The Catholic Church made no formal pronouncement against women’s suffrage in the early 20th century, but Pope St. Pius X and numerous other members of the hierarchy spoke out against it.
FROM the April 1912 issue of The Anti-Suffragist:
Cardinal-designate Falconio, small and energetic, paced nervously up and down the room, his brilliant black eyes sparkling with enthusiasm, as he talked of a topic in which he is passionately interested.
“I have nothing but sentiments of highest esteem for American women,” he began. “American women are extremely well-educated. They are full of energyand it is impossible to over-estimate the great results to be obtained when they exert their influence for the real welfare of society.
“I earnestly hope they will continue to exercise their power for good as they have in the past, but—-“
Here he paused for several moments before beginning his denunciations:
“I do not think it proper for any woman to go outside of the sphere which is assigned to her sex. A good woman should have in mind, above all, the proper care of her family—she is, first of all, a citizen of the home, and if she fulfills adequately the duties of that citizenship, she will have no leisure for outside affairs.In the home should be her heart and soul. There is no higher or holier mission than hers—the care and education of children. Men revere, love and honor the home woman.
“I earnestly hope that American women, while they inherit the stateliness of the Roman matrons and the courage of Spartan mothers, will cherish at the same time the noblest mission assigned to them, that of wifehood and motherhood.
“It should be the duty of women to exert their powerful influence to combat the divorce evil, the greatest evil of our day, which is undermining the life of families and of society.”
Source: These Noble Ladies, A Study of the Anti-Suffrage Movement by Rev. Christopher Hunter, SSPX
