Pope Saint Pius X: “But when We consider the place on which Our feet rest and on which this Pontifical See is rooted, We feel Ourself perfectly safe on the rock of Holy Church. ‘For who does not know,’ wrote St. Gregory to the Patriarch Eulogius of Alexandria, ‘that Holy Church stands on the solidity of the Prince of the Apostles, who got his name from his firmness, for he was called Peter from the word rock?’ (St. Gregory, Registr. vii. 37; 40). Supernatural force has never during the flight of ages been found wanting in the Church, nor have Christ’s promises failed.”

Pope Saint Pius X: “The Pope is the guardian of dogma and morals; he is the depositary of the principles that form an honest family, great nations, holy souls; he is the counselor of princes and peoples; it is the head under which no one feels tyrannized, because it represents God himself; he is the father par excellence who in himself brings together everything that can be loving, tender, divine.

“It seems incredible, and it is also painful, that there are priests to whom this recommendation should be made, but unfortunately we are in our days in this hard, unhappy condition of having to say to priests: love the Pope!

“And how is the Pope to love him? No verb neque lingua, sedopera et veritate . When you love a person you try to conform in everything to his thoughts, to carry out his wishes, to interpret his desires. And if our Lord Jesus Christ said of himself: si quis diligit me, sermonem meum servabit , so to show our love for the Pope it is necessary to obey him.

“Therefore when one loves the Pope, there is no discussion about what he disposes or demands, or how far obedience must go, and in what things one must obey; when one loves the Pope, one does not say that he did not speak clearly enough, as if he were obliged to repeat in the ear of everyone that clearly expressed will many times, not only verbally, but with letters and other public documents; his orders are not questioned, citing the easy pretext of those who do not want to obey, that it is not the Pope who commands, but those who surround him; the field in which he can and must exercise his authority is not limited; The authority of the Pope is not preceded by that of other people, however learned who disagree with the Pope, who, if they are learned, are not saints, because whoever is holy cannot disagree with the Pope.

“This is the outlet of a grieving heart, which I do with deep bitterness not for you, dear confreres, but with you to deplore the conduct of so many priests, who not only allow themselves to discuss and review the Pope’s wishes, but are not ashamed of to arrive at impudent and blatant disobedience with so much scandal of the good and with so much ruin of souls.” [Pope Saint Pius X, Speech, 18 November 1912.]

Pope Saint Pius X: “May reverence and obedience be perennial and sincere in you, promised with solemn rite to those whom the Divine Spirit made rulers of the Church; and above all, may the homage most justly due to this Apostolic See join your minds and hearts to it every day more closely.” [Pope Saint Pius X, Haerent Animo, 31.]

Pope Saint Pius X: “The office divinely committed to Us of feeding the Lord’s flock has especially this duty assigned to it by Christ, namely, to guard with the greatest vigilance the deposit of the faith delivered to the saints, rejecting the profane novelties of words and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called. There has never been a time when this watchfulness of the supreme pastor was not necessary to the Catholic body….”

They “are wont to display a certain contempt for Catholic doctrines, or the Holy Fathers, for the Ecumenical Councils, for the ecclesiastical magisterium; and should they be rebuked for this, they complain that they are being deprived of their liberty.” [Pope Saint Pius X, Pascendi, Dominici Gregis, n. 1, 18.]