Another necessity of absolute government is the repression of free criticism directed against itself.  Heresy and schism in an autocratic Church take the place of treason against the sovereign.  Cyprian, in the third century, had already laid down the principles by which alone the central authority could be maintained.

’Ab arbore frange ramum; fractus germinare non poterit.  A fonte praecide rivum; praecisus arescit....  Quisquis ab ecclesia separatus adulterae iungitur, a promissis ecclesiae separatur.  Alienus est, hostis est.  Habere non potest Deum patrem, qui ecclesiam non habet matrem.’

Schismatics are therefore rebels, whose lives are forfeit under the laws of treason.  Heretics are in no better case; for the Church is the only infallible interpreter both of Scripture and of tradition; and to differ from her teaching is as disloyal as to secede from her jurisdiction.  Even Augustine could say, ’I should not believe the Gospel, if the authority of the Church did not determine me to do so’; a statement which a modern ultra-montane has capped by saying, ’Without the authority of the Pope, I should not place the Bible higher than the Koran.’  Bellarmine claims an absolute monopoly of inspiration for the Roman Church on the ground that Rome alone has preserved the apostolic succession beyond dispute.[52] As for the treatment which heretics deserve, the same authority is very explicit.

’In the first place, heretics do more mischief than any pirate or brigand, because they slay souls; nay more, they subvert the foundations of all good and fill the commonwealth with the disturbances which necessarily follow religious differences.  In the second place, capital punishment inflicted on them has a good effect on very many persons.  Many whom impunity was making indifferent are roused by these executions to consider what is the nature of the heresy which attracts them, and to take care not to end their earthly lives in misery and lose their future happiness.  Thirdly, it is a kindness to obstinate heretics to remove them from this life.  For the longer they live, the more errors they devise, the more men they pervert, and the greater damnation they acquire for themselves.’[53]

In all matters which are not essential for the safety of the autocracy, an absolutist Church will consult the average tastes of its subjects.  If the populace are at heart pagan, and hanker after sensuous ritual, dramatic magic, and a rich mythology, these must be provided.  The ‘intellectuals,’ being few and weak, may be safely rebuffed or disregarded until their discoveries are thoroughly popularised.  The pronouncements of the Roman Inquisition in the case of Galileo are typical.