The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-25 00:00:00

THE SUN.
LONDON, FRIDAY, OCT. 25, 1861.

Italy is all alive just now with the flight of
PASSAGLIA from Rome. Our readers are aware that
he published a very able pamphlet, counselling the
renunciation by the POPE of his temporal powers,
and defending his positions by such a mass of cita-
tions from Fathers of most authority with all good
Catholics, that what with the force of his general
arguments, and the weight of the authorities cited,
the pamphlet was unanswerable. The learned
father is a thorough Catholic and a first-rate theo-
logian. He formerly belonged to the order of the
Jesuits, and for his knowlege and ability had been
selected by the POPE himself to defend the new
doctrine given to the church of the " Immaculate
Conception of the Blessed Virgin." Hence the
worthy father not only enjoyed an Italian and
Catholic reputation for learning, but the POPE hud.
put his own imprimatur on his orthodoxy. The
father's influence in the Catholic world is, therefore,
very great. Its educated members must believe far
more willingly in Father PASSAGLIA than in the
POPE.

But Rome, as everyone knows, has an infallible
'answer to all unanswerable books. It puts them
into a condemned list. From that time forth all
the women, and all the illiterate in the Catholic
world, believe the books to be bad—and would not
read them lest they should peril their salvation.
And all the men of education are obliged to speak
or write of them with paraphrases and saving
clauses. The Jesuit fathers, for instance, after
ably illustrating NEWTON'S Principia, added a
saving clause that although the theory of the solar
system was thus demonstrated mathematically,
they yet believed with the Church which condemned
GALILEO ; and to this day no man can be a con-
sistent Catholic who is not prepared to believe
with the Jesuits, against their own demonstrations,
that the sun takes a trip round our earth once a
year. A sad thing, therefore, for Father PASSAGLIA
to have his book placed in the condemned list.
But the other day we heard that all the
powers and cunning of the Vatican were being
exerted to get Father PASSA6LIA to yield, but
he steadily refused to do so till the book was for-
mally condemned. He was told that was perfectly
settled ; but he stood upon the letter of the law. It
seems, however, that at length he and his friends
felt that his personal safety—being as he was in the
hands of the judicial murderers of LOCATELLI, whom
an infallible POPE, out of political spite, hung by
mistake for
a crime he never committed—required
precautions. The Index Expurgatorius was enough
for the book, butene: dungeon or the gallows
alone could
the author, and these
veteran champions of "Papal theology, thanks to
Louis NAPOLEON, are still at the command of the
POPE. First safety was
sought for him at the
British Consulate ; ho was, pro tempore
Secretary, but legal advice was taken, and' named
it was
found that as a priest, the POPE Could Clutch him,
although a British servant. Nothing, therefore
remained for him but flight ; though, Couldtb,
e
Romans have had their own way, the POPE, not \
the Father, would have been the fugitive.
As it was, he escaped with no little loss. Re
was residing with an English lady, Mrs. Foie.
JAMBE, who took a deep interest in him, as her
chaplain ; and it ye is supposed by her that he was
tolarably secure in that capacity. Suddenly, how-
ow ea the police paid the lady a visit, who soon found
that her house was not her castle in Rome. The
ser cant, who saw the officials enter, raised such a
crya that PASSAGLIA scented what was going on,
alia stepped away into a place of concealment, leav-
ing all his papers, but a few of the most important
Nth; 'tell he hastily seized, to the agents of his
3- These gentry filled two trunks with their
5P° il, and decamped with them. The living bird
was flown.

1,,P. -is a gratifying fttOt that our consul, our minis-