Testem benevolentiae nostrae

Testem benevolentiae nostrae (witness our benevolence [ our affection ] ) is a papal letter of Pope Leo XIII. and dated January 22, 1899.

• He addressed this letter to the Archbishop of Baltimore, James Cardinal Gibbons and turns against heresy and a so-called Americanism in the United States of America. This letter bears the subtitle: "As new opinions, virtue, nature and grace with respect to the Americanism ". Occasionally, this letter is also called " Americanism encyclical ". This letter is not an encyclical, but a letter addressed to the Cardinal, very personally held papal letter, it can therefore be compared with a breve. Americanism was previously in the encyclical of Leo XIII Longinqua. convicted.

• The Pope also refers to his encyclical Immortale Dei (1885 ), in which he had pointed out the true functions of the state and of governments. He recognizes the approach to the new times, but cautioning against a spin-off of the American church. He throws the Cardinal Gibbons too much democracy in the church before and keeps out the danger before eyes to water down the faith of the Church through individualism and capitalism.