The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 4, 1870.

THE POPE ON PRIVATE JUDGMENT.

The llfonde has published a letter from the Pope to the
Abbe de Solesines, of the Benedictine congregation of
France, and one of the most ardent defenders of the
dogma of Infallibility. He says it is much to be regretted
that there should be found among Catholics
men imbued with corrupt principles, who ad-
here to them with such obstinacy, that they
no longer know how to submit their under-
standing with docility to the judgment of the Holy See
when it is contrary to their views, even when common
assent and the recommendations a the Episcopate com-
bine to confirm it. They go still further and endeavour
to make the Church bow to their sentiments, while they
do not blush to give the name of " Ultramontane
party " to all the Catholic family who do
not think as themselves. They even undertake
to reform the Divine Constitution of the Church, and to
adapt it to the modern forms of civil government, in order
more resdily to lower the authority of the Supreme Chief
whom Christ Himself has appointed, and whose preroga-
tives they dread. They are thus to be seen putting
forward most audaciously as doubtful, or at least as
completely free, certain doctrines many times condemned
again discussing in the same manner as the former de-
fenders of those doctrines historical frauds, mutilated
passages, calumnies directed against Roman Pontiffs, and
sophisms of all kinds. Their object is to agitate men's
minds and to excite the faction to which they
belong. By this means they reduce to street discussions
the gravest questions, and oblige us to deplore their folly
as well as their audacity. If they believed firmly with
other Catholics that the (Ecumenical Council is governed
by the Holy Spirit, that it is only by the inspiration of
that Spirit that it defines and appoints what shall be
believed, the thought would never have entered into
their mind that things not revealed or hurtful to
the Church could be defined there, and they could
not imagine that human manoeuvres could arrest the
power of the Holy Spirit, or prevent the defi-
nition of things revealed as useful for the Church.
They could not have persuaded themselves that the
Fathers had been forbidden to bring forward the -difficul-
ties which they met with in the various definitions. If
they were influenced only by that motive, they would ab-
stain from all the tricks by means of which they are ac-
customed to obtain votes in popular assemblies, and they
would await quietly and humbly the effects which would
be produced by light from above. The Pope then expresses
his sense of the services which the Abb4 has rendered to
the Church by undertaking to refute the assertions of the
opponents to the Council. He declares that the task has
been executed wsth so much completeness and skill that
their allegations have been stripped of all pretensions to
wisdom. The Pope concludes his letter in these words
In re-establishing the truth of the faith, of right, and of
history you have acted in the interest of the faithful, as
well of those who are not. We therefore express to you
our special gratitude for the homage you have paid to us
by this book, and we predict a great and happy success
for the fruit of your labourers. As an augury of that
success, and as a proof of our paternal affection, we'
bestow upon you the Apostolic benediction."