putting the two things together in the traditional
Christian vision, we are bound to conclude that from a singleness of origin mankind
in the course of its history has by some means branched out into different races,
without its unity being destroyed. This process has not indeed taken place by chance,

510 Hier. USA, Declaration, 13.11.58, 194; Rummel Abp. J., Pastoral, Oct. 2958.
511 For a summary of what has been officially taught by the Church on this matter consult Fraine J. de SJ,
Bible et l’origine de l’homme 101-21. For the biblical doctrine see the same work page 29-100, and the
review of it by Kerrigan A. OFM in Antonianum 37 (1962) 296-300, as well as Renckens H. SJ, Isaels
visie op het verleden 171-99.
512 Pius XII, Humani generis 576.

There is no dearth of commentators on this encyclical who, while readily accepting of the admonition it
contains, hold that the Pope had no intention of closing the doors on further theological examination of
the question of polygenesis. Vannestre A., Histoire du dogme du péché originel, in ETL 38 (1962) 897.
For a discussion of the possibility of reconciling polygenesis with the doctrine of original sin confer
Hulsbosch A. OESA, Schepping Gods 42-57; Mancini A. SS, A proposito di razzismo; Dacché siamo in
tema di razzismo; Schoonenberg P. SJ, Geloof van on doopsel IV, 191-200.
 116

but according to the all wise plan of God,513 given palpable expression in the
concrete circumstances of this world by the working of His divine providence,514 yet
without the Creator becoming one among the multitude of created, earthly factors
contributing to this evolution.515
The general principles involved in this process had already been elaborated
by Saint Augustine when writing of the strange human beings described in the
travelers’ tales of his day, in which they were not confined to isolated individual
freaks of nature, but often involved the people of a whole region. While the
extraordinary aspect of these people has no relevance to our discussion, the variety
has:516

But whatsoever he may be, who is a man, that is a mortal being

endowed with reason, in whatever way his form, cofour, movement,
voice or other powers may appear unusual to our senses, no person of
faith would doubt that he was descended from Adam. Yet in such as
these the power of nature is shown, and wonderfully shown. And the
same reason which may be given for extraordinarily formed individuals
among us, must also be assigned for whole nations of unusual form.
God is the Creator of them all, knowing best in what place and at what
time to form this creature of that; knowing also how best to beautify the
universe by the similarity or diversity of its parts . . . However great
513 Pius XI, Address to Propaganda College, 28.7.38; Hiet. USA, Declaration, 11.11.43, 117; Bavinck J.,
Bijbel en ras, in Locher C., Beschouwingen over het rassenvraagstuk 54.
514 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 427; Hier. USA, Declaration, 11.11.43, 117; Bavinck J., Bijbel en ras 54;

Daniélou J. SJ, Essai sur le mystère de l’histoire 60.

515 Schoonenberg P. SJ, Gods wordende wereld 70.
516 St. Augustine, De civitate Dei XVI c.8 (Chr. 48, 508-09):

“Verum quisquis uspiam nascitur homo, id est animal rationale mortale, quamlibet nostris inusitatem
sensibus gerat formam, seu colorem sive motum, sive sonum, sive qualibet vi, qualibet parte, qualibet
qualitate naturae ex illo uno protoplasto originem ducere, nullus fidelium dubitaverit. Apparet tamen quid
in pluribus natura obtinuerit, et quid sit ipsa raritate mirabile. Qualis autem ratio redditur de monstris apud
nos hominibus partubus, talis de monstrosis quidbusdam gentibus reddi potest. Deus enim creator est
omnium, qui ubi et quando creari qui oporteat vel oportuerit, ipse novit, sciens universitatis pulchritudinem
quarum partium vel similtudine vel diversitate contexat . . . Ita etsi major diversita oriatur, scit ille quid
egerit, cuius opera iuste nemo reprehendit… ita quaecumque gentes in diversitatibus corporum ab usitate
naturae cursu, quem plures et prope omnes tenent, velut, exorbitasse traduntur, si definitione illa
includuntur, ut rationalia animalia sint atque mortalia, ab eadem ipso uno primo patre omnium stirpem
trahere confitendum est . . . Sed si homines sunt, de quibus illa mira conscripta sunt; quid, si propterea
Deus voluit etiam nonnullas gentes ita creare, ne in his monstris, quae apud nos patet ex hominibus
nasci, eius spientiam, qua naturam fingit humanam, velut artem cuiuspiam minus perfecti opificis,
putaremus errasse? Non itaque nobis videri absurdum debet, ut quemadmodum in singulis quibusdam
gentibus quaedam monstra sunt hominum, ita in universo genere human quaedam monstra gentium.”
 117

may be the diversity which occurs, He knows what He does, and none
should presume to censure His work . . . So whatever nations there may
be whose bodies differ from what we usually find in nature, . . . if they
come within the definition of rational mortal beings, they must be
recognized as coming from the one father of all . . . But if they are truly
men, of whom these amazing things are written, why should God not,
in addition, if He so wished, create whole nations like these, in case we
should think that His wisdom, by which He creates human nature like
the workmanship of some imperfect artisan, had made a mistake in
those abnormal offspring among us which are obviously born of human
parents? Since in every human society unusual members are born, it
does not seem any more fantastic that in the whole of mankind there
should be certain unusual races of men.

If one should now turn to Holy Scripture in the hope of getting more detailed
information about where the different races of men come from, the gleanings will be
very scanty. The problem, being a modern one, simply did not present itself to the
sacred authors, whose divisions of humanity were in general exhausted by the
religious categories of the chosen people and their ancestral tree on the one hand,
and on the other the gentiles. What can be found, however, is a further specification
of the general principles of the workings of divine providence, of which Saint
Augustine has given us the outline.
The significant texts are few, being for all practical purposes confined
to those passages in the first eleven chapters of Genesis which deal with the origin
and dispersion of peoples, the flood, and the tower of Babel.
Because the perspective of the author of the prehistory of Genesis was
confined to the history of salvation, we cannot expect to find factual information
about the physical diversification of mankind.517 Many different peoples are
mentioned, especially in chapter four, of whom neither the origin nor the history is
narrated. It now seems to be fairly widely accepted among biblical scholars that the
Genesis account does not demand that the flood covered the whole surface of the
earth, so that this does not offer a new starting point for human history, as many of

517 Renckens H. SJ, Israels visie op het verleden 196-98.

 118

the peoples mentioned earlier could have continued on their historical course quite
unhindered by the swamping of Noe’s neighbours.518
It is interesting in this regard to note that between the first Vatican Council
and 1939 it was more than once mentioned in episcopal documents that the three
races now existing took their origin from the three sons of Noe, and that the Negroes
were the sons of Cham cursed by the patriarch.519 Since the war this opinion has
been abandoned in catholic circles; and indeed after 1928 it has not even been
seriously attacked on exegetical grounds by scholars,520 except with reference to its
continued use by some Calvinists in South Africa.521 Such an idea, therefore, can
play no part in a modern discussion of the question of racial origins.
When the peoples mentioned in these early chapters of Genesis are examined
more closely, they are found to have been those living in the immediate vicinity of
Palestine between twelve and seven hundred years before Christ.522 Consequently
they cannot give an adequate vision of the physical dispersion of world population,
especially with regard to the long previous history of mankind. Like the generations
of Noe, therefore, which apart from other objections are too scanty to give an
adequate scheme of the population of the globe, and the tower of Babel, which is
neither the sole nor the oldest in Mesopotamia, the multitude of peoples mentioned
does not throw any light on our concrete problem.
Nevertheless the doctrinal intention of the sacred author in these passages
does help to make the general theological principles governing our problem clearer.
In the first place he shows that the God of Abraham is the God of all
mankind,523 Whose moral law binds all men.524 Unlike the contemporary lists of
people drawn up by the Egyptians, or the Assyrian and Babylonian kings, which
show contempt and a depreciation of anyone not their own, all the peoples within

518 Schegler T., Biblische Urgeschichte im Licht der Forschung (Muenchen 1960) 155-58.
519 Vatican Cnl. I, Plea for the Negroes of Central Africa, signed by 68 bishops, in Acta et decreta
sacrorum conciliorum recentionum, collectio Lacensus (Friburgi 1890) VII, 905; Cazzani Abp. G.,
Pastoral, Lent 1939, 276-77; Comboni Bp. D., Letter, 1881, in Annales de la propagation de la foi 54
(1882) 255; Lavigerie Card. C., Letter, 26.12.1880, in Annales de la propagation de la foi 53 (1881) 97;
Prayer for the conversion of Africa, which was indulgenced by the S. C. of Indulgences on 23.6.1885 and
29.3.1889, Oratio 214 in Beringer F. SJ, Indulgences, leur nature et leur usage, 13 ed. (Paris 1905) I,
332.
520 Charles P. SJ, Noirs, fils de Cham le maudit, in NRT 55 (1928) 721-39; Tichelen T. van, Negers en

Noe’s vloek over Cham, in Ons geloof 14 (1928) 420-22.

521 Heuthorst G. MHM, Curse of Cham, in Irish ecclesiastical record 100 (1963) 91-99.
522 Alfrink Card. B. and Nelis J., ‘Volkenlijst’, in BWB 1810.
523 Galbiati E. and Piazza A., Pagine difficili della Bibbia, antico testamento (Milano 1954) 193.
524 Gen. 2, 17; 4, 6-13; 6, 5-7.
 119

the geographical and historical horizons of the Jews are mentioned here as belonging
to one family of God, and within the ambient of God’s plan of salvation. 525 The
richly variegated picture of mankind presented by the various lists of peoples show
that the diversification of humanity is the work of God, due to the fecundity
springing from His blessing.526 It arouses a deeply religious admiration for and praise
of His life-communicating creative power.527
As for the Tower of Babel incident, it shows that God infallibly disposes the
course of human events, not permitting the accomplishment of human projects which
go beyond or against His will. In this particular case He frustrates a human attempt
to secure the political, cultural, and ethnic unity of mankind, which would have
hindered man’s dispersion over the face of the earth. Nor does He hesitate to
intervene in a special way, not indeed to punish mankind, but to prevent a greater
evil.528 As long ago as the sixth century Procopius of Gaza, in one of the earliest
detailed commentaries that we have on this incident, added to the above
considerations that this intervention was an act of the kindness and mercy of God,
Who did not want mankind to spend its energies on the impossible.529
Finally it can be said that, although all these incidents affect in fact only the
people of a limited geographical area, they have nevertheless a universal
signification in as much as they show the progressive dissolution of human social
unity caused by sin, and mankind’s crying need for redemption in the one messianic
kingdom of the Seed of Abraham.530
It is obvious that our modern distinction between races, cultures, and nations
is quite unknown to the sacred writer, who does not treat of them either distinctly
nor separately, since his own categories are rather geographical and political.531
Nonetheless the doctrinal conclusions which he draws are equally valid for all the
groups. What has been elaborated here in the context of race, therefore, is equally
applicable to the sphere of culture, which we are now about to discuss.

525 Schwegler T., Biblische Urgeschichte 203.

526 Gen. 1, 28; 9, 1.
527 Alfrink Card. B. and Nelis J., ‘Volkenlijst’, in BWB 1810; Kerrigan A. OFM, review of de Fraine’s book

mentioned in the first note of this article, page 299-300.

528 Alfrink Card. B. and Nelis J., ‘Toren van Babel’, in BWB 1686-90; Galbiati E. and Piazza A., Pagine

difficili 227. 232.

529 Procopius of Gaza, Commentarius in Genesim (PG 87, 314).
530 Alfrink Card. B. and Nelis J., ‘Oergeschiedenis’, ‘Toren van Babel’, and ‘Zondvloed’, in BWB 1213-18.

1686-90. 1935-39; Schwegler T., Biblische Urgeschichte 177.

531 Schwegler T., Biblische Urgeschichte 200.
120
 121

Chapter 6

Race and Culture

Before we set out on the elaboration of what is meant by culture, it may be

useful to put up a few danger signals, as we have had occasion to do several times
before in different contexts, in warning against possible presuppositions which can
bedevil the discussion.
Granted that universal ideas arise spontaneously according to the common
structure of human thought, yet they are not identical in every mind, varying
according to both internal and external532 influences. Thus not infrequently it occurs
that ways of thought and action, which had previously been believed to be founded
in human nature as such and therefore perennially valid, prove in fact to be merely
products of our own particular culture and so of only limited import. Nor is it
possible in many cases to determine a priori how far things are indeed common, and
what pertains to peculiar racial and cultural influences. When talking of cultures,
therefore, we must be on guard against being the victims of our own upbringing,
mindful of the observation of Van Wing:533

Even when they speak in the same language and use the same words, a
European and an African do not express the same idea. The European thinks
of objects as being each distinct and independent of others; he objectifies his
concepts. The African perceives and thinks of objects in relation with their
setting and their causes . . . For an African reality is qualitative. Quantity,
mass, shape are negligible affairs.

532Schoonenberg P. SJ, Geloof van ons doopsel I, 165.

533Wing J. van SJ, Christian humanism in Africa, in Lumen vitae 4 (9149) 34.36. For a fuller treatment of
the Bantu way of conceiving the universe consult Tempels P. OFM, Bantu philosophy, tr. C. King (Paris
1959).
 122

No less significant differences in modes of perception and thought between

East and West are described by the famous Chinese catholic John Wu.534
If ten by no means illiterate men were asked for a definition of culture, ten
differing responses would almost certainly be received, the dissonance increasing if
some were Anglo-Saxons and some Germans, since the former more or less equate
the words “culture” and “civilization,” while the latter draw a fairly sharp distinction
between them. In the interest of clarity therefore the word “civilization” will be
eschewed altogether.
Within culture, described broadly by Messner as the full development of what
is truly human,535 three main divisions can be distinguished: personal culture which
involves the developing of the personal potentialities, while at the same time giving
form to and perfecting the world round about; this leads on the one hand to social
culture, which has been termed spiritual community based on a common form of
social life;536 on the other hand it produces material culture, in German Sachkultur,
by which external expression is given to the inner life of man both by works of art
and by technology. It is in relation to this latter that the Germans use “civilization.”
While there is a connection between personal and material culture, they do not
always go hand in hand, which is even more true of personal culture in relation to
technology taken in isolation. For it is by no means an uncommon occurrence for a
flourishing technological development, even with regard to the amenities and
comforts of life, to be accompanied by a pitiful lack of true internal and personal
culture.537
Another misconception which has to be avoided is that of considering all
cultures to be of the same kind, differing only insofar as they are disparate stages of
development in the same straight line. The very opposite is in fact true, something
which the Church herself recognizes, as will be seen later. This irreducibility of
cultures constitutes the necessary condition for the vast and valuable labours of the
philosophers of history in recent times, among whom it suffices to recall Spengler
and Toynbee.538
534 Wu J., Christianity, the only synthesis really possible between East and West, in Veronese V., World
crisis and the catholic, studies published on the occasion of the second World Congress of the Lay
Apostolate, Rome (London 1958) 149-52.
535 Messner J., Kulturethik (Innsbruck 1954) 336.
536 Haering B. CSSR, Macht und Ohmacht 290.
537 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 443. 451. 457-58.
538 Spengler O., Untergang des Abendlandes, Umrisse einer Morphologie des Weltgeschichte (Meunchen

1918-22) I; Toynbee A., Study of history (London 1934-59) I.

 123

Whence it must be borne in mind that our notion of culture is so integral a part
of our own culture that it is only with the greatest difficulty that a balanced universal
view of cultural matters can be achieved. For this reason we should always in so far
as possible examine cultures in their organic totality so that the parts may be seen in
their integral relation to the whole, lest by a piecemeal treatment they be falsely
judged and evaluated.539

The Notion of Culture

When it comes to starting what is meant by an individual culture, Pope Pius

XII has provided as good a working basis as any: a culture is an organic complex of
all the values of culture, as outlined above, which are peculiar to and characteristic
of a particular group of which they constitute the bond of spiritual unity. In its
essence it is something non-political, and hence not a cause of dissolution in the
community of mankind It only becomes a disruptive force when abused for political
purposes.540
Yet because cultures differ among themselves in virtue of their own proper
characteristics and values,541 it does not follow that they exist, and much less that
they develop, in isolation: indeed they are capable of that fairly considerable
interfecundity,542 which the doctrine of the unity of mankind would lead one to
expect. Hence each one, by developing its own potentialities more and more, while
at the same time promoting a mutual communication of riches with others, plays its

539 Gregorius OFMCap, Belang van de culturele anthropologie 329.

540 Pius XII, Broadcast message, 24.12.54, 22.
541 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428; John XXIII Mater et magistra 444; Pacem in terris 290; Hier. France,

Declaration, 6.3.53, 324; Hier. South Africa, Declaration, June 1952, 3; Hier. Tanganyika, Pastoral,
11.7.53, 77; Hier. USA, Declaration, 11.11.43, 117; Hier. Upper Volta, Pastoral, 27.1.59, 547; Faulhaber
Card. M. de, Address, 3.3.40, 3; Feltin Card. M., Address, 10.5.59, 789; Constantius OFMCap,
Katholicisme en rasvraagstuk 14; Moderne afgoderij, in Christendom bedreigd door rassenwaan 24;
Danielou J. SJ, Essai sur le mystère de l’histoire 47; Krzesinski A., Church and national cultures, in
O’Toole G., Race, nation, person 119; Messineo A. SJ, Alla ricerca di una soluzione 213; Semaine
Religieuse de Lyon, Notes doctrinales 1194; Tempels P. OFM, Bantu philosophy 112-13.
542 Pius XI, Address to the teachers of Catholic Action, 6.8.38, 1; Pius XII, Broadcast message, 24.12.54,

22; John XXIII, Pacem in terris 283-84. 291; Hier. Upper Volta, Pastoral, 27.1.59, 547; Bornewasser Bp.
F., Pastoral, Lent 1934, 659; Cazzani Abo. G., Pastoral, Lent 1939, 278; Constantius OFMCap,
Katholicisme en rasvraagstuk 14.
 124

own part in bringing to light the full richness inherent in humanity, and so reflecting
the inexhaustible fullness of the divine life and glory.543
In chapter two, as will be remembered, we found that the positive
anthropologists were loath to enter into a discussion on the superiority and inferiority
of cultures because of the lack of adequate and certain standards in terms of which
to make an equitable judgement. From a theological point of view, however, there
is such a norm, even though the sphere of its practical usefulness may be limited.
From a Christian standpoint, as has already been pointed out, one must at all
costs avoid equating the progress of culture with the development in technology.
Culture is neither simply the perfection of things, nor the acquiring of vast
knowledge about them. These two activities have indeed to be harnessed to the
chariot of man’s cultural progress, controlled and subordinated to higher ends both
natural and supernatural.544 But culture consists above all in man’s spiritual
perfection, achieved by gaining control primarily over himself and secondarily over
his environment, in a well-ordered relationship with God and with all other men,
whose foundation is truth, whose measure and objective is justice, whose driving
force is love, and whose method of attainment is freedom.545
Looked at from the theological point of view, therefore, that culture must be
considered higher, the characteristics and values of which are such as to lead to this
fuller evolution of human personality, whatever may be its state of technological
development or backwardness, because scientific and technical progress, while
being a positive element in culture, plays only an instrumental role. 546 So it is that
Haering asks the thought-provoking question, whether perhaps certain primitive
tribes with their minimum of material culture might not excel many technologically
highly developed peoples in their personal culture; because the goal of a mature

543 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428; Broadcast message, 24.12.54, 22; John XXIII, Address to the
Congress of Negro Writers and Artists, 1.4.59, 260; Hier. FWA and Togo, Declaration, 24.4.55, 672; Hier.
Upper Volta, Pastoral, 27.1.59, 547; Bea Card. A., Address, 1.4.63, 731; Cazzani Abp. G., Pastoral, Lent
1939, 285; Zaffrani Bp. G., Address, 25.1.39; Bedarida, H., Vérités et équivoques de la civilisation
chrétienne, in Semaine des Intellectuels Catholiques 1955, Eglise et les civilisations (Paris 1956) 27;
Constantius OFMCap, Katholicisme en rasvraagstuk 14; Moderne afgoderij 24; Pinsk J., Christianity and
race 34; Wu. J., Christianity, the only synthesis 148.
544 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 458.
545 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 450-53; Pacem in terris 297; Address to Vatican Cnl. II, 11.10.62, 792;

Hier. USA, Declaration, 11.11.43, 117; Saliege Card. J., Pastoral, 1.2.53, in DC 50 (1953) 326-27;
Gregorius OFMCap, Belang van de culturele anthropologie 329; Krzesinski A., National cultures, nazism,
and the Church (Boston 1954) 12; Saurus E. OP, Definicion teologica de la cultura, in Rivista espanola de
teologia 4 (1944) 488-94.
546 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 451. 458.
 125

human culture is to bring all man’s potentialities to fruition and to cultivate all
human values in their proper order.547 This does not in any way imply, however,
that cultures, even those equally developed, do not differ from each other. All it does
is to assign to each an incontestable providential purpose,548 namely, “the moral and
divine perfection of man.”549 As Saint Thomas said long ago: “The highest
perfection which anything can achieve is to be united with its Creator.”550

The Relation between Race and Culture

It is now time to turn to the rather delicate question of the relation between
race and culture. It will be remembered that the positive scientists were seriously
divided on the score of whether or not there is such a relation at all, let alone what
the influence of one on the other might be. Let us see, therefore, what a theologian’s
opinion may be.
Walter brings forward the charge that the theological theories, which have
tried to throw light on the origin of races from the biblical narratives of man’s origin,
have for the most part tended to play down race as a necessary cause of the diversity
of human customs and modes of thought.551 Yet in fact both the teaching authority
of the Church and catholic authors are unanimous in asserting a definite, and even
causal relation between race and culture.552 Their basic reason is the same one in
virtue of which the spiritual faculties are held to be determined to some extent by

547 Haering B. CSSR, Macht und Ohnmacht 279.

548 Saurus E. OP, Definicion teologica de la cultura 485; Thils G., Theologie des realites terrestres I, 154.
549 Saurus E. OP, Definicion teológica de la cultura 489: “Esto es lo permanente en la cultura humana: la

perfección moral y divina del hombre”.

550 St. Thomas, II Sent. d18 q.2 a.2 in corp. (464): “Ultima perfectio ad quam res potest pervenire est ut

coniungitur suo principio”.

551 Walter P., Race and culture relations 62.
552 Pius XI, Address to the teachers of Catholic Action, 6.9.38, 1; Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428-29;

John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444; Pacem in terris 283.285; Address to the Congress of Negro Writers
and Artists, 1.4.59, 259-60; Hier. Belgium, Pastoral, 25.12.36, in Roey Card. J. van, In den dienst van de
Kerk II, 183; Hier. USA, Pastoral, 14.11.42, 119, Bea Card. A., Address, 1.4.63, 731; Bornewasser Bp. F.,
Pastoral, Lent 1934, 659; Faulhaber Card. M. de, Address, 3.3.40, 3; Gfoellner Bp. J., Pastoral, 23.1.33,
431a; Zaffrani Bp. G., Address, 25.1.39, Janssen A., Praelectiones theologiae moralis 1937-38 58 (as
ms.); Scheiwiller O. OSB, Rassenprinzip wird Schicksal 679; Vansteenkiste C.OP, Rassenvraagstuk 61.
 126

racial heredity, namely, the radical unity of the human person, who as an integral
whole is the author, bearer, and propagator of culture.553
What kind and degree of effect race has on culture, is a far more difficult
question, about which theological documents have but little to say. This little,
however, is worth mentioning.
As has been seen the Church clearly rejects the racist tenets which would
elevate race to the position of the sole, or at least the supreme cause of culture. Some
of our sources, while including race among the various relative causes which play a
part in the production of cultures, do not make any attempt to determine more exactly
its role and import.554 Those who do go further assign a minor role to the racial
factor,555 for the following reasons. Man at his birth is determined, though not in an
absolute and deterministic way, by an indelible hereditary character. Hence it is not
a matter of indifference from what race one takes one’s origin, because this
congenital heritage confers on the human composite its first form. This
determination, however, is not deterministic but rather plastic, capable of various
lines of development depending on environment and personal choice. Not that it is
entirely potential, because like all things it must retain a certain distinctiveness in
order to exist at all. Hence race is not capable of branding a culture with a specific
character, it confers upon it rather an overall tonality.556
This theory has the merit of offering a possible explanation of three problems:
how is it that certain general similarities are recognizable in cultures within the same
racial group separated by barriers of space and time? Whence come the cultural
differences, by no means negligible, within the confines of one and the same race?
Why is it possible for the individual to largely change his culture, while still keeping
his racial constitution intact?
By holding such a position, however, one would not necessarily fall under the
censure of Feber, who, while vehemently attacking racism, at the same time does

553 Boelaars H. CSSR, Rassisme en rassenkunde 102; Constantius OFMCap. Katholicisme en

rasvraagstuk 11; Moderne afgoderij 24; Haering B. CSSR, Macht und Ohnmacht 285; Mazzei V., Razze e
nazione 75. 79; Wey A. van der OCarm, Ideologische ondergrond en uitbouw 468.
554 Hier. Tanganyika, Pastoral, 11.7.53, 77; Brown S. SJ, Racialism 142; Cruysberghs K., Problemen van

Kerk en volk 42; Janssen A., Ras, natie, vaderland 33; Rassisme 171; Janssens L., Personne et societe
247; Lamberty M., Kritiek van het racisme 10; Lucien-Brun J. SJ, Libertés culturelles 28; Problème des
minorités (Paris 1923) 89; Messineo A. SJ, Alla ricerca d’una soluzione 213; Orban M., Nouvelle idole 15;
Wey A. van der OCarm, Ideologische ondergrond en uitbouw 469.
555 Hier. Germany, Pastoral, 3.6.33, 103; 19.8.38, 21a.
556 Krzesinski A., Church and national cultures 120; National cultures, nazism, and the Church 14;

Messineo A. SJ, Minoranze nazionali 89.

 127

not spare those who fall into the opposite illusion of depreciating the influence of
race on culture.557
The balanced position in an integral Christian view of man would seem to be
that which neither overemphasizes the cultural influence of race, nor completely
ignores it.
The final question which rises in this connection, as we have seen before, is
that of the influences of race on religion in particular.
The Church has not hesitated to reject utterly the racist thesis that religion
arises from the racial blood as from its all powerful source like a type of divine
revelation instinctively apprehended from within, and hence that religion must be
subject to the law of the race, adapted to its character, and organizes in racial or
national churches. Nonetheless it does not bind its adherents to the opposite extreme
of denying any influence whatsoever of race on religion.558 Hence there seems to be
much to be said for the moderate opinion expressed by Hauer and Meiberg,559
according to which religion is considered as a function of the whole person, who in
his entirety is racially determined, so that, while race cannot influence the content of
religion, that is the complex of truths to be believed and lived,560 it does nonetheless
lend a tonality to the way in which these truths are apprehended and to the practices
by which they are given expression. As will be readily perceived, this opinion is in
the same line as those concerning the influence of race on the higher faculties and
on culture in general. It coheres likewise with the attitude and teaching of the
hierarchy, which will be examined in the next chapter.

The Rights of Cultures

Before concluding this chapter there is a final point which deserves attention,
and that is the rights of cultures. If race plays any part in culture, however small a
role it may be, its dignity in the structure of human life will be enhanced by its

557 Feber L., Opstand der rassen 75.

558 Scjroeder C., Rasse und Religion 276. 299.
559 Hauer J., Religion und Rasse 94-95; Meiberg A. CSSR, Ethica van het rassisme 153.
560 Groeber Abp. K., Pastoral, Sept. 1935, in Hofmann K, Hirtenrufe des Erzbischofs Groeber 40; Waters

Bp. V., Pastoral, 12.6.53 (Raleigh 1953) 2.

 128

participation in the rights which accrue to cultures: hence the relevance of this theme
to the general problem.
If it is true of races that they are not fixed and immobile, but rather fluctuating
and perpetually on the move, it is doubly true of cultures, of which on any basis of
reckoning there have been considerably more in the history of mankind than there
have been races. Of their very nature cultures arrive, grow, receive foreign
influences, mature, communicate their riches to others, decline, and vanish. So when
there is mention of the conservation, promotion, or destruction of cultures, it must
always be in this context. Cultures are not museum pieces which by fair means or
foul must be preserved in their actual state for posterity.
The arguments which could be adduced to find the rights of cultures are the
same as those which serve to establish the rights of races, because they are both
“solidarities of similarity.” Hence there is no need to repeat them here.
So far as the rights themselves are concerned, they can conveniently be
gathered under three heads.
Any people which has a distinctive character has the right to affirm and
develop this character, so that it may enrich the universal human community with a
new value,561 and also because every man has been furnished by the Creator with his
own culture, as an essential condition of his developing into a full personality.562
This leads on to the further right, both collective and individual, of self-perpetuation
by the transmission of this culture to subsequent generations,563 even by organized
education.564 The subsequent generations correspondingly have a responsibility
towards the cultural heritage of their nation,565 which is an aspect of that legitimate
and balanced patriotic love which the Church has always encouraged.566
561 Hier. FWA and Togo, Declaration, 24.4.55, 672; Bea Card. A., Address, 1.4.63, 731; Messineo A. SJ,
Diritti e doveri delle minoranze 340-42; Diritto di conservazione 175.
562 Pius XI, Address to the Union of Catholic Jurists, 6.12.53, 795.
563 Gregorius OFMCap, Belang van de culturele anthropologie 329; Lucien-Brun J. SJ, Libertés

culturelles 52.
564 Congrès des Écrivains et Artistes Noirs I, 1956, Resolution, in Tamtam 6, 7 (Jan. 1957) 6. “Nous

considérons que tout peuple doit pouvoir effectiver prendre connaissance des valeurs de sa culture
nationale (histoire, langue, littérature, art, etc.) et bénéficier de l’instruction et de l'éducation dans le cadre
de sa culture propre”.
565 John XXIII, Address to the Congress of Negro Writers and Artists, 1.4.59, 259-60; Michel J., Devoir de

décolonisation (Paris 1954) 16-17; Semaine Religieuse de Lyon, Notes doctrinales 1194; Seminaire Pan-
African de Pax Romana II, 1960-61, Déclaration finale, in Tam-tam 11, 1-2 (Jan.-Mar. 1961) 46.
566 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428-29; John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444; Hier. Germany, Pastoral,

19.8.38, 67; Hier. Southern Rhodesia, Pastoral, 21.5.61, 26; Hier. Sudan, Pastoral, 15.2.56, 117; Hier.
Uganda, Pastoral, 1.6.52, 44-46; Lamont Bp. D., Pastoral, 29.6.59 (Gwelo 1959) 17; Messineo A. SJ,
Internacionalismo cosmopolita 16-17.
 129

Particular cultural groups within a state have the right to conservation,

defense, and help in their evolution from the civil authority,567 a right which the
bishops of the United States have called “innate.”568 The civil authority for its part,
in virtue of the principle of subsidiary function, must not interfere more than is
necessary to secure this end, leaving for the rest the ethnic groups committed to its
care the free exercise of their cultural mission within the community.569 In view of
this the policy known as compulsory acculturation, in terms of which the distinctive
features of particular cultures are enfeebled and levelled into a cosmopolitan mass
by design and forethought, is morally condemned as cultural genocide,570 because
both the similarities and differences between men have their proper place in the
absolute order of values and morality.571
Finally, since cultures are capable of a beneficial mutual interfecundity, it is
obvious that anyone who, impelled by exaggerated nationalism or racism, tries to
separate individuals and groups of different cultures by permanent, insurmountable
barriers, violates the natural law.572 Hence differences of race and culture must be
accepted with graciousness and courtesy toward individuals as well as collectives,573
because the minimum of justice demands that the dignity of other persons be
recognized in the structure of the world as designed and created by God, and their
perfection promoted in terms of their own characteristics and talents.

567 Pius XII, Address to the Comite Internationale pour l’Unite et l”universalite de la Culture 15.11.51, in
DRM 13 (1951-52) 376; John XXIII, Pacem in terris 283; Hier. USA, Declaration 11.11.43, 117; Hier.
Upper Volta, Pastoral, 27.1.59, 547; Verdun M. SJ, Probleme racial 87.
568 Hier. USA, Declaration, 16.11.44, in Our bishops speak 125.
569 Pius XII, Address to UNRRA, 8.7.45, 117; John XXIII, Pacem in terris 290; Guzzetti G., Morale

cattolica III, 159; Union Internationale d'Études Sociales, Code de morale internationale 30.
570 Pius XII, Broadcast message, 24.12.41, 17; Address to the Mouvement Universel pour une

Confédération Mondiale, 6.4.51, in AAS 43 (1951) 279-80; Address to the Comite Internationale pour
l'Unité et l'universalité de la Culture, 15.11.51, 376; Broadcast message, 24.12.54, 25; John XXIII, Mater
et magistra 442-43; Hier. Upper Volta, Pastoral, 27.1.59, 547; Bavink J., Rassenvraagstuk 44-47;
Danielou J. SJ, Essai sur le mystère de l’histoire 60. 62; Gray R., African aspirations, in Tablet 213 (1959)
391; Link H., Rediscovery of morals 84; Messineo A. SJ, Minoranze nazionali e personalità giuridica 13.
17; Oldham J., Christianity and the race problem, 2 ed. (London 1924) 23; Rouamba P., Foi et négritude,
malaise de l'étudiant catholique africain, in Tam-tam 11, 1-2 (Jan. Mar. 1961) 18-19.
571 Pius XII, Broadcast message, 24.12.42, 12; La Brière Y. de SJ, Synthesis of universalism and

nationalism according to the Christian philosophy of law, in O’Toole G., Race, nation, person 97.
572 Pius XI, Address to Propaganda College, 28.7.38; John XXIII, Pacem in terris 284; Hier. Upper Volta,

Pastoral, 27.1.59, 547; Lamont Bp. D., Pastoral, 29.6.59, 17-18.

573 Hier. FWA and Togo, Declaration, 24.4.55, 672; Hier. Sudan, Pastoral, 15.2.56, 121; Klompe M.,

Christian’s task in the formation of a supranational community, in Veronese V., World crisis and the
catholic 111-12.
 130

It is by no means easy to determine what grade of goodness among created

goods, and what place in the hierarchy of individual and social rights should be
assigned to culture. Naturally these rights, like those attaching to races, are only
relative, and so subject to the same limitations. Nevertheless culture seems to occupy
a higher place than race in the scale of human values, because his spiritual heritage
plays a greater part in the person’s life than does its material substratum,574 and also
because, its formal elements being of the psychic and moral order,575 human society
must be seen primarily as spiritual reality.576
From the fact that it contributes to culture, race also participates in this higher
dignity. For as the human body is honoured and respected because of the spiritual
soul with which it forms a unity, so analogically race is assumed into the higher
value of the cultures of which it forms the material substratum.
By way of conclusion to what has been said in these last two chapters, and as
an introduction to the discussion of the higher value which both race and culture
acquire by their intimate relation to the growth of the Mystical Body of Christ, more
apt words than of Pope Pius XI can scarcely be found:577

Mankind is one, unique, universal, catholic race. Yet it can by no means

denied that in this universal race there is room for particular races, and, like
so many further variations on these, also numerous nations even more highly
particularized. In the same way that in important musical compositions there
are major variations in which are found the same general motif, which inspires
them all, recurring repeatedly but with varying tonalities, accents, and
expressions; so also in mankind there is one unique, vast, universal, catholic
human race, and along with it, and within it, diverse variations.

574 Pius XII, Address to the Roman nobility, 5.1.41, 364.

575 Pius XII, Address to the Society for Blood Transfusion, 5.9.58, 731.
576 John XXIII, Pacem in terris 266.
577 Pius XI, Address to Propaganda College, 28.7.38:

“ Il genere umano e una sola, universale, cattolica razza. Ne puo tuttavia negarsi che in questa razza
universale non vi sia luogo per la razza speciali, come per tante diverse variazioni, come per molte
nazionalita che sono ancora piu specializzate. Nella stessa guisa in cui nelle importanti composizioni
musicali vi sono le grandi variazioni nelle quali pur si riscontra lo stesso generale motivo, che le ispira,
tornare sovente, ma con tonalità, intonazioni, espressioni diverse, così anche nel genere umano e una
sola, grande, universale, cattolica razza umana, una sola, grande, universale famiglia umana, e con essa,
in essa, variazioni diverse”.
131
 132

Chapter 7

Race and Culture in the Mystical Body

Having some idea now of what the teaching common in the Church is
concerning race considered in itself and in its relation to culture, we must
finally endeavour to see where it belongs in the process of the “recapitulation”
of all things in Christ which is the final end of all creation.578 Certainly race
must have its place in the Mystical Body of Christ, because, as the Seraphic
Doctor says, grace does not oppose nature, neither does it change nature, but
it rather conserves and perfects it.579

The Holy Spirit and the Church

In the course of this work we have seen that it is God Who, disposing
all things by His divine providence according to His divine wisdom, directs
the vicissitudes of human history, including the rise and decline of races and
culture. The multitude of races and cultures which exist or have existed,
therefore, in their diversity reflect the plan in the creative mind of the supreme
Architect,580 and give expression to the plentitude of His life-communicating
fullness of being, so that He is glorified in the progressive unfolding of the
untold potentialities of humanity which they contain.
We saw also that this governance of the course of mankind’s evolution
can rightly be attributed to the Holy Spirit, Whose action pervades the whole
human person in the full dimensions of the psycho-somatic social unit which

578 Eph. 1, 10.

579 St. Bonaventure, II Sent, d.19 a.1 q.1 ad 1 (II, 457a). See also St. Thomas, S. theol. I. q.1 a.8 ad 2
(9a).
580 Danielou J. SJ, Essai sur le mystère de l’histoire 60; Messineo A. SJ, Minoranze nazionali 89.
 133

man is,581 from the highest point of his soul down to its material substratum,
both individual and social.582
The primary transfiguring operation of the Holy Spirit in man’s
elevation to the supernatural plane is to give him a share in the life and
likeness of God by divine filiation.583 But since even human heredity, as
furnishing the material substratum of all man’s actions including the most
spiritual, can be considered from a supernatural viewpoint,584 the Holy Spirit
in His divinizing action, penetrating the whole person, informs and
transfigures the intelligence, will, affections, and body, as well as social and
cultural actions,585 because nature is perfected by grace as matter by form.586
Furthermore, according to a long tradition in the Church reaffirmed by
Pope Pius XII, the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Mystical Body of Christ, 587
which constitutes the purpose of all His operations, namely, to carry the
Incarnation into the full dimensions of mankind, until humanity attains to the
measure of the age of the fullness of Christ.588 Briefly then it can be said
that in His capacity as director and ruler of human history the Holy Spirit
begets all races and cultures; and in as much as He is the soul of the Mystical
Body He cultivates and trains them to the building up of the Church.589
But because the Church stands in a relation to the Holy Spirit analogous
to that of the body to the soul, it is natural that it should be an instrument of
the Spirit in the temporal sphere. Pope John expressed this very well when he
told the Negro artists and writers that the Church, full of youth and perpetually
being renewed by the breathing of the Holy Spirit, is ever ready to
acknowledge, to receive into herself, and to inspire whatever redound to the

581 Pius XII, Address to the National Convention of Nurses, 1.10.53, 728.
582 Thils G., Theologie des realites terrestres II, 67.
583 Leo XIII, Divinum illud, in Analecta ecclesiastica 5 (1897) 196b; St. Augustine, Enarrationes in

psalmos XLIX n.2 (CChr. 38, 576); Maertens T. OSB, Souffle et l’Esprit de Dieu (Tournai 1959) 113.
584 Pius XII, Address to the Roman nobility, 5.1.41, 365.
585 Thils G., Theologie des realites terrestres I, 86.
586 St. Thomas, S. theol. III q.69 a.8 ab 3 (2228b).
587 Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi 220. See also Leo XIII, Divinum illud (DS 3328); Maertens T. OSB,

Souffle et l’Esprit 114-17; Tromp S. SJ, Corpus Christi quod est Ecc;esia III, de Spiritu Christi anima
(Romae 1960).
588 Eph. 4, 13.
589 John XXIII, Address to Vatican Cnl. II, 11.10.62, 789.
 134

honour of the human intellect and heart, assisting the more talented to develop
the cultural potentialities of their nation and race.590
To the Church likewise belongs the task of making the new outshoots
of culture, which burgeon forth as a result of this stimulation, apt and ready to
take in and assimilate the elements of Christian truth, life, and morals, which
easily and naturally fit into any healthy culture, imparting to it the full capacity
and strength to protect human dignity and well-being,591 because there is in
human nature something that is naturally Christian.592 The Church’s mission,
however, is not confined to new cultural shoots, but extends equally to older
cultures, since these too result from the working of the Holy Spirit in human
history. Hence Pope John, addressing the bishops from missionary countries
whom he was consecrating praised the hidden beauty of the ancient cultures,
redolent with evident traces of revealed truth, to which they belonged,
exhorting them to an ever deeper study of this heritage.593
There is no shortage of statements of Pope Pius XII which could be
cited in support of what has been said in this regard, but perhaps the most
suited to the missionary-mindedness of the modern Church is one from the
encyclical Evangelii praecones:594
From her beginnings up to our own times the Church has always
followed a very wise rule: the Gospel does not quench or destroy

590 John XXIII, Address to the Congress of Negro Writers and Artists, 1.4.59, 260.
591 Pius XII, Address to the directors of the Pontifical Missionary Organizations, 24.6.44, in AAS 36 (1944)
210; Hinsley Card. A., Africa and the Atlantic Charter, in Tablet 180 (1942) 190.
592 Pius XII, Evangelii praecones, in AAS 43 (1951) 522.
593 John XXIII, Address to missionary bishops, 21.5.61, in AAS 53 (1961) 360.
594 Pius XII, Evangelii praecones 521-22:

:Illam Ecclesia, inde ab originibus ad nostram usque aetatem, sapientissimam normam semper secuta
est, qua quidquid boni, quidquid honesti ac pulchri variae gentes e propria cuiusque sua indole e souque
ingenio habent, id Evangelium quod amplexae sint, non destruat neque restinguat. Ecclesia siquidem
cum populos ad altiorem humanitatem ad cultioremque vitam, christiana religione auspice, advocat, non
illius morem gerit, qui luxuriantem silvam nulla habita ratione caedat, prosternat ac diruat, sed illius
potius, qui bonum surculum rudibus arboribus inserat, ut suaviores dulcioresque fructus aliquando edant
atque maturent.
Humana natura, quamvis ob miserum Adae casum hereditaria labe infecta sit aliquid tamen in se habet
naturaliter christianum; quod quidem, si divina luce collustretur divinaque alatur gratia, ad very nominis
virtutem supernamque vitam evehie aliquando potest.
Quamobrem Catholica Ecclesia ethnicorum doctrinas neque despexit neque respuit, sed eas potius, a
quovis errore et a quavis impuritati liberatas, christiana sapientia consummavit atque perfecit. Ita pariter
eorum ingenuas artes ac liberales disciplinas, quae iam ad tam excelsum fastigium alicubi pervenerunt,
ipsa benigne excepit, dilligenter excoluit et ad talem pulchritudinis apicem provexit, ad qualem antea
fortasse numquam pervenerant. Peculiares quoque populorum mores eorumque tralaticia insituta non
omnio cohibuit, sed quodammodo sacravit”.
 135

anything good, upright, and beautiful which peoples who embrace it

possess in virtue of their own distinctive character and natural bent. For
the Church, when it calls people to a greater refinement and a more
cultured way of life under the inspiration of the Christian religion, does
not act like one who recklessly cuts down, lays waste. And destroys a
luxuriant forest, but rather like one who grafts good stock onto wild
trees so that they may bear sweeter and more delicious fruit.
Although tainted with a hereditary blemish as a result of Adam’s fall,
human nature has, nevertheless, in itself something naturally Christian,
which indeed, if it is illuminated by the divine light and nourished by
divine grace, can in time be elevated to true moral perfection and
supernatural life.
For this reason the catholic Church has neither scorned nor rejected
pagan philosophies. Instead, once they have been freed from all error
and contamination, she completes and perfects them by Christian
wisdom. Likewise she embraces with such warmth and nourishes with
such care the native arts and culture of these peoples, some of whom
have already reached a high level of development, that they are led on
to a summit of perfection, to which otherwise they would possibly not
have attained. And rather than suppress their customs and traditions,
she has consecrated them to God.

These ramifications of mankind, branching out from the first Adam into
different races and cultures in the course of history, are destined to be gathered
together as into their Head in the second Adam,595 with Whom all men are called to
form one sole mystical Person,596 which is the “Whole Christ.”597 In Christ, by the
transforming power of the Holy Spirit,598 the whole history of the works of man will
become a theophany,599 because human culture will have been an instrument in the
perfection and sanctification of men orientated towards or belonging to the Mystical

595 Congar Y. OP, Attitudes de l’Eglise devant les faits de race 56.
596 St. Thomas, S theol. III, q.48 a.2 ad 1 (2107b).
597 St. Augustine, Sermo CCCXLI c.1 n.1 (PL 30, 1493).
598 Maertens T. OSB, Souffle et l’Esprit 117-19. 138.
599 Bovis A. de SJ, Philosophie ou théologie de l’histoire? 457.
 136

Body of Christ.600 In the Christocentric vision of the universe, the marvelous tapestry
of the full riches of humanity given concrete expression in the diversity of races and
cultures601 is nothing more than a “fitting cortege”602 for the God-Man.603 For Christ
is the foundation, the measure, and the end of the whole evolution of human
history.604

The Church’s Independence of Particular Cultures

The fact that the religious elite, especially mystics, are culturally creative
above all others, as Toynbee affirms,605 does not mean that these people are
conscious of a cultural mission, nor does it imply that the furthering of culture is the
proper or primary object of religion. The foremost function of religion is
transcendental, namely, to lead men to love and praise God and to share in His divine
life. Nonetheless religion is always a powerful factor in building up a culture,606 as
can well be concluded from what has been said above about the ultimate criterion
for evaluating particular cultures.
If this is true of religion in general, it is more particularly so of the Christian
religion. The raison d'etre of Christianity indeed is neither the creation of cultures,
nor the conservation of races, nations, or languages. Its mission is rather to show to
mankind the purpose of human life, and to lead to the attainment of their supernatural
end men who have been inwardly transformed and made partakers of the divine life.
Because the Christian religion is essentially transcendent, it cooperates in the well-
being of human life here on earth principally by defending and promoting the dignity
of men called to be the sons of God, and to this end examining and transforming the

600 St. Basil, Sermo ad adolescentes (PG 31, 567); Gregorius OFMCap, Belang van de culturele
anthropologie 329; Hage J., Culture et la catholicité de l’Eglise, in Vie spirituelle 51 (1937) 136; Saurus E.
OP, Definicion teologica de la cultura 495.
601 Bea Card. A., Address, 1.4.63, 731.
602 St. Bernardine, Sermo LIX c.2 (II, 343).
603 Joaquin de Encinas OFMCap, Visión cristocéntrica del hombre 47.
604 St. Maximus Confessor, Quaestiones ad Thalassium q.60 (PG 90, 621); Mouroux J., Mystère du

temps 85.92.95; Thils G., Theologie des realites terrestres II, 67-69.
605 Toynbee A., Study of history III
606 John XXIII, Address to Vatican Cnl. II, 11.10.62, 790.
 137

cultures in which they have to work out their salvation.607 This is the reason why
Pope John XXIII has stated expressly that the Church does not identify herself with
any given culture, not even that of the West with which her history is so intimately
connected, because her mission is of a different order, namely, the religious salvation
of men.608
Consequently the Church has no charge to create a single Christian culture to
which all its members must of necessity adhere. The unity of the one true Church
divinely appointed to embrace all nations609 in no way demands a uniformity in
which all differences of race will be levelled out, or a world-wide cosmopolitanism
in which the diversity of existing cultures will be suppressed. Indeed, precisely
because it is an authentically human unity and not merely some purely physical
agglomeration, it involves rather that catholicity which, in the full acceptance of
continuous human diversification, is capable of leading the whole of mankind in one
faith, through one baptism, nourished by the one eucharistic food, into the one
Church of God.610
Nor can this way of looking at things be dismissed as merely a modern fad.
As long ago as 1659 the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith wrote
in the same strain to the bishop and missionaries in China, instructing them in no
way to interfere with the customs and habits of the local people unless they were
manifestly opposed to true religion and sound morals. What indeed, asked the Sacred
Congregation, could be more absurd than to try and import France, Spain, Italy, or
any other part of Europe into China? It was not this, but the faith that they had been
sent to bring to the Chinese; and this faith not only does not reject or injure those
customs of any people which are not morally vitiated, but in fact protects them. The
missionaries were charged, therefore, not only to refrain from replacing Chinese
culture by European, but in addition to adapting themselves to the Chinese way of
life.611

607 Feltin Card. M., Address, 20.11.55, 7-8; Saliege Card. J., Pastoral, 1.2.53, 329.
608 John XXIII, Address to the Congress of Negro Writers and Artists, 1.4.59, 260. See also Agagianian
Card. G., Address, 20.8.63, 1303.
609 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444.
610 Pius XII, Address to the Pontifical Missionary Organizations, 24.6.44, 210; Faulhaber Card. M. de,

Address, 30.11.30, 201; Address, 31.12.33, 102; Congar Y. OP, Questions raciales 1034; Constantius
OFMCap, Katholocisme en rasvraagstuk 10. 16; Danielou J. SJ, Essai sur le mystère de l’histoire 47. 60;
Haering B. CSSR, Macht und Ohnmacht 118. 298.
611 S.C. de Propaganda Fide, Instruction to the bishops and missionaries in China 1659, in Collectanea

S.C. de Propaganda Fide, seu decreta instructiones, rescripta pro apostolicis missionibus n.135 (Romae
 138

Since the Church then is not to be identified with any culture, nor yet to be
considered as merely an aspect of some culture, but rather the abiding manifestation
and organ of God’s saving will towards all men, her integrity is far less endangered
by the embodiment of herself in many and diverse social and cultural patterns, than
by a possible attempt to identify herself exclusively with one or other of these.
Although there may be, or have been, some societies and cultures which, by reason
of their particular stage of development, render their members more apt and open to
receive Christianity; nevertheless there is no form of society or culture which by its
nature is more consonant with the Christian religion than any other.612 This is a
necessary conclusion from the principle of the radical independence of religion with
regard to particular cultures laid down by Pope Pius XII.613
Furthermore, when Jesus Christ, the very Truth itself, Who can neither
deceive nor be deceived, sent out the apostles with the charge to preach to all nations,
He said all nations, without making any exception.614 The apostles confirmed this by
their actions, preaching the Gospel to people of different races and cultures, and
leaving behind them Christian communities in three continents. Hence many
centuries later Pope Paul III, inspired by the divine command and apostolic tradition,
expressly declared the Indians of South America and all other descendants of Adam,
of whatever nation, to be capable of receiving the Christian religion.
That members of different races and cultures are all capable of achieving
sanctity, and in fact have attained the heights of heroic virtue, even to the point of
being officially recognized by the Church and canonized, is yet another indication
that the Church does not accept any race or culture as a norm, to which consequently
she must ally herself exclusively.615 For every Christian there is only one norm, Jesus
Christ the Saviour of the world. Christianity, therefore, is the salvation of every race

1907) I, 42-43. See also Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 429; Address to the Pontifical Missionary
Organizations, 24.6.44, 210; Chappoulie Bp. H., Address, 2.10.55, 10.
612 Hier. Tanganyika, Pastoral, 11.7.53, 98-99; Faulhaber Card. M. de, Address, 30.11.30, 201; Address,

31.12.33, 102; Danielou J. SJ, Essai sur le mystère de l’histoire 22. 41; Dawson C., Is the Church too
western to satisfy the aspirations of the modern world?, in Veronese V., World crisis and the catholic 164;
Schmaus M., Vom Wesen des Christentums 182-83.
613 Pius XII, Address to archaeological and historical institutes 9. 3. 56, in AAS 48 (1956) 211. 213.
614 Paul III, Sublimus Deus 428; Veritas ipsa 482.
615 Saliege Card. J., Pastoral, 1.2.53, 325; Constantius OFMCap, Katholicisme en rasvraagstuk 16;

Orban M., Nouvelle idole 15.

 139

and every culture, which far from being enfeebled by it, comes to its full maturity
through the Church in the God-Man, Jesus Christ.616
Religion, as we have seen, has a powerful influence for good on culture, so
that any culture which would be authentic, healthy, and stable must maintain an
intimate relation with religion.617 This is particularly true with regard to the Christian
religion,618 which possesses the fullness of truth and the superabundant
communication of the divine life.

The Church’s Dependence on Culture

There is, however, another aspect of the question, complementary to what has
just been said and of equal importance: religion has an absolute need of culture. How
else indeed is it to exist in this world and express itself? And if this is so of religion
in general, how much more true is it of Christianity, whose very being and Head is
God Incarnate,619 Who through His Mystical Body reaches out to the ends of the
earth and the limits of time?620
Because the human spirit is too limited for the full inherent potentialities of
humanity to be expressed in any one group at any one time, the Church has no option
but to embody herself successively in diverse cultures. It is only by the perpetually
various unfolding of these human riches that the infinite treasures of the goodness
and mercy of God poured forth in Christ can in successive ages be reflected in the

616 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444; Hier. Tanganyka, Pastoral, 11.7.53, 98-99; Constantius OFMCap,
Katholicisme en rasvraagstuk 22. 24; Flick M. SJ, Speranze della Chiesa, in CC 100, 2 (1949) 481-91.
617 Pius XII, Address to archaeological and historical institutes, 9.3.56, 213.
618 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444. 462; Hier. Germany, Pastoral, 7.6.34, 16; Pastoral, 19.8.38, 63. 66;

Faulhaber Card. M. de, Address, 31.12.33, 103.

619 St. Augustine, Sermo CXLIV c.5 n.6 (PL 38, 790).
620 Daniélou J. SJ, Essai sur le mystère de l’histoire 29-30; Gregorius OFMCap, Belang van de culturele

anthropologie 300; Notre vocation culturelle, in Tam-tam 6, 7 (Jan. 1957) 3.

 140

various changing facets of the Church621 to the praise of the divine glory.622 So it is
that different cultures, however incompatible with each other they may seem, by
virtue of the grace and truth of Christ, are drawn close to each other as members of
the same family.623
Thus the Church of Jesus Christ, at one and the same time incarnating herself
in them and transcending them all, by divine rights belong to all races and cultures
and in fact gathers them to herself,624 protecting and nourishing what is distinctive,
good, and dear to each with a maternal solicitude until they be brought to full
maturity,625 adapting herself to the character and needs of each as a proof of her
catholicity.626 In clear and vigorous terms the Doctors of Grace has already stated
this at the beginning of the fifth century:627

This heavenly city, in the course of its earthly sojourn, summons to itself
citizens from every nation, and out of all languages gathers a community on
the move, paying no attention to differences in customs, laws and ways of life,
by which earthly peace is sought after or possessed. It neither mutilates nor
destroys any of these things which differ among the various nations, but rather
watches over them and conforms herself to them, provided only that they tend
towards the attainment of earthly peace, and that they do not hinder religion
which teaches that the one, supreme and true God must be worshipped.

621 Eph. 1, 14.

622 Haering B. CSSR, Macht und Ohnmacht 332.
623 Pius XII, Letter to Bp. Freundorfer, 27.6.55, in AAS 47 (1955) 597.
624 John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444; Broadcast message, 24.12.58, in AAS 51 (1959) 9; Feltin Card. M.,

Address, 20.11.55, 8; Address, 9.11.60, in DC 57 (1960) 1498; St. Fulgentius, Sermo VIII n.2-3 (PL 65,
743-55); St. Peter Damian, Liber qui appellatur Dominus vobiscum ad Leonem eremitam c.5 (PL 145,
235); Congar Y. OP, Attitudes de l’Eglise devant les faits de race 52. 63; Simard G. OMI, Race et langue
françaises dans l'Église du Canada, in Revue de l'Université d’Ottawa 3 (1933) 148.
625 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428-29; John XXIII, Mater et magistra 444; Address to the Congress of

Negro Writers and Artists, 1.4.59, 259-60; Kaelin B. OSB, Vom ewigen Gesetz 685. 689.
626 Hier. Tanganyika, Pastoral, 11.7.53, 98-99; McCann Abp. O., Address, 17.2.59, in SCr 38, 2013

(6.5.59) 2; Saliege Card. J., Pastoral, 1.2.53, 325; Bedarida H., Vérités et équivoques 273; Daniélou J.
SJ, Essai sur le mystère de l’histoire 18; La Brière Y. de SJ, Histoire religieuse 807.
627 St. Augustine, De civitate Dei XIX c.17 (CChr 48, 685):

“Haec ergo coelestis civitas dum peregrinatur in terra, ex omnibus gentibus cives evocat atque in
omnibus linguis peregrinam colligit socitatem, non curans quidquid in moribus, legibus, institutos que
diversum est, quibus pac terrena vel conquiritur vel tenetur, nihil eorum rescindens diversis nationibus ad
unum tamen eudemque finem terrenae pacis in tenditur, si religionem, qua unus summus et verus Deus
colendus docetur non impedit”.
See also Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 428-29; John XIII, Mater et magistra 444.
 141

Hence it follows that one and the same gospel message transmitted to diverse
cultures, as through a prism, shows forth more clearly now one, now another facet
of its splendour and perfection, so that the Church, by consciously adapting herself
in order to evangelize different and new cultures, is continually acquiring a firmer
and fuller insight into the treasures of truth contained in the deposit of faith through
an authentic development of dogma,628 and being renewed through a healthy
liturgical variety.629

Unity in Diversity

The catholic diversity just outlined, however, in no way injures the oneness
of the Mystical Body of Christ, because its bond of unity is not something natural,
but of the supernatural order, and even more something of its very nature infinite
and uncreated. It is the Holy Spirit Who in His own integral oneness fills and unites
the whole Church,630 pouring out divine love into the hearts of the faithful. This He
does that, loving one another as Jesus has loved them, and so proving to all men that
they are His disciples, the world through their oneness may know that Christ has
indeed been sent by the Father.631 The great African Doctor, bearing witness to
this doctrine, wrote with reference to the tower of Babel:632

If pride was responsible for the diversity of languages, the humility of Christ
draws the diversity of languages into a unity. For what the tower dispersed,
the Church gathers together. From one language many were produced, such

628 Danielou J. SJ, Essai sur le mystère de l'histoire 60; Gregorius OFMCap, Belang van de culturele
anthropologie 329. 336; Haering B. CSSR, Macht und Ohnmacht 294.
629 John XXIII, Address at the conclusion of the Byzantine-Slavic liturgy, 13.11.60, in AAS 52 (1960) 960;

Address to missionary bishops, 21.5.61, 360; Constantius OFMCap, Katholicisme en rasvraagstuk 16.
630 Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi 222.
631 John 13, 34-35; 17, 21.
632 St. Augustine, In Iohannis Evangelium tractatus CXXIV c.4 n.10 (CChr. 36, 58-59):

“ Si superbia fecit diversitates linguarum, humilitas Christi congregavit diversitates linguarum. Iam quod
illa turris dissociaverat, Ecclesia colligit. De una lingua factae sunt multae; noli mirari, superbia hoc fecit.
De multis linguis fit una, noli mirari, caritas hoc fecit. Quia etsi soni diversi linguarum sunt, in corde unus
Deus invocatur, una pax custoditur”.
 142

is the power of pride. From many languages unity is created, such is the power
of charity, For even though many languages are spoken, in every heart the one
God is invoked, the one peace cherished.

Consequently this charity with its miraculous unifying power must not be
narrowed down in practice by considerations of race and culture, for all those who
share the image of God are worthy objects of love, especially if in addition they are
“of the household of the faith.”633 So, while each one may legitimately desire and
spend himself for the welfare of the communities to which he belongs, he must not
be so blinded by these loyalties as to forget the universal obligation of Christian
charity.634
But at the same time there is another and complementary aspect of this charity
which cannot be passed over in silence. It is that true and authentic love does not
lead to that complete jumbling together and fusion which enfeebles or obliterates the
distinctive talents and riches of the different races and cultures in a stereotyped
uniformity and dreary sameness. Rather true love, ever mindful of the responsibility
of mutual completion, should strive towards the authentic development of the one
loved. Love is a profound union in which the integrity of both is preserved and
nurtured, because love is increased in the measure that the diversity of the lovers
renders them increasingly apt for an ever more enriching union.635 This is the
paramount reason why the Church always opposes that exaggerated exclusiveness
and separatism which obstructs the fruitful intercourse between peoples of differing
characteristics.
All this is summed up in the catholic principle of unity in diversity,636 which
governs not only the life of the Church, but also forms the foundation of its social

633 Gal. 6, 10.

634 Pius XII, Summi pontificatus 430; Hier. Tanganyika, Pastoral, 11.7.53, 79-80; Faulhaber Card. M. de,
Address, 3.3.40, 3-4; Kozlowiecki Abp. A., Pastoral, 22.1.60, 8; Messineo A. SJ, Internazionalismo
cosmopolita 16-17.
635 Anciaux P., Sacrament van het huwelijk (Tielt 1959) 232; Brauns M. SJ, Geheim der goddelijke

persoonlijkheden 354-57; Folliet J., Racisme devant la raison 43; Fromm E., Art of loving 20; Simard G.
OMI, Race et langue françaises dans l'Église du Canada 148.
636 Pius XII, Address to the Roman Rota, 2.10.45, 257; Hier. Nigeria, Pastoral, Oct. 1960, in Catholic

herald 3889 (21.10.60) 1; Hier. Sudan, Pastoral, 15.2.56, 121; Cazzani Abp. G., Pastoral, Lent 1939, 276.
278; St. Peter Damian, Liber qui appellatur Dominus vobiscum ad Lenem eremitam c.10 (PL 145, 238);
Congar Y. OP, Attitudes de l’Eglise devant les faits de race 63; Gleason R. SJ, Immorality of segregation
30; La Farge J. SJ, Interracial justice, preface; Racial truth and racist error 35; La Pira G., Unity in
diversity, in Veronese V. World crisis and the catholic 97.
This principle has been well explained by Pope Pius XI in these words:
 143

and political teaching, as we saw when dealing with the rights of races and cultures,
and is expressed in the one word “pluralism.”637
This is true of the Church not only during its earthly pilgrimage,638 but also in
its eternal dimension, when likewise in the consummated Kingdom of the glorified
Lamb there will be found those redeemed by His blood “out of every tribe and tongue
and people and nation” praising God,639 fulfilling their priestly service640 without
national or racial discrimination.641 Yet this vision of the beloved disciple is not yet
confined to the heavenly Kingdom, but embraces in an essential unity with it the
harmonious variations of that vast symphony of the new Jerusalem in its temporal
dimension.642
Hence mankind, one in its origin, is once more restored to unity in the last age
of the history of salvation in the messianic Kingdom. This final unity is attained not
by a confusion of the elements, but by welding together a multitude of races and
cultures in and through Christ around the throne of God. From a unity of solitude at
its beginning mankind presses on to a unity of plentitude at the end, while bringing
to maturity on the way in boundless variety the untold potentialities inherent in
human nature,643 all the nations of the earth bringing “their glory and honour” into
the “holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of
God.”644 Thus not only Danielou in our own times,645 but also Saint Augustine long
centuries before,646 has applied to the Mystical Body of Christ, variegated with this

“ Una cosa spesso si dimentica: che non la universalità c’e l’essenza, parte dell’essenza della Chiesa
Cattolica, ma che pur con questa universalità stanno certo molte cose, bene intese, al loro posto e che
pur sembrano essere dimenticate: l’idea di razza, di stirpe, l’idea di nazione, di nazionalita… tutti chiamati
alla stessa luce di verità, di bene, di carità cristiana; ad essere tutti nle proprio paese, nella particolare
nazionalita di ognuno, nella particolare razza”. Pius XI, Address to Propaganda College, 28.7.38.
637 Paul VI, Address to Vatican Cnl. II, 29.9.63, in OR 103, 226 (30.6.63) 3; Dondeyne A., Geloof en

wereld (Antwerpen 1961) 188-90; Guzzetti G., Morale cattolica III; Scheiwiller O. OSB, Rassenprinzip
wird Schicksal 678.
638 St. Augustine, De civitate Dei XIX c.17 (CChr. 48, 685).
639 Apoc. 5, 9; 7, 9; 14, 6.
640 Apoc. 1, 6.
641 St. Bernardine, Sermo LXVI a.1 c.7 (II, 462-63); Winkenhauser A., Offenbarung des Johannes, 2 ed.

(Regensburg 1959) 57.

642 Allo E. OP, Saint Jean l’Apocalypse, 3 ed. (Paris 1933) 351; Bonsirven J. SJ, Apocalypse de Saint

Jean (Paris 1951) 322; Winkenhauser A., Offenbarung des Johannes 159-60.
643 Congar Y. OP, Catholic Church and the race question 14; Constantius OFMCap Katholicisme en

rasvraagstuk 25; Coonen J., Catholics and colour prejudice 288.

644 Apoc. 21, 2. 24-26.
645 Daniélou J. SJ, Essai sur le mystère de l’histoire 18. 60.
646 St. Augustine, De civitate Dei XVII c.16 (CChr 48, 581); Epistola ad catholicos de secta donatistarum

XXIV n.70 (CSEL 52, 316).

 144

multitude of peoples, the description in the messianic psalm of the King’s bride as
standing at His right hand “in a vesture of gold, all hung about with embroidery.”647
It is not only in terms of the natural law, therefore, but also for supernatural
reasons that races and cultures have a responsibility towards the potentialities
springing up from their hidden sources of life,648 because even race has a
supernatural significance.649

647 Ps. 44, 10.

648 Bavinck J., Rassenvraagstuk 43-44.
649 Pius XII, Address to the Roman nobility, 5.1.41, 364.
145
 146

Conclusion

We have considered race from several points of view in the light of the
pronouncements of the popes and bishops seconded by the reflections of Christian
writers, and it is now time to draw the various threads together so that we can see
the argument as a whole.
A theologian has at hand three invaluable instruments with which to
investigate the problem of race, which are not available to the natural scientist as
such. These are the different unities to the natural scientist as such. These are the
different unities in terms of which the human person can be considered: firstly the
integral unity of the human composite of soul and body which together constitute
but one single and undivided reality, the human person; then the two social unities
of mankind as such, and the community of redeemed men sharing in the divine life
in the Mystical Body of Christ. Before being used to probe the question of race, each
of these three doctrines has been examined to the extent that the needs of this study
and the present state of theology seem to demand. That these three unities are of
crucial importance is borne out by the fact that one or other of them enters positively
into every stage of the discussion.
In agreement with the majority of natural scientists whose works were
consulted, the Church not only does not call in question the existence of distinct
races, but positively assert it. This she does, however, with balance and moderation.
While readily accepting the existence of a diversity of races, the Church has
shunned any of those overemphasis on the differences involved which could rend
asunder the oneness of mankind. To underline the fact that this unity is of primary
importance, the differences which do exist are termed “accidental.” There can thus
be no doubt that what men have in common is not less significant than those things
in virtue of which they are racially distinct; both the similarities and differences have
their proper place in the order of reality established by God. Yet this in no way
implies a denial of the fact that the distinctive racial character to some extent
determines the whole person in his concrete being and substantial composition.
Starting from the truth that human nature is common to all men, who
consequently belong to one and the same species, the Church teaches the substantial
equality of all races. This, however, does not close the door on the possibility of
 147

minor or temporary inequalities existing between them. What the Church does
logically reject is the view that races differ so greatly from each other by their innate
and unchangeable character, that the lowest of them is further removed from the
highest than from the highest animal species.
Of the many reasons which warrant this rejection the most compelling are
those which follow. First and foremost such an attitude amounts to a denial of the
special place which man holds among the living creatures of the globe. It next calls
into question the truth that, although the body enters substantially into the
composition of the human person, nevertheless the soul, created directly by God, is
spiritual, and hence man is capable of more than merely physical actions occasioned
by physical stimuli. In the third place such a way of speaking seems irreconcilable
with the unique origin of mankind from a single pair of first parents, which has
traditionally been taught in the Church. And last but not least, it imposes upon races
a rigidity and fixedness which cannot be admitted, on the one hand because like
other human collectivities races are in a constant process of flux, and on the other
hand because it contradicts the idea of the plasticity of the hereditary racial
constitution in individuals which fits in so well with the general body of Christian
truth.
Race is fundamentally a biological phenomenon, inasmuch as the racial
constitution or genotype is transmitted by the parents to their children by physical
generation. Everything racial which a person has, therefore, is congenital.
Nevertheless because of the integral unity of the human composite, the racial
determination is not confined to the physical organism and its characteristics. It
operates on the psychic level also. This is not only due to the fact that psychic
operations depend on racially determined physical organs; the main reason is that
the soul, together with its faculties, is adapted to the material substratum which it
informs, as that substratum is at the moment when they fuse to constitute the given
individual person.
This in no way implies that all man’s intellectual and moral qualities flow
from the blood, which harbours the racial character, as from their principal source.
On account of the considerable plasticity of the psychic powers and the
transcendence of spiritual actions, the influence of environment, education, and free
self-determination play a significant part in the moulding of the individual
personality.
 148

Culture is the product of the human person in his integral and undivided
wholeness. For this reason the racial factor is held to influence culture in some way.
This influence, however, is not one which casts cultures deterministically in rigid
moulds; it provides rather an initial disposition capable of many and various lines of
cultural development. The same is true of religion, which in this context follows the
patterns of the cultures in which it is embodied. On the one hand, therefore, it is false
to maintain that religion is subject to an intransigent law of race, to which it should
give expression in some sort of unique racial or national church. On the other hand,
the possibility of a universal church preserving its unity and integrity is not ruled out
by the need for religion to adapt itself to the characteristic way of life of successive
cultures influenced by the natural bent of different races. The Church has in fact
been able to maintain her essential oneness even while adapting herself to the many
cultures and races which she has encountered down the centuries. Indeed this unity
in diversity has been her deliberate aim.
The doctrinal foundation for this policy is simply that the racial and cultural
ramification of mankind takes place at the instance of divine [providence and
according to God’s wisdom, so that the rich potentialities of humanity may be
unfolded and brought to fruition. In the present order of things any particular human
type is too limited to actualize exhaustively the fullness of God’s creative idea of
human nature. Thus the diversities no less than the similarities in mankind come
from God.
Furthermore, just like any other element which manifests the divine creative
power by enriching individual men and mankind as a whole, race and culture have
their place among the good things of God’s creation. Yet the fact that they enjoy
only a relative and subordinate place in the scale of human values necessarily rules
out any possible claim that the supreme objective of education must be to cultivate
the racial characteristics and to instill into the pupils an extravagant and exclusive
love for their own race. According to the norms of sound doctrine one’s own race
merits only that moderate affection and loyalty due to all the natural collectivities to
which one belongs. This is in fact an aspect of the virtue of piety which the Church
has always inculcated. Consequently she cannot accept the contention that racial
purity and vigour must be conserved and promoted by every possible means, and
that all efforts directed towards this end are necessarily licit. From a Christian
standpoint, the welfare of any particular race must be subordinated to the pursuit of
higher ends, and the universal moral order respected at all times.
 149

On the positive side, however, precisely because they are included in the good
things which God has created for the perfection of man, both race and culture are
recognized as having certain rights which must be safeguarded. Of the two, culture
enjoys a higher rank in the scale of human values, as it leads more directly and
immediately to man’s spiritual growth. The dignity of race is enhanced, however, by
sharing in that of culture, in the structure of which it plays an indispensable though
subordinate role. It is thus perfectly legitimate for the state to take measures for
preserving and fostering the racial and cultural groups within the confines of its
territory. Nor can there be any objection to the individual spending himself and his
energies in the defense and improvement of the ethnic collectivity to which he
belongs. The necessary proviso in both cases is respect for the moral law, which
binds individual persons and political authorities alike.
For the very reason that race does occupy this inferior position, the racists are
wrong in asserting that the primary source and supreme norm of the whole juridical
order is the racial instinct. The supreme and universal juridical norm in the Christian
vision of the world is human nature with its personal dignity, in which are grounded
the God-given and inalienable fundamental rights of individuals and groups.
Consequently the state cannot be recognized as man’s absolute master from
which whatever rights he may enjoy come as a concession.
There is more to human life, however, than the correct ordering of one’s
relations to God and one’s fellow-mem in some abstract “natural” scheme of things.
The actual man of flesh and blood is created by God with the capacity to share in the
divine life and glory, and is in reality positively called to such a participation by the
Creator in the concrete situation of human history. Seen through Christian eyes,
therefore, this magnificent universe of ours, with all its beauty and goodness, with
all its intricacy and all its value, is only the preparatory stage of “the new heavens
and the new earth” which are to come. All terrestrial realities are bound to help
towards the perfect achievement of this divinized state of creation according to the
potentialities which God has given them. They fulfill this task in the highest possible
degree by contributing to and participating in the building up of the Mystical Body
of Christ which is the Church. Because the Head of this Body is the Incarnate Word
Himself, no authentic human value can be alien to it.
The Holy Spirit, Who in Christian tradition is called the soul of the Mystical
Body, is the life-force which stimulates and directs the growth of the Church. But to
this same Spirit is also attributed the impetus and guidance of the whole historical
 150

evolution of mankind, orientated towards Christ in and through the Church. And the
Church, as the principal manifestation and instrument of the Holy Spirit in the world,
shares in His task of fecundating and purifying cultures and bringing them to
maturity, for the sake of the God-Man Who is her Head.
The Church, however, does not claim any culture as peculiarly her own, at
least in this sense, that there is no single Christian culture to which all the faithful
must belong in order fully and properly to be members of Christ. Yet this radical
independence of any particular culture does not lessen her essential need of cultures
in order to take palpable shape and be present in the world. Thus culture, playing as
it does an important part in the building up of the Church, has a significance beyond
the purely mundane; and race, as the material substratum of culture, naturally shares
in this transcendent dignity. The final end of the entire process is the “age of the
fullness of Christ,” when the whole glorious and brilliant tapestry of redeemed
mankind diversified in various races and numerous cultures, gathered up into a
participation of the divine life in its Head and Mediator, will redound to the glory of
God in the consummated Kingdom.
Synthesizing even further this epitome, and drawing the major themes of this
composition still closer together, we can round off the theological discussion of race
with the following description: races are large groups of men, emerging in the course
of history; distinguished by the possession of partly similar hereditary constitutions
determining the integral person; enjoying certain rights; and divinely destined to
manifest the creative superabundance of God by actualizing the boundless variety of
the riches inherent in human nature, and to contribute to the building up of the
Mystical Body of Christ by their role in the formation of cultures.
 151

Bibliography

I. Statements of the Hierarchy

A. Papal Statements

BENEDICT XV, Letter to the bishops of Canada, 8th Sept. 1916, in AAS 8 (1916)
383-93
PIUS XI, Rerum Ecclesiae, in AAS 18 (1926) 65-83.
Mit brennender Sorge, in AAS 29 (1937) 145-67.
Address to the consistory, 24th Feb. 1934, in OR 74, 46 (25th Feb. 1934) 1.
Address to the spiritual directors of Italian Catholic Action, 21st July 1938,
in OR 78, 169 (23rd July 1938) 1.
Address to Propaganda College, 28th July 1938, in OR 78, 175 (30th July
1938) 1.
Address to the teachers of Catholic Action, 6th Sept. 1938, in OR 78, 208 (8th
Sept. 1938) 1.
Address to the Confederation Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens, 18th
Sept. 1938, in Actes 17 (1938) 156-61.
Holy Office, Decree condemning the book ‘Der Mythus des 20 Jahrhundert’s’
by A. Rosenberg, 7th Feb. 1934, in AAS 26 (1934) 93.
Decree condemning the book ‘Die deutsche Nationalkirche’ by E.
Bergman, 7th Feb. 1934, in AAS 26 (1934) 94.
Decree condemning the book ‘An die Dunkelmaenner unserer Zeit’ by
A. Rosenberg, 17th July (1935) 304-05.
Decree condemning the book ‘Il razzismo’ by G. Cogni, 9th July 1937,
in AAS 29 (1937) 306.
S.C. of Seminaries and Universities, Instruction on the errors of racism, 13th
Apr. 1938, in Actes 18 (1938-39) 86-88.
PIUS XII, Summi pontificatus, in AAS 31 (1939) 413-53.