Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-11-30
CHANGES In THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH.
!" "sweet arc lhe uses Of adverslty.

Bears yet precious jewel in It's sh0us
So sang the poet, and so may each and
all of us say in turn Adversely often
brings reformations that lead to ultimate
strength and Improvement. The loss oil
temporal power now threatening the
Pope, seems about to be compensated Tor
by an extension of his spiritual domin.
ion, and an alteration of the discipline OF
the Church of very important charac-
ter. Such was the ultimate result to the
Catholic Church after the breaking OH at
the Reformation by Luther and his fol-
lowers. After the first outbreak, the
Church lost nothing, territorially, but
gained 30 much in an extension to new
territories and in discipline and mission
ary zeal, that it, on the whole, rather
gained than lost in numbers, and in the
nations to which it extended. In India,
in China, in Japan, and in fact through
out the world, Ignatius Loyola estab-
lished discipline as powerful and CEN
tralizing as that Of John Wesley, while
Francis Xavier labored with an JUNCTION
and zeal and eloquence much like that OF
Whitfield.
Mr.. Gladstone,'a distinguished English
statesman, has just been TO Rome to ex-
plain to the Pope the necessity of giving
up the temporal dominion, which he has
held in part for a thousand years or
more. He has probably offered the Pope
prospect OF regaining to the bosom apd
unity of his fold the whole of the Greek
Church in the Levant, which is all of it
except the Russian portion, thus healing
the schism of ten centuries at stroke.
II seems that England and France, jeal-
GUS of Russia and the amazing influence
that nation was exerting through rehgl-
GUS sympathies with the members of the
Greek Church throughout the East, have
conceived the idea of healing the deadly
breach between the Roman and Greek
Churches and putting the Pope at their
head.
No doubt this shows the continuance
of the policy of mixing up Church and
State. Ever since the time of Mohamed
the Greek Church has been declining IN
vital as we'll as political power. The
Turkish rulers have, in fact appointed
the most ignorant and inefficient men
possible to the Patriarchite of Constan-
tinope, and sold out the offices of the
church, careful of only one thing-never
to let the Greek religion become dan
gerous power to the Sultan. For the last
two hundred and fifty years the Russian
Church has formed perfectly indepen-
dent division of the church. that has
grown with the growing power of the
Russian Empire, until at last 1t aspires
to protect and rejuyenate the parent.
This is, no doubt, intended to favor the
plan of an extension of the Russian En-
pire through the East But the Emperor
Napoleon, fond of compensating disap-
pointed hopes as well as be can, has pro
posed, and now about arranged, dlplo-
matically, probably, with the Turkish
Empire, as we'll as the Pope. the terms
by which the Greek Church shall be re-
stored to the communion with that OF
Rome.
The chief difficulty was found to be in
the matter of celbacy, which the Pope
much insisted on, while the right 10
marry once has never been allowed TO
incapacitate the Greeks from becoming
Priests. Even this point has been man
aged by much diplomacy indeed
precedent was found for II in other
branches of the Greek Church, recon
ciled with the Pope three hundred years
ago, and that portion of the Church
will still be allowed to follow the Greek
rule; none higher than simply priests,
however, being allowed TO live in we'd
lock. by this concession. The political
object of all this, will, no doubt, be TO
keep the Russians from exciting discon-
tent among the Greeks themselves. The
further effect of il on the Catholic
Church itself will be to modify its dis
cipline, as well as TO extend its num-
bers. Philadelphia Ledger.