Qui pluribus
Qui pluribus is an encyclical promulgated by Pope Pius IX on 9 November 1846. It was the first encyclical of his reign and written to urge the prelates to be on guard against the dangers posed by rationalism, pantheism, socialism, communism and other popular philosophies. It was a commentary on the widespread civil unrest spreading across Italy, as nationalists with a variety of beliefs and methods sought the unification of Italy.
Context
Pius IX was elected to the papacy in June 1846. The following November, he addressed this encyclical to "All Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops", exhorting them to be vigilant against the dangers of rationalism, pantheism, Communism, and modernity. "Therefore, since We have now assumed the supreme pontificate..., We are sending this letter to you without delay, in accordance with the established practice of Our predecessors. Its purpose is to urge that you keep the night-watches over the flock entrusted to your care with the greatest possible eagerness, wakefulness and effort..."According to Thomas W. O'Brien, much of the document was drafted by Luigi Cardinal Lambruschini, Secretary of State to Pius's predecessor, the strongly conservative Pope Gregory XVI.
Content
Communism
The encyclical is particularly directed against socialists and communists, who through "their outlandish errors and their many harmful methods, plots and contrivances... which they use to set in motion their plans to quench peoples’ zeal for piety, justice and virtue, to corrupt morals, to cast all divine and human laws into confusion, and to weaken and even possibly overthrow the Catholic religion and civil society.""Qui pluribus" contains the first mention of communism in any papal encyclopedia. Pius described communism as "...a doctrine most opposed to the very natural law. For if this doctrine were accepted, the complete destruction of everyone’s laws, government, property, and even of human society itself would follow."
Secret societies
Italian nationalism exploded in the post-Napoleonic years, leading to the establishment of secret societies bent on a unified Italy. After 1815, Freemasonry in Italy was repressed and discredited due to its French connections. A void was left that the Carbonari filled with a movement that closely resembled Freemasonry but with a commitment to Italian nationalism and no association with Napoleon and his government. The Carbonari was a secret society divided into small covert cells scattered across Italy. They were strongly anti-clerical in both their philosophy and programme. The Carbonari movement spread across Italy. A well-known member of the Carbonari was Giuseppe Mazzini who, in 1831, founded yet another secret society, Young Italy (historical), whose members plotted revolts in revolt in Savoy and elsewhere. Another prominent member was Giuseppe Garibaldi, who in 1834 joined Mazzini in a failed insurrection in Piedmont. Garibaldi joined Freemasonry in 1844.Pius condemned "secret sects who have come forth from the darkness to destroy and desolate both the sacred and the civil commonwealth". While not specifically mentioning Freemasonry, Hermann Gruber, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia, lists Qui pluribus among the papal pronouncements against Freemasonry.