I had a pretty heated debate with a friend about whether or not there ever existed a Catholic society that could serve as a contrast and model for the secular world in which we live.
The opinion of my friend was that a Catholic society had never failed because it had never been tried.
Medieval Cathedral of Chartres, France.
My opinion was that the Middle Ages, although not perfect, was a good Catholic society. What do you think?
To back up my point, I quote from Leo XII's encyclical Immortale Dei, in which he describes the marvels produced by the spirit of the Gospel during the Middle Ages.
His words are extremely beautiful, perhaps one of the most beautiful texts ever produced by this pontiff. Please read on:
"There was a time when the philosophy of the Gospel governed the States. In that epoch, the influence of Christian wisdom and its divine virtue penetrated the laws, institutions, and customs of the people, all the categories and all the relations of civil society.
"Then the Religion instituted by Jesus Christ, solidly established in the degree of dignity due to it, flourished everywhere, thanks to the favor of Princes and the legitimate protection of the Magistrates. Then the Priesthood and the Empire were united by a happy concord and by the friendly interchange of good offices.
"So organized, civil society gave fruits superior to all expectations, whose memory subsists and will subsist, registered as it is in innumerable documents that no artifice of the adversaries can destroy or obscure."
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