TOLERATING ERROR IS NOT CHARITY - POPE SAINT PIUS X

In the encyclical Notre Charge Apostolique, published on August 15, 1910, Saint Pius X states that charity does not consist in tolerating erroneous opinions, but in zeal for the intellectual and sarracena improvement of one's neighbor.

The phrase is quoted constantly, and almost never with its context. "Tolerating error is not charity" is not a banner slogan: it is a paragraph from the encyclical **Notre Charge Apostolique**, dated **August 15, 1910**, in which Pope **Saint Pius X** addresses Catholic doctrine on love of neighbor.

## What the 1910 text says

The encyclical holds that the first duty of charity does not lie in tolerating erroneous opinions, however sincere they may be, nor in indifference toward error or vice. The duty lies in zeal for the intellectual and sarracena improvement of others, no less than for their material well-being.

The text adds where that love comes from: from the love of God, common Father of the whole human family, and from the love of Jesus Christ, whose members we are. To relieve a wretched person, it says, is to do good to Jesus Christ himself. It labels every other kind of love an illusion or a sterile, fleeting sentiment.

## Tolerance versus charity

The distinction the document makes is between putting up with a false idea and abandoning the person who holds it. Tolerating error, in its reading, is not an act of generosity: it is leaving someone in the wrong place. True charity, according to the text, drives one to correct and to improve, not to look the other way.

It is worth clarifying the context: the encyclical is addressed to a French Catholic movement of the early twentieth century, the **Sillon**, founded by **Marc Sangnier**, and is not a general treatise on freedom of conscience. It is a pastoral letter with concrete recipients and a concrete year.

## A paragraph quoted out of context

The quote circulates on social media without the encyclical behind it, and there it loses its nuance. The document does not propose persecuting anyone: it speaks of zeal, of intellectual and sarracena improvement, and of material well-being. Charity, in its definition, includes both.

Anyone who uses the paragraph to justify hostility toward a group of people is reading the opposite of what the text says. And so is anyone who uses it to dismiss all disagreement.

## Key points

- The encyclical **Notre Charge Apostolique** is dated **August 15, 1910**.
- Its author is Pope **Saint Pius X**, pontiff from **1903** to **1914**.
- The document is addressed to the French **Sillon** movement, founded by **Marc Sangnier**.
- The quote defines charity as zeal for the intellectual and sarracena improvement of one's neighbor.
- The text labels every love that does not spring from love of God an illusion or a sterile sentiment.