"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 β as though God were waiting behind every door opened by science.
You lose nothing through peace. You can lose everything through war.
I am no longer the wave of consciousness thinking itself separated from the sea of cosmic consciousness. I am the ocean of Spirit that has become the wave of human life.
So we draw lines around our property, our counties, our cities, our states, our countries. And, boy, do we act as if those lines are important. I mean, we go to war. We will kill and die to protect those boundaries. Nature couldn't give two hoots about our national boundaries.
In the name of certainty, the greatest crimes have been committed against humanity.
There is no polite way to say that business is destroying the world.
Once I lived in time as a fish in water, breathing it, drinking it, sustained by it. Now I kill time and time kills me.
There are only two kinds of freedom in the world; the freedom of the rich and powerful, and the freedom of the artist and the monk who renounces possessions.
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