"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's." One would like to add: Give unto man things which are man's; give man his freedom and personality, his rights and religion.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of respecting both secular and divine authority, while also advocating for individual rights and freedoms.
Pope Pius XII's quote reflects the duality of human existence, where individuals must navigate their responsibilities to both earthly authorities and spiritual beliefs. It suggests that while one must fulfill obligations to civic society, it is equally essential to honor personal freedoms, rights, and beliefs, asserting that true dignity comes from recognizing and giving space to both the secular and the sacred in human life.
In practice
In a speech about civic duties, one might reference this quote to discuss the balance between government obligations and personal freedoms.
If a worker is deprived of hope to acquire some personal property, what other natural stimulus can be offered him that will inspire him to hard work, labor, saving and sobriety today, when so many nations and men have lost everything and all they have left is their capacity for work?
To live without risk is to risk not living.
It might be said that society speaks through the clothing it wears. Through its clothing it reveals its secret aspirations and uses it, at least in part, to build or destroy its future.
The faith of the Church is this: That one and identical is the Word of God and the Son of Mary Who suffered on the Cross, Who is present in the Eucharist, and Who rules in Heaven
True science discovers God in an ever-increasing degree — as though God were waiting behind every door opened by science.
You lose nothing through peace. You can lose everything through war.
Our disrespect for thinking: someone sitting in a chair, gazing out of a window blankly, always described as 'doing nothing'.
All truth is simple... is that not doubly a lie?
Each American must remember and help America remember that the fellowship of human beings is more important than the fellowship of race and class and gender in a democratic society.
He who sups with the devil had better have a long spoon. The devilry of modernity has its own magic: The [believer] who sups with it will find his spoon getting shorter and shorter--until that last supper in which he is left alone at the table, with no spoon at all and with an empty plate. The devil, one may guess, will by then have gone away to more interesting company.
The nose of a mob is its imagination. By this, at any time, it can be quietly led.
If my activism, however well-motivated, drives out love, then I have misunderstood Jesus’ gospel. I am stuck with law, not the gospel of grace.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.