Dilectissima Nobis facts for kids

Dilectissima Nobis is an important letter from Pope Pius XI that was released on June 3, 1933. The name means "On Oppression of the Church of Spain." In this letter, the Pope spoke out against the unfair treatment of the Catholic Church in Spain. He was very concerned because the Spanish government had taken away many Church buildings, like homes for bishops, parish houses, seminaries (schools for priests), and monasteries. The Pope also mentioned "serious offenses committed against the Divine Majesty," meaning he felt God's rights and laws were being broken. He prayed for forgiveness for these actions.

History of the Church in Spain

When a new government, called the Republican government, came to power in Spain in 1931, it made many changes that were against the Catholic Church.

Changes to Education and Property

One big change was making education secular, which means removing religious teaching from schools. Religious education was no longer allowed in public schools. The government also forced the Jesuits, a group of Catholic priests, to leave the country.

The Spanish Constitution of 1931 included laws that many Catholics felt took away their rights. For example, all Church properties officially became the property of the state. This meant the Church had to pay rent and taxes to the government just to keep using its own buildings. Pope Pius XI said it was like the Church was "compelled to pay taxes on what was violently wrenched from her."

The government also took other important items needed for worship, such as religious clothing, special instruments used in services, statues, pictures, and valuable objects. Even private Catholic schools run by religious groups were taken over. The government wanted these schools to reopen as non-religious schools.

Pope Pius XI's Response

Pope Pius XI had seen similar problems for the Church in other countries, like the Soviet Union and Mexico. He encouraged Spanish Catholics to protect themselves against this unfair treatment using all legal ways they could. He had also spoken out against similar harmful actions in an earlier letter called Quas primas in 1925.

The Pope's letter also suggested that some people were motivated by greed when they took the Church's valuable art and treasures. He pointed out that the government did not seem to care about the feelings of faithful people in the country or how much they loved these religious artworks.

Government and Freedom

Even though the Pope strongly criticized the government's actions, he also made an important point: "Universally known is the fact that the Catholic Church is never bound to one form of government more than to another, provided the Divine rights of God and of Christian consciences are safe." This means the Catholic Church does not prefer one type of government over another, as long as people's religious freedoms and God's rights are respected.

The encyclical called the actions of the Spanish government an "offence not only to Religion and the Church, but also to those declared principles of civil liberty on which the new Spanish regime declares it bases itself." This meant the government's actions were not only against religion and the Church but also went against the very ideas of freedom that the new Spanish government claimed to support.