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EDITORIAL
Fifty years after Humani Generis
On August 12, 1950 Pope Pius XII published a strongly-worded, no nonsense Encyclical
Letter entitled, Humani Generis (“The Human Race”). Next year will be the 50th
anniversary of that important letter. It might be helpful for us to recall some of the
main points of the letter and to see what we can learn from it.
The occasion of the letter was the circulation of new and false ideas
among the clergy and professors in seminaries. After the conclusion of WWII, especially in
France and Germany, many Catholic intellectuals wanted to modernize or update Catholic
philosophy and theology and to bring it more into line with contemporary thinking.
Pius XII mentions many philosophical views which are at odds with
Catholic doctrine—materialistic evolution, immanentism, idealism, historicism,
relativism. He criticizes those who say that angels are not persons, those who deny the
essential difference between matter and spirit, those who destroy the gratuity of the
supernatural order by saying that God “cannot create intellectual beings without
ordering and calling them to the beatific vision” (#25). There are those who deny
Original Sin and say that Adam “represents a certain number of first parents”
(#37). He rejects that type of biblical scholarship which doubts or denies the historical
validity of the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Pius singles out many other modern
errors, but that should be enough to give you an idea of what he is about.
In this letter the Pope gave a strong defense of the great value of
scholastic philosophy and theology. He says that all seminarians should be schooled in
philosophy “according to the method, doctrine, and principles of the Angelic
Doctor” (#31).
One will also find a vigorous defense of the authority of the
Magisterium in matters pertaining to doctrine and morals. When the Pope decides some
matter that was formerly discussed, there is no room for further discussion; in our day
that would apply to contraception, abortion, homosexuality, priestly ordination of women,
and so forth (see ##19-21). So for Pius XII theologians are not “free agents”
doing as they please. Rather, he says, “it belongs to them to point out how the
doctrine of the living Teaching Authority is to be found either explicitly or implicitly
in the Scriptures and in Tradition” (#21). In his teaching, there is no such thing as
“dissent” against a clearly expressed papal teaching. That was common teaching
and practice in the Church up to the theological rebellion over Humanae Vitae in 1968 and
the failure of the Magisterium to discipline dissenters. Under Pius XII no theologian
would have dared to do what Fr. Charles Curran and his followers did in 1968.
My reason for recalling the teaching of Humani Generis is to contrast
the clear teaching and practice of Pius XII with the theological confusion we now find
ourselves in. All of the errors he condemned are still with us, often taught openly in
Catholic schools and seminaries. In those days all professors in seminaries had to take
the “Oath Against Modernism” every year at the beginning of the fall term. If
such serious errors were creeping in then, under a strict discipline, what must the
situation be like now when the Oath is no longer required? One way to promote fidelity to
the Magisterium would be for seminaries to require professors to take the Oath at the
beginning of the school year.
In the history of the Church fifty years is not a long time, but there
have been dramatic changes in Church and society since 1950 that are unprecedented.
Computers, jet aircraft, and worldwide instant communications have affected all of us. The
errors condemned by Pius XII are still with us and his responses to them are still valid.
My hope is that those who plan conferences and forums for the year 2000 will include in
their programs lectures on the importance and relevance of Pius XII’s Humani Generis
to the Church in the year 2000.
Kenneth Baker, S.J., Editor
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