BLAISE PASCAL AND THE CLERGY

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and a 17th-century Catholic philosopher has critically expounded in his "Provincial Letters" with unequalled precision and objectivity the clerical processes, which he calls Jesuit politics, but which is the quintessence of Roman politics of all time. In short, there were 18 letters, most of which criticized the permissive position of the Jesuits - and not just them - in the field of unrestrained individual freedoms and especially tolerated what is often condemned by morals, sacrificing the purity of Christian ethics. These letters gave rise to anticlericalism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Rome condemned Pascal's "Provincial Letters", to which Pascal wrote: "Rome condemned my letters, but what in them I condemn, is already condemned in heaven - I appeal to your court, Lord Jesus!"

Pascal lived and died as a fervent Catholic Christian, and if he had not written these letters, he might have appeared on the altars of the church, for his Christian life was austere. Thanks to this purity and sharpness of disciplined spirit, Pascal clearly realized that one thing is Christian Catholicism, and something else is Roman clericalism. For him, Catholicism is Christianity, while clericalism is a political-financial orientation embedded in the church.

According to what Pascal revealed in his letters, the clergy adopt double standards in the field of ethics: one for the people, and one for themselves. If a layman makes a slander, he is obliged to revoke the slander to receive acquittal in confession, but if an ecclesiastical dignitary lies and slander, he has no obligation to revoke himself - assuming that the slander reverts for the benefit of the class.

The reason for this difference is obvious: for the clergy, the exercise of the priesthood is a lucrative profession and a policy that guarantees social prestige. For the lay and sincere Catholic, Catholicism is a divine ideal, from which it expects no social or material advantage, and must even be willing to sacrifice certain earthly advantages to be truly Catholic.

As long as the priesthood remains a lucrative profession and a means of political influence, clergy are in sharp opposition to Christianity.

The command Jesus gave to his disciples is categorical: "Give freely what ye received freely!" Categorical is also the condemnation he throws to the spiritual leaders of the church of Israel: "Woe to you, that you devour the houses of widows and orphans under the guise of long prayers!" "You cannot serve two masters, God and money."

Jesus allowed his disciples to receive the necessary sustenance, but not pecuniary remuneration, or salary: "When you enter a house, eat whatever is set before you, for the worker is worthy of his sustenance." The translation "salary" or "wages", instead of "sustenance", incompatible with the text, already reveals the mercenary spirit of the clergy of that time.