From Dietrich von Hildebrand's Trojan Horse in the City of God:
". . . even some Catholics who experience the exclusivity of truth as
liberating and who are not tempted to revolt against its alleged
infringement on their freedom believe that the fight against error is
uncharitable. The anathema of the Holy Church seems to them hard and inhuman. They have forgotten the admirable dictum of St. Augustine, 'Kill the error; love the one who errs.' They are unwilling to accept the idea that the killing of error is inseparable from love for the one who errs. Their false irenicism makes them blind to the glorious character of the anathema when spoken by the infallible Church. . . It should not be forgotten that the words of St. Augustine apply not only to the anathema which is reserved exclusively to the infallible magisterium of the Church; they also imply that everyone should be eager to help liberate his neighbor from error. . . When, out of a confused notion of charity, a soft-heartedness, or a superficial benevolence, we believe that we should leave the erring person in his error, we have ceased to take him seriously as a person and have no interest in his objective good."
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