This Two Cities podcast is a timely reminder of how the Church, even pre-Vatican II just cannot grasp the utter evil of the democratic system. The encylical "Au Milieu des Sollicitudes" was when in 1892, the Church ordered Catholics to stop fighting the system and work from inside, under the assumption that the system wasn't inherently evil, even if the legislation was.
The podcast is in two parts. This second part here
https://youtu.be/HU9REXei-yE? covers the ralliement, le Toast d'Algers of 1880 by the Cardinal Lavigerie, to prepare the ground for this and how poorly this was accepted by genuine conservative Catholics. The first part provides a little more context for those who are interested.
At the toast of Algiers Lavigerie, liberally announced
"When the will of a people has clearly asserted itself, when the form of a government has nothing contrary, as Leo XIII recently proclaimed, to the principles that can sustain Christian and civilized nations, when it is necessary, in order to tear one's country from the abysses that threaten it, to adhere without ulterior motive to this form of government, the moment comes to sacrifice all that conscience and honor permit, order each one to sacrifice for the love of the fatherland. […] This is what I teach around me, this is what I hope to see imitated in France by all our clergy, and in speaking thus, I am certain of not being contradicted by any authoritative voice."
This toast moved the Overton Window towards the program of the liberals within the Church who just wanted to get on with life.
The Cardinal Lavigerie may or may not have been a freemason but the podcast mentions that his father and grandfather were. Pius the XIIIth's, secretary of state was the Cardinal Rampolla, who was member of the O.T.O and was thus famously blocked from the papacy by a veto from Austro-Hungary.
The Ralliement Encyclical "Au Milieu des Sollicitudes" of 1892 gained nothing for the Catholics but showed the masonic republic that the Church was not willing to put up a fight. The net result was the 1905 law regarding the separation of Church and state and futher plundering of the Church.
This is not just old history. Here is a very relevant youtube comment:
" I was just dealing with this tension during the American elections. Even among all the Trads, I was very much an outlier in determining that I wasn’t going to participate in supporting Trump as the “lesser of two evils”… After having listened to your channel and Dr Deep State for several years, as well as several other similar channels and reading many books, I detached from the whole election drama. There was a fair amount of gaslighting from even Traditional clergy still arguing that not voting is a grave sin, but my conscience on the matter is clear. I’ll pray for Trump, he didn’t need my vote or consent. I had already figured the powers that be wanted him to win to further their agenda, and I’m not looking forward to 4 years of Trump like most of my fellow parishioners."