In setting this commandment within the context of the basic structure of ethics, Israel and then the Church declare that they consider it not just a matter of community religious discipline but a defining and indelible expression of our relationship with God, announced and expounded by biblical revelation.
Cum in Syriam Caesar ex Aegypto venisset atque ab eis qui Roma venerant ad eum cognosceret litterisque urbanis animadverteret multa Romae male et inutiliter administrari neque ullam partem rei publicae satis commode geri, quod et contentionibus tribuniciis perniciosae seditiones orirentur et ambitione atque indulgentia tribunorum militum et qui legionibus praeerant multa contra morem consuetudinemque militarem fierent, quae dissolvendae disciplinae severitatisque essent, eaque omnia flagitare adventum suum videret, tamen praeferendum existimabat, quas in provincias regionesque venisset, eas ita relinquere constitutas ut domesticis dissensionibus liberarentur, iura legesque acciperent, externorum hostium metum deponerent.vatican.va vatican.va