The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-27 00:00:00

TILE POPE'S ALLOCUTIO.V.

Venerable Brethren,—For a long time past we
have been condemned to witness civil society torn
asunder by the deplorable conflict between truth
and error, vice and virtue. Da one side are ranged
the defenders of what they are pleased to call
civilisation, and on the other side are those who
combat for justice and our Holy Religion. The
former demand that the Roman Pontiff should be
reconciled and should compromise with what
they choose to term civilisation, progress, and
Liberalism. The other most justly insist that the
inscrutable, immoveable prine'ples of eternal justice
shall be maintained inviolahe, and in all their
integrity, that the healthful power of our divine
religion shall be preserved in all its entirety; for
by that alone is the glory of God exalted, that
alone can bring an efficacious remedy for all the
ills with which suffering hnmanity is afflicted. But
the patrons of the civilisation of our time do not
share these opinions, although they profess to be
the true and sincere friends of religion. And we
would fain have believed in their professions, had
not the sad and deplorable events now passing be-
fore our eyes have couvineeCus of their falsity.
There exists on this earth but one true religion,
made and instituted by our Saviour Jesus Christ,
the fruitful mother and protectress of every virtue,
the bitter enemy of vice, the liberator of souls,
leading them in the paths of eternal felicity—and
this is the Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman religion.

In our consistorial allocution of November, 1854,
we have clearly declared our opinion of those who
dwell beyond this arch of salvation, and we hereby
confirm all that we then said on this subject.
Already we have asked those who urge us for re-
ligion's sake to grasp the hand which has been
proffered to us by modern civilisation, whether
their deeds are such as could justify Christ's Vicar
on earth,—he who has been appointed from on

High to Preserve the celestial purity of religion,
and to cherish the lambs and sheep in that doctrine,
—in making such an affiance without great danger
to his conscience, and serious scandal to all,—
whether he could consent to be reconciled with that
modern society whose work has produced so many
evils, which can never be sufficiently deplored,
which has promulgated so many detestable opin—
ions and principles, and error utterly at variance
with the doctrines of the Catholic faith.

You are already aware how at Naples and else- ,
where the most solemn conventions between;
Sovereigns and the Apostolic See have been torn
asunder. In this assembly, venerable brethren, we
again protest against such attacks and violations,
and exclaim against them witl all our energy.
This modern civilisation, whilst in some places
professing to favour the Catholic faith, does not'
hesitate to employ infidels in rublic functions. It
interdicts children from attendance at Catholic
schools ; it stirs up hatred against religious families
and institutions founded for the cultivation of the.
Catholic religion, against picas and learned eccle-
siastics, too many of whom are now groaning
either in exile, in dungeons, or in fetters ; also
against such faithful laics as have defended warmly
the cause of justice and religica. This civilisation
which gives subsidies to Catholic institutions with
one hand, with the other robs the Catholic Church
of its inalienable and most sacred possessions. It
bestows all its care on the destruction of the salu-
tary efficacy of the Church. And whilst- granting
unrestrained license to those writings which vent
their virulence against the Church herself, it shows
strange prudence and moderation in reprimanding
and putting down those who publish honest truths;
it preserves all its severity for those when they
overstep, however slightly, the bounds of mode-
ration.
Under such circumstances, how can the Pontiff
bestow his hand upon modern civilisation, or enter
into any compact with it ? We must not take
away from words their just signification, and the
Holy Church will ever be faithful to her principles,
She has ever been the patron and protectress of
fair civilisation ; and all the memorials of history
testify and eloquently prove that, in all ages, and
at all times, she has carried it and planted it in the
uttermost corners of the most savage lands. But
since, under the guise of civilisation, an attempt is
now being made to weaken and undermine the
Church of Christ, assuredly with such a civilisation
the Holy Church will enter into no league or
covenant, for, as has been truly said by the Apostle,
in his epistle to the Corinthians : —" For what fel-
lowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness p
and what communion hath light with darkness ?
and what concord hath Christ with Belial ?"
What, then,. is the purity of those perturbatorS,
those acolytes of sedition, when they talk so loudly
of their vain efforts to induce the Pontiff to enter
into an alliance with them? How can he who
derives all his power from the principles of eternal
justice—how can he ever absolve his curse by con-
senting to a bargain by which the Holy Faith
should be wrecked, and taly should fall into misery,
and lose the glory which for eleven centuries has
been reflected, upon her from the centre of the Holy-
See and the Catholic Faith ? It cannot be objected
that we have refused to listen to the demands for a
more liberal civil administration. Without going
back into history, let us cast a glance at our present
epoch, so fruitful in misery. Never did Italy rejoice
in such liberal institutions es have been granted to
her by her legitimate Princes, and such in our
paternal heart did we de‘sire for our children. We
granted them all possible cmcessions, limited only
by the ordinary law of prudence, in order that the
gift of our paternal heart to our offspring might
not be infected with poison ay the work of perverts.
What was the result? Frcala our concessions came
forth a fearful licence, and the steps of the Parlia-
ment, where her own Ministers and Deputies were
assembled, were stained with human blood shed by
an impious hand.
If in recent times counsels have been given to us
with respect to our civil administration, you are
aware, venerable brethrer, that we have accepted
them, and acted upon them, rejecting only those
which did not regard civil administration, but which
had reference only to a demand for our sanction to
the spoliation of our possessions, which had already
been consummated. But it were needless to talk
of counsels cheerfully received, and our sincere
promises to carry them into execution, when the
authors of these very usurpations loudly proclaim
that they do not want reforms, but absolute 'revolt
and the abolition of our temporal legitimate sove-
reignty. It is not the people who have raised any
clamour, but the authors of these usurpations. To
them we might apply the words of the venerable
Bede, respecting the Scribes and Pharisees, enemies
of Christ—" Non lame aliquis di turbil, sed Pharisrei
calumniabantur, et Scribw, sicut Evangelista) tes-
tantur.".
But the attack on the Poznan Pontificate is not
confined to the abolition of its legitimate temporal
sovereignty, it aims at the destruction of the health
breathing virtue of the Catholic religion and were
such a thing within the range of possibility, that
it should for ever disappear from the face of the
earth ; not only does it aim at an assault upon
God's own work—at the fruit of the redemption,
but also at that sacred heritage which we inherited
from the ineffable sacrifee on Golgotha. The truth
of this statement is abodantly proven; not only by
deeds already consummated, but by facts, unhappily
now of every day occurrence. In Italy, how many
dioceses do we see defrauded of their bishops by
these disciples of model civilisation; who leave so
many Christian populations without pastors, and
have seized upon their property and devoted it to
the vilest use ? How many prelates are now groan-
ing in exile ? How many apostates—in the an-
guish of our heart do cm say it—are now preaching
not in the name of G)d, but in the name of Satan,
and, glorying in the impunity acquired by a fatal
system of Governmert, have disturbed the public
conscience, driven the feeble-hearted into sin ; have
hardened, in their shameful doctrines, those who
have already fallen, aid have torn asunder Christ's
garments, daring even to set up " national
churches," as they impiously call them, and other
iniquities of a like nature. And having thus in-
sulted religion, while they hypocritically invite us
to compromise with saodern civilisation, they have
the audacity and hypocrisy to exhort us to be re-
conciled with Italy. ;k.nd that, then, having utterly
despoiled us of our teriporal sovereignty, we should
ktieffepupuonp
theou
rdignityas Sovereign and
eleemosynaryPon-
offerings of the chil-
dren of the Catholic Church which are lovingly
sent to us; and that we should become, through
their artifices, objects of envy and hatred to them
who ask us for conciliation, and that we should then