He that reigneth on high, to whom is given all power in heaven and earth, has committed the One Holy Catholic and apostolic Church, the society of christians outside of which there is no salvation, to one alone upon earth to govern, namely to Peter, the first of the apostles, and to Peter's successor, the Pope of Rome, to be by him governed in fullness of power as the Vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing that Christ, who is God the Son, possesses universal sovereignty and that from him alone proceeds all lesser honours and dignity. So to, alone on earth He has granted to his vicar the authority to raise up kingdoms to the imperial state in his name and acknowledge, recognise and approve the accession of Emperors to that highest of temporal ranks. To the successor of Peter alone, to whom universal authority of binding and loosing is granted, does this power rest, for the lesser thing by its nature is subordinate to the greater, and only as such the greater can raise the lesser to a state and rank above its own dignity and honour. Thus it was when the Holy Roman Emperor was proclaimed by the Pope of the day of Charlemagne, and so it was when Spain was declared Holy in the years when it was pious, and so even it was so when we ourselves, reluctantly and grudgingly accepted, recognised and approved the imperial claims of Germany in the aftermath of the loss of much of our temporal territories after the betrayal of the same Austrian king who became Emperor, this being evident through our diplomatic acceptance of the same King’s new Imperial title and the constant relations between Germany and the Holy See in the years since that day. Yet now we see, in the very land of our birth, a Catholic King seeking to proclaim himself Emperor in subversion of the authority of the Church?
As such, In obedience to our duty we (who by God's goodness are called to the aforesaid state of vicar of Christ) spare no pains and labour with which to defend and preserve as sacrosanct the recognition of this order, lest the great estate some men are called to be rendered worthless and without meaning by the conception that one himself, of his own declaration, can promote himself to a higher state and rank than his own legitimate station, and presume to place the authority of man over the authority of God’s own Church in such matters of honour and dignity. For indeed it is truly an absurd subversion of right reason and order to say that a man can appoint himself to something higher than what he is.
Therefore, We declare the King of Burgundy, who presumes himself an Emperor in opposition to us, who’s authority to grant and recognise an imperial dignity it is, and all his collaboraters in this act, excommunicated, and excluded from the society of Christians for the great hubris of rejecting the authority of the successor of Peter in this matter which pertains to him as Vicar of Christ, and the associated heresy of the denial of the universal sovereignty of Jesus Christ over all peoples and all nations. We urge him to repentance and contrition, and the recanting of his absurd and preposterous claims in order that he may be reconciled to the Church and renewed in penitence on the path of salvation.
We declare furthermore, by the power of binding and loosing granted upon us by virtue of our universal jurisdiction as governor of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church on this earth, that the King of Burgundy, should he prove obstinate and refuse to recant his claims, is deprived of his title to the crown of Burgundy and Paris, and of all lordship, dignity and privilege whatsoever.
We also declare that the nobles, subjects and peoples of the said realm of Paris-Burgundy and its colonies, and indeed all who have sworn in any way loyalty or oaths to Robert de Paris, to be forever absolved from such an oath and from any duty owed to him by the same authority by which we deprive him of his crown and all the above. We as such charge all the singular nobles, subjects and peoples aforesaid to dare not obey his orders, mandates and laws, and to shun Robert de Paris and uphold sacred obedience to the Lord. Those who shall act to the contrary we include in the like sentence of excommunication.
We finally urge and call upon all the faithful of burgundy and all men and nations of goodwill and zealout piety to assist and enact the denial of dignity we have declared. Most particularly we call upon the parliament of Burgundy, legitimately elected by the people to preserve the customs and traditions of your Catholic nation, to enact the denial of dignity we have imposed upon Robert de Paris. We urge you to remove him from all power and authority, granting also with our blessing the royal throne onto the first legitimate successor in line to whom no impediment be it ecclesiastical or temporal (ooc: ergo not excommunicated and not otherwise unsuitable to rule) that exists. This we urge as a solemn duty to oppose the great and sinful hubris of Robert de Paris, and conserve piously and zealously the order of honour, dignity and legitimate authority that forms the foundation of stability in our society, in opposition to the anarchic tyranny of proletarism and similar ideologies born of the hubris of men.
Paulus VI. PP.
