The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-03

we nave examined el6eWneTe tut ibuBiVHS
condition of the French Church since the revo-
luton which is very different from what IL was
before. In the rest of Catholic Europe, with the
exception of parts of Germany much the same
system of spiritual tyranny still prevails, though
shorn, for the most part, of its secular terrors.
No Roman Catholic priest of ordinary discre-
ton would venture to profess Gallican opinions
in England; and the recent treatment of Mr.
Ffoulkes and Mr.. Renouf shows what any
Roman Catholic writer has to expect who
dares to run out of the prescribed groove
though within the strict limits of Tridentine
orthodoxy 1t is not, therefore, without some
reason that the ultramontane whips reckon on
securing an easy majority at the approaching
Council. The CiUiLtd already indulges i'm u
strain of eXultiug prophecy. The UniUers and
MONDE have done their work in France, and most
OF the bishops are well primed to take the
right side; the minority, it is hoped, will
be overborne. No open opposition is ex-
pected from other quarters. '"The English
bishops will follow Manning the Irish, Cullen
both nominees of Rome and thoroughgong
Romanizers; the Belgians will swim with the
stream; the elder German bishops will stay at
home, the younger ones who have been trained
by the Jcsuits will come to man; of the two
hundred Italian prelates may be said what the
Archbishop of Rouen said of his clergy, We
give the word of command, and they march like
n troop of sodiers the same applies to the
Spanish and South American bishops, who have
been indoctrnated in this article of Papal infal-
libility from their childhood And it must be
remembered further that the Ultramontane
party is everywhere far better organized than
its opponents, Just rs the Tories with ourselves
are always better organized than the
Liberals. We can hardly wonder if
the CjUiHG already raises its shout
OF insoent triumph, in anticipation of
seeing the coping stone speedily placed on
the ediice of Papal absoutism. For three CEN
turies, by fair means and foul, by the combined
machinery of the pulpit, the press, the lecture
room, and the confessional, by force where force
was available, and by chicanery where it was
not, the Jesuits have striyen to enforce their
darling doctrine, for the infallbillity of the
Pope practically means their own. There is
always "the black Pope" standing at the elbow
of the white. If they succeed, they will have
in thas silence which they miscon-
strue into consent, the most momentous revo-
luton in the whole history of the Church.
We may sum up the significance of the change
in words condensed from the AUgemeine lei
tung: :-"According to this theory Christ has
made the reigning Pope the one vehicle of in
spiratiOn and exclusive organ of Divine truth.
Without him the Church is a body withouta sou
during Papal interregnum she is deprived of
sight and speech. Yet, strange to say this fun
damental verify was never even heard of in the
Church for thirteen centuries. No creed no
catechism, no doctrinal instructions of the
Fathers .contain word of the Pope or a hint
that on him depends all certainty of belief Not
a single dOctrinal question for a thousand years
was settled by Papal Decree but either by Synod
Or by the general rejection of n new doctrine by
-he whole Church. Three Councils have anathe-
natzed dead Pope for heresy, and a long
line of his successors has accepted and sworn
10 their anathemas In the beginning of |
he sixth century. the principle |
hat the first See is judged of no man, was first
on the strength of tissue of forge |
lies, into the Western Church; and it was gra- |
lually inferred that, as he cannot be Judged. he |
cannot fall into heresy. In the ninth century |
he IsidOrian Decretals came in to aid the move |
nent, and Gratans Decret,tn embodied them. |
Thomas Aquinas, who was himself taken in, |
wrote in defense of the new system of Papal |
The General Councils of Constance |
md Baslc-the very names of which the Jesuits |
IRE striving to blot out of the memory of men |
emphatically condemned it, and all the German |
md French and nearly all the Spanish theolo-
rians were on their side. Only the so-called |
Fifth Lateran Council, mere as
sembage of Italian prelates collected
by Leo y in 1917, reversed their decision and
affirmed the superiority of the Pope to Councils.
Finally, with the outbreak of the Protestant
Reformation came the assertion of Papal infal- !
Diltv, and the Cardinals Caietan and JacObazzi, |
who labOred to propagate the notion, were the
most effective auXiaries of Luther. From that
lay to this, the Order which arose in Spain, the
,hosen home of the Inquisition, has made the |
of this dogma its grand mission. |
They failed in the attempt to get it defined at
Trent but they look to see their efforts crowned
Il the Council of the Vatican