The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1840-11-24

worst and most poisoned arrow that ever has
been east against them in this Union"
twill be seen that you pronounce both the
,ne and the other, as they stand in our article,
| to be VIGOROUSLY untrue. Yet you say, 6 the
Pope is the spiritual and visible head of the
| Catholic Church throughout the aohOle ,cOrld
but he as the temporal ruler Of only small por-
ton of Italy 1t is, therefore, untrue that he is
temporal monarch in the sense insinuated by
the article, to wit: that bis temporal jurisdiction
is territorially eo-extensive with his spiritual
jurisdiction" Secondly, you say, "the Pope
does not look upon the members of the Catholic
Church, everywhere, as subject to his Temporal
dominion, though he does look upon them as
subject 70 his spiritual jttrisdictie1i'
| I give you the benefit Of your own distinctions;
and have quoted at length all that You have said
I upon this Immediate subject, because am sGnsi-
Il :, as you seem to Ie fully aware, that upon the
{ proposition before US depends the whole merits Of
this controversy. have not said, nor insinuated,
as yeu alledge, that the Pope's Temporal dominios
extends to the whole world. What SAID was,
that he claims to be a spiritual as well as tenn
po-al moaarch; and that he looks upon the
members of the. Catholic Church everywhere as
subject to his dominion This you assert to be
the worst and most poisonous arrow that ever
has been cast at the whole Catholic body of the
United States. And why1-beeause you fOresee
that, inasmuch as the propositions if true, recog-
nises power in the Pope at war with the civil
institutions of this country; and that, to estab-
lish its truth, would be to arrest the progress Of
Romanisn among us.
You assert, in the article before us, that the
Pops looks upon the members Of the Catholic
Church, every where, as subjects of his spir-
itual jurisdiction. The only question, then
is, how far that spiritual jurisdiction inter,
feres with the civil jurisdiction Of other govern
ments not subject to the temporal dominion Of
the Pope. In your letter to Mr. Forsyth, dated
October p, 1910, after quoting the authority of
the Church to prove the legality Of the institu-
ton of slavery, you say:
eEI shall proceed, sir, to select few of the
many evidences which the intermediate ages
furnish, to show the continued legality of do
mestic slavery, and TO exhibit its perfect com
patibIlity with the sound principles of the Chris
tian moral code, adducing the evidence from the
records Of that Church, over which Pope Gre
CORY XVI. so happily resides, and thus cOnclu.
sively showing, that in his Apostolic letter, he
does not condemn it as immoral or illegal: be-
cause, the Pope Is the divinely constituted and
authorised witness of the doctrine and morality
Of the UNcHANGISG CHURCH, and not a despOt
nho can alter thai teaching at his mere aeifi,
whilst the Church, herself, claims no pewer,
either to add to the depesite of faith, to
change the principles of that morality for whose
PRONUNCIATION she is diyinely commissioned"
Now, here, sir, YOU have asserted, that the
Church is responsible for the DEGREES promulga-
ted from time to time by the Pope. You have
asserted that the @doctrine and morality" of the
Church are unchanging, and that the Pope him
self has no power TO alter its teaching. This
narrows down the controversy between us, aad
enables us, by looking into the canons of the
Church, to Judge Of its pretensions by record
evidence. 1t happens, unfortunately for you, that
you have admitted that while .he temporal pow.
er Of the Pope is limited to the Papal States in
Italy, his spiritual jurisdiction extends "through
out the whole world !" and hence, if can show
that, at any time, the Pope has exercised a civil
power beyond the jurisdiction Of the Papal
States it follows that he claims to exercise that
civil power by virtue of his spiritual jurisdic-
ton: and as the exercise of that power is as
sumed by virtue of his spiritual dominion, You
will not deny that it is as obligatory upon Catho-
lies in this. country as in Europe.
wish to state the proposition fairly, and 1t is
this: You assert that the Pope IS a temporal
Prince in the Papal States of Italy, and that, as
such, he exercises civil jurisdiction You assert,
that he looks upon members OF the Catholic
church, every where, throughout the world, as
subject to his spiritual jurisdiction, and deny
that il follows, that this exercise OF universal
spiritual jurisdiction, implies any civil power in
the head of the church, beyond the Papal States.
This is question of authority, and to be decided
by the known acts of the Pope. YOU assert that
the Pope is the divinely constituted and author
lied witness Of the doctrine and morality of the
unchanging church, and deny that he has the
power to alter that teaching at mere will. All
that remains, then, is to see, what the teaching
of the church has been, and proceed to quote
from an authority which you cannot sainsay:
mean the encvcical letter of Pope Gregory
XVI, of the 9th OF August, 1922 MS ie''ei
is addressed to all patriarchs, primates, arch
bishops, and bishops. regret that its length
lorbids its insertion entre. / will publish it at
an early day. A few extracts, however, will
show the temper and spirit of the whole. 1t
was written immediately after he had bartercd
the liberties of Poland for the protection Of
Austria; and commences with declaring that he
had been compelled to raise the scourge intrust-
ed to him by the Almighty, to subdue the ebsti-
macy Of men, After speaking OF the discipline
of his church, and denouncing innt,yators, aud
especially those who pretend that every religion
conducts to the haven of beatitudc4, he says:
0I. let them reflect from the '.,norage of the
Redeemer, that not being with Christ, they are
against Christ that not gal Herring with him
they unhappily scatterinf Z, and that, conse.