Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Catholicism in the United States
Pope Leo XIII
January 6, 1895
“It would be very erroneous to draw the conclusion that in America is to be sought the type of the most desirable status of the Church, or that it would be universally lawful or expedient for State and Church to be, as in America, dissevered and divorced. The fact that Catholicity with you is in good condition, nay, is even enjoying a prosperous growth, is by all means to be attributed to the fecundity with which God has endowed His Church, in virtue of which unless men or circumstances interfere, she spontaneously expands and propagates herself; but she would bring forth more abundant fruits if, in addition to liberty, she enjoyed the favor of the laws and the patronage of the public authority.”
Source(s):
Pope Leo XIII, “Longinqua: Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Catholicism in the United States,” Vatican.va, January 6, 1895.