POPE PIUS XII: Equality degenerates to a mechanical leveling, a colorless uniformity; the sense of true honor, of personal activity, of respect for tradition and dignity-in a word all that gives life its worth-gradually fades away and disappears.

Pope Pius XII on how mass democracy turns liberty into licentiousness and tyranny:

"Against this picture of the democratic ideal of liberty and equality in a people's government by honest and far-seeing men, what a spectacle is that of a democratic state left to the whims of the… pic.twitter.com/jIfe2qXQYa

— The Old World Show (@theoldworldshow) September 20, 2026

Pope Pius XII, 1876-1958, [WWII Pope, 1939-1958] on how mass democracy turns liberty into licentiousness and tyranny:

Against this picture of the democratic ideal of liberty and equality in a people's government by honest and far-seeing men, what a spectacle is that of a democratic state left to the whims of the masses! Liberty, from being a moral duty of the individual, becomes a tyrannous claim to give free rein to a man's impulses and appetites to the detriment of others. Equality degenerates to a mechanical leveling, a colorless uniformity; the sense of true honor, of personal activity, of respect for tradition and dignity-in a word all that gives life its worth-gradually fades away and disappears. And the only survivors are, on one hand, the victims deluded by the specious mirage of democracy, naively taken for the genuine spirit of democracy, with its liberty and equality; and on the other, the more or less numerous exploiters, who have known how to use the power of money and of organization in order to secure a privileged position above the others, and have gained power.

This quote is recorded in the fantastic book Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites, which covers social hierarchy in the Christian tradition, including the American tradition. [A website.]

The Amazon blurb reads, 

Since the eighteenth century, generations have been schooled in utopian principles proclaiming total equality as the guarantor of liberty and justice for all. The egalitarian myth of a classless society was proffered as the unquestionable path down which mankind must travel to reach perfect social harmony. This book does much to shatter these myths and provide a Catholic approach to the way society should be structured as seen by the Popes.