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NON EXPEDIT

The decree of the Sacred Penitentiary of 1868 to Italian Catholics to abstain as electors or candidates from parliamentary elections. It was feared that their participation would be interpreted as approving the spoliation of the property of the Holy See by the Italian Government. The decree was modified by Pope St. Pius X, who in his encyclical Il fermo proposito (June 11, 1905) allowed bishops to ask for a suspension of the decree Non Expedit.

All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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