The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-11 00:00:00

THE POPE'S ALLOCUTION.

The following is the allocution delivered by the
Pope at the secret consistory held at Rome, on the
30th ult.:—

" Venerable Brethren—Each of you may remem-
ber with what heartfelt grief we have frequently
deplored before you the numerous and lamentable
evils caused to the Apostolic Church, to the
Apostolic See, and to ourselves, to the great
detriment of civil society, by the Piedmontese
Government and by the authors and abettors of
that disastrous rebellion, particularly in the unfor-
tunate provinces of Italy, which that same Go-
vernment has usurped with as much injustice as
violence. At the present time, among the innu-
merable and still more serious wounds inflicted
incessantly on our holy religion by that same Go-
vernment, and by the men who form part of a
detestable conspiracy, *e have to weep over our
dear son, your illustrious colleague, the vigilant
Archbishop of Naples, renowned for his piety and his
virtue, whom you now see here present, and who
seized by soldiers, was torn from his flock to the
great grief of all right-minded men. Every one
knows how the satellities of that Government and of
that rebellion, full of ignorance and deceit, have
renewed the attacks and the fury of the ancient
heretics, and giving way to all their rage against
holy things, endeavour to completely overthrow, if
it were ever possible, the Church of God and the

Catholic religion; to wrest from every soul its salu-
tary doctrine, and to excite and inflame every bad
passion.

" All laws, human and divine, have been trampled

under foot ; all ecclesiastical censures set at nought;
the bishops, with an audacity which every day
increases, expelled from their dioceses and even
thrown into prison ; the majority of the faithful
have been deprived of their pastors ; the regular
and secular priests borne down by bad treatment
and subjected to all kinds of injustice ; religious
congregations destroyed ; the members expelled
from their houses and reduced to the most complete
indigence; virgins devoted to God obliged to beg
their bread; the most venerated temples despoiled,

profaned, and changed into dens of robbers ; sacred

property pillaged; ecclesiastical authority and
jurisdiction violated and usurped, and the laws of
the Church despised and trampled under foot.
Schools of false doctrine have been established,
libels and infamous journals, the offspring of dark-
ness, have been distributed in every place at an
enormous expense by a criminal conspiracy. Per-
nicious and abominable writings atte -,.k our holy
faith, religion, piety, honesty, modesty, honour,
and virtue, and overthrow the true and unshakable
rules of eternal and natural law of public and
private rights; the legitimate liberty and pro-
perty of every one is attacked ; the foundations
of family ties and of civil society are ruined;
the reputation of every virtuous person is blackened
by false accusations, and the impunity of all vices
and of all errors is every day more and more
nourished, propagated, and increased.
" There is no one who has not seen what a de-
plorable suite of calamities, crimes, and misfortunes
have been scattered over unfortunate Italy by this
great and criminal rebellion ; for, to use the words
of the Prophet, ' By swearing, and lying, and com-
mitting adultery, they break out, and blood
toucheth blood.'—(Hosea iv., 2.)
" Yes, the sad heart is seized with horror ; words
are wanting to depict the greater part of the towns
of the kingdom of Naples, burnt and destroyed ; a
considerable number of virtuous priests, monks, and
citizens of all age, sex, and condition, without ex-
cepting even those consumed by disease, charged
with the most shameful outrages, thrown into
prison or put to death in the most barbarous man-
ner, without even the form of a trial.

And who would not be illed with the most
profound sadness at seeing these men, these frantic
rebels, without any respect for sacred Ministers, for
the dignity of Bishop or Cardinal, -without any re-
spect for us, for this Apostolic See, for the sacred
temples, and for justice and humanity, spread
everywhere ruin and devastation.

" And who are those who act thus ? Men who
do not blush to affirm with the most brazen impu-
dence that they wish to give liberty to the Church,
and to restore the moral sense of Italy ! Nay, they
are not even ashamed to demand of the Roman
Pontiff to acquiesce in their unjust desires, in order
to prevent greater evils from falling on the Church.
" But what causes us the greatest sorrow, vene-
rable brethren, is that several members of the
secular and regular clergy, some of whom hold
ecclesiastical dignities, being miserably led away
by a fatal spirit of error and rebellion, and, for-
getful of their vocation and their duties, have gone
astray from the path of truth, have given their
assent to the designs of the impious, and have
become, to the great regret of well-conducted
people, a stumbling-block and a scandal.
"To all these misfortunes, which we deplore,
a new affliction has been added. In the States of
Mexico, some men not less criminal and animated
by a similar hatred against the Catholic Church,
have (setting an example never before seen) not
feared to promulgate laws the most unjust and the
most hostile to the power, rights, and doctrines of
the Church. They have pillaged ecclesiastical pro-
perty, despoiled the altars, persecuted members of
the clergy and of religious orders, driven away the
virgins consecrated to God, and after outraging
bishops haN'e dragged them from their flocks and
sent them into exile. Almost all these victiras
have come into our city, and have given us great
consolation, by the display of the virtues which
they possess in a high degree.
" And that is not all. In another part of Ame-
rica,,oi
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selves of the Supreme authority, promulgated a
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leave their
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" Zn presence of such a deplorable overthrow of