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Thank you for this insight. But what does this have to do with the U.S. Constitution?

The constitution is a product of enlightenment thinking and has certain protestant influence of nothing definitive when it speaks of liberty. Pluralism and pragmatism only leads to confusion of souls. As I said ,there are certain elements that are borrowed from Catholicism but they are not defined and concrete,but at least we can be grateful that these certain elements have been placed there by God

Liberty is definitive in Catholicism and it DEFINES sins that "liberates" a person to be free from sin by following dogmatic laws given by God to His Church

The constitution says we have "Unalienable Rights From God" which means nothing without being defined what these rights are in relation to sin against God being defined.

This is why pornography , abortion, gay marriage etc.. can be allowed as pursuit of happiness, freedom and liberty in this system that will eventually collapse it from within.

But Pope Leo didn't have a single word to say about the U.S. Constitution in these passages. Nor arguably, about anything having to do with specifically American culture.

His encyclical on Americanism does not have to mention the Constitution because it's pretty clear he understood that it embodies a NEW form of liberty that is NOT Divinely inspired.

What do you suppose Pope Leo is speaking of when he says the following statement on Americanism in his encyclical?

""These dangers, viz., the confounding of license with liberty, the passion for discussing and pouring contempt upon any possible subject, the assumed right to hold whatever opinions one pleases upon any subject and to set them forth in print to the world, have so wrapped minds in darkness that there is now a greater need of the Church's teaching office than ever before, lest people become unmindful both of conscience and of duty.""

Most Americans who know American history — Catholic or otherwise — know that the Constitution is not a prescription for how a man should live

Are you suggesting a Catholic should follow a document with many protestant enlightenment inspired idea's rather than what the Church actually teaches as if God usurped Church teaching and made the US a new sort of church founded by him?

The reason why the American Catholic church has faltered at times is because it made this mistake,dear sister!

His encyclical on Americanism does not have to mention the Constitution because it's pretty clear he understood that it embodies a NEW form of liberty that is NOT Divinely inspired.

In what way is Pope Leo's encyclical specifically about "Americanism?" In what way is the American idea not "divinely inspired?"

The Constitution is silent about a man's — a citizen's — "Unalienable Rights From God." It is only the Declaration of Independence — our most basic and morally foundational document — that speaks those words. The Constitution itself speaks the language, not of God directly, but of "We the People" — a people who simply wished to live their lives "under God" directly, without harassment from the government.

And you think somehow this typical expression of pure "American liberty" is "chopped liver???"

If so, you do not have a clue about the exceptional American Project....

Because we want to live "under God," the State HAS to be curtailed in its power.

That is what the Constitution — precisely — is aimed at doing.

In which We the People constrain the government from interfering with, abridging, or annulling the free exercise of our God-given liberties.

A man cannot live under "two masters." Capice???

To that I will only add: If this is what you learn in your Church, then I would not be amenable to becoming a member of your Church.

Such a thing, to me, would stink of "social justice" thinking. And as long as the Holy Spirit abides with me, I cannot accept such thinking. And will not abide with it.

I'm a CHRISTIAN. AND an American.

I love my God first; after that, the country of my birth.

The Constitution of the United States of America is what brings these two commitments into alignment for me, in my personal life.

Thank you so much for writing, dear brother in Christ!