The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-03-22

stripping them Of royal poacer, If need be?'')
This question is answered affirmatively. Bel
larmine maintained, as / have said, the indirect
temporal power; and Pope Sixtus put him
in the Index for denying the direct! Yet you
would have US believe that the Pope never has
claimed even the indirect
Itremains for me briefly to set forth the pres
ent state of Roman Catholic opinion. The ul-
tramontane doctrine is held, /, By the Pope
2, by all the cardinals, without exception 8, by
all, or nearly all, the Italian bishops; 4, by a
majority of the bishops of Germany, Spain, and
Portugal; 5, by about two-thirds of the French
bishops; 6, by all the Belgian bishops. Among
the religious orders it is held ], by the Jesuits
without exception, as no man can be admitted
to the order who denies it; 2, by majority of
the members of the other (sixty or more) reli-
gious orders, which vie with each other in devo-
ton to the Pope, each of them having gener-
al at Rome. As for the Catholic journals, l,
the CiDilta Cattolica at Rome was established
for the very purpose of maintaining this theory,
and does maintain it most effectually 2, the
Historisch- Politische Bldter, the most eminent
Papal journal in Germany, is strongly ultra
montana; 3, the Uniuers, Of Paris is more ul-
tramontane than Bellarmine 4, the Belgian
papers, think without exception, are on that
side and 5, BrOpnson's Revie,c, in this country,
is what have shown you above. This is true
showing; any of your bishops, who may happen
to be well read in the controversy, will tell you
80 but don't ask any more information OF the
man who reported to you that Hildebrand was
Ganganelli. You bring forward Bishops Ken
rick, Hughes, and Others to assert that the tenn
poral power is not an article of faith but no
one, competent to NEEDLE in the controversy at
all, has ever declared that it was. This denying
what is not asserted is common trick of hard
Il II 20
posed upon by it. But what do assert is this
that the temporal power of the Pope is as much
an article of faith as his infallibility neither
the one nor the other has ever been affirmed by
an ecumencal council and received by the whole
church. A year ago, the Immaculate Concep
ton of the Virgin was not matter of faith. Do
you hold it to be so now2 Certainly you do;
and why? Because the Pope has declared a.
assisted by a number Of bishops, but not by
general council If you live long enough you
will believe in the infalbility and the stem
poral power" on the same authority-or else
you will see the church split into fragments.
l have now done all that promised in the be-
ginning. May L not hope that, after reading
this letter, you will rise in your place in Con-
gress, at the first convenient opportunity, and
re-state your theory of the church? Does not
your reputation as scholar and gentleman
need such vindication as you can only make
by defining your position" anew? If you do
not do this, my confidence in your candor and
righteousness will have been sadly misplaced
If you do, beg you to read, in the course of
your speech, the following truthful passage
from the corypheus of Roman Catholic editors
in America
"There is, in our judgment, but one valid de-
fence of the Popes, in their exercise Of temporal
authority in the middle ages over sovereigns,
and that is, that they possess it by divine right,
or that the Pope holds that authority by virtue
of his commission from Jesus Christ, as the sue
cessor of Peter, the prince of the apostles, and
visible head of the Church. Any defence of
them on lower ground must in our Judgment
fail to meet the real points in the case, and is
rather an evasion than fair, honest direct, and
satisfactory reply. To defend their power as an
extraordinary power, or as an accident in Church
history growing out of the peculiar circumstan-
ces, civil constitution, and laws of the times,
now passed away perhaps forever may be re.
garded as less likely to displease non-Catholics
and to offend the sensibiities of power, than to
defend it on the ground of divine right, and as
inherent in the divine constitution Of the Church;
but, even on the low ground of policy, we do not
think it the wisest, in the long run. Say what
we will, we can gain little credit with those we
would cOnciliate Always to their minds, will
the temporal power OF INC L Ope Dy ulVlne rlBhI
loom up in the distance, and always will they
believe, however individual Catholics here and
there may deny it, or nominally Catholic Govern
ments oppose it, that it is the real Roman Catho-
lie doctrine, to be reasserted and acted the mo-
ment that circumstances render it prudent or
expedient. We gain nothing with them but
doubts of our sincerity, and we only weaken
among ourselves that warm and generous devo-
ton to the Holy Father which is due from every
one of the faithful, and which is so essential to
the prosperity of the Church, in her unceasing
struggles with the goddess powers of this
worlds
l am, dear sir, yours, very truly,
JOHN MCCLINTOCK.
Carlisle, JAM %, 1855.