The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-09-27
The Proposed General Council of the
,SathoIie Church,

tNrtnOllc NhuFths
The announcement that General
Council of the Roman Catholic Church
is to be held at Rome, Will excite very
general interest. Ii seems to be The
mark ofa renewed spiritual activity,
from which much may be hoped for the
future. No such council has been held
since the famous one of Trent, in lob
The authority of its DEGREES hardly met
with that universal acceptance which
tn ose of fairly conducted Council
now would be likely to find. From
the time OF the first General Council,
a. D.. .S25, for twelve hundred years, the
authority of these bodies, SO far as the
Western Church was concerned, grad
uully centralized itself, mainly because
OF the historic prestige of Rome. We
all know the long and desperate strug-
gle il cost to get that Council OF Trent
called, and il certainly cannot be ques-
toned that, on the whole, il, and the
discussions II produced, greatly reform
ed and revived that Church, so that II
gained more, morally and spiritually,
than il lost temporarily, during the
next fifty years. And so it Will be
found, ever since, that In propor-
tion 10 It's external and apparent
loss OF power as political
body, it has gained as spiritual pow
er. The recent loss of the States OF the
Church as a temporal dominion, the
the loss of political influence in Aus
tria, in Italy, in France, and in Mexico,
have been apparently severe blows;
but yet It Is all In one sense like the
loss OF the farmer in spring, when he
has put so many bushels of wheat into
the ground as seed. He loses SO much
old and shrivelled up grain, but re-
ceives a fifty-foId increase of fresh,
plump, well developed wheat instead.
The Roman Catholic Church in this
country is a hundred fold more thriv-
Ing, Industrious, wealthy, intelligent
and liberal i'll its contributions than
that in any other country can possibly
afford or hope to be. alt Is not all va
por," was The quaint aud pleasant re-
mark of the Pope on receiving the
model Of a steamer in silver, we'll
freighted with gold, through the Ameri-
can Bishops. Indeed, this recent as
sembly to commemorate the spiritual
dominion of the Catholic Church, seems
to have inspired the Pope and Cardi-
nails with the idea Of another General
| Council. Heretofore, these assemblies
have been dreaded and avoided by the
Popes, as supposed nnthRonisms TO the
Papal authority. But this one is pro-
| posed, and seems about to be carried
| out, with degree OF unRnimity that is
one of the best prognostics for good.
1t is worth being borne in mind that
as in the Puu-AnGliran Council OF the
Episcopal Church, now assembled in
Lambeth Palace. under the auspices OF
the Archbishop of Canterbury, so in
| Rome, in the proposed Universal
| Council, American Bishops and Amer
| lean ideas appear strongly as animat-
! ing the new life inspired into these an
| cient and venerable religious bodies. 1t
was, we believe, Rev. DR.. Charming
who first proposed, in Boston, that the
member of his own and other Protest
! 1l, nh ha II no q
to aid the Roman Catholics in erecting
| a cathedral in that city. The other day
| about seventy thousand people assem-
| bled there, TO witness and partHke in
| the inauguration services connected
with the erection of n suitable building
! of this kind. 1t Is by kindly and lib
| eral feeling to all, with equal rights,
every nation must henceforth prosper.
! How the proper authority of religious
| truth is TO be united with individual
| liberty Of action in each de-
nomination must be settled
by its own authorities; but
| we should not be surprised II, when the
prelates OF the Roman Church from all
| parts ofthe earth be assembled, it were
| found that an enlarged freedom OF ac-
! ton should be cheerfully conceded,
| both to the parish clergy and to the
laity, larger indeed than has so far been
| esteemed practicable. Terms, even,
| LulRut 10 diiHuBcN Oh a 10" pOAuS,, -
which both the Greek and Angelica q
| churches might be brought into sort
| of working harmony with that of Rome,
that would greatly extend the influence
and usefulness OF all. Compared with
such result, whether the Pope resides
| in Rome or any other city, is little
matter. Supreme Pontitfs have been
absent from that city for seventy years
at time. The removal to Aviguon did
no ultimate damage to the Church. II
| injured the city more than the Pope
dom. And so now, were the Pope TO
establish himself in New York, it
would injurs Rome as II municipality
more by lar than it would his ecclesi-
Astical power, and deputation from
| that city would soon be following him
| with liberal terms to win him back.