The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-04
TEE NOUNENIOAL COUNCIL.


VIZ publish to-day lengthy and exhaustive
article explanatory of the origin, character,
and probable action of the Gcumenical Coun-
Gil which is to assemble in Rome next week.
This Tes,ne will prove deeply interesting to
all who wish to obtain correct idea of the
most important religious movement of the
century. The contemplated scope of action
IL so extensive, and the subjects likely to be
discussed are so numerous, that all Christian
sects will be directly or indirectly affected,
and in some countries, very deeply, by the
proceedings about to transpire at the seat of
Papal power. Plus TX, who has only main
tanned his temporal power by a desperate
struggle and the aid of French bayonets,
seenis to have resolved to ''pluck the flower
safety from the nettle danger, and to have
chosen the moment when his Italian oppo-
nents were most hopeful and aggressive for
the boldest strike for consolidation and ex-
tension of Pontifical dominion that has ever
been made. Claiming that he represents on
earth ''the authority of God, the Father
Almighty, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and
of the Holy Apostles, Peter and Paul." ho
asks not merely that all avowed Catholics
shall unite in devising measures to extend. his
sway but that the discovered branches con-
nected with the Greek and Oriental Churches
shall also return to the bosom of their mother
Church, and that all Protestants shall sur
render at discretion without even having an
opportunity to explain or defend what he
terms their condemned errors" AS afitting
counterpart to this grand scheme, long series
of extremist doctrines have been prepared,
which the council is asked to approve so that
the whole Catholic Church may be compelled
to believe and applaud them.
Rome, in her palmiest days, never devised
a more magnificent programme. If tho
roughly successful, the rule of the Eternal
City over civilized mankind in spiritual, as
well as, to large extent, temporal affairs,
would be more firmly established than in any
former period of the worlds history. 1t is
therefore not surprising that these extra
ordinary pretensions have already encoun-
tered much passive as well as active resistance.
The Greek Church fails to respond to the
proposals for reunions; the Oriental Churches
will be but partially and poorly represented
in the council; the bulk of the Protestants
feel more inclined to widen than to close the
breach made centuries ago; and the representa-
tives of the more liberal branches of the
Catholic Church are preparing to make a
vigorous and determined resistance to
the specially obnoxious features of the Papal
Syllabus.
The deepest interest which Americans have
in this conVocation is that connected with
the discussions of the specifications of errors
in the syllabus. The council is asked to
formally condemn various doctrines which
constitute fundamental elements of our politi-
cal system, and it is scarcely too much to say
that our republican institutions are to be
placed ON trial. The Pope alleges that it is
an error to assert that ''the Church ought to
be separated from the State, and the State
from the Church," that it is an error to assert
that sit is no longer expedient that the
Catholic religion shall be held as the only
religion of the State, to the exclusion of all
ether modes of Worship" that it is
an error to permit Protestants
who reside in Catholic countries to ''enjoy
the public exercise of their own worship;"
that it is an error to ''hope for the eternal
salvation of those who are in no manner in
The true Church of Christ, or to regard Pro-
testantism as "another form of the some
Christian religions" that it is an error to
deny to the Church ''the power of availing
herself of force, or any direct or indirect
temporal power" that it is an error to permit
the civil power to possess the entire direction
Of public schools, and an error for Catholics
10 approve or tolerate this system; that it is
an error to ms der a civil marriage or a mar
riage contract binding if the Catholic sacra-
ment is excluded; that it is an error to deem
revolts against legitimate princes allowable,
or to sanction instructions against tyranny;
aud an error to regald the civil power as
paramount to the ecclesiastical in cases of dis
pute. But it is needless to continue these spe
ciications, which our readers will find at length
in another part Of The TELEGRAPH. They
point ostensibly to the conclusion that if the
Pope is right the whole civil framework of
American society is radically wrong. Even
in the very epoch in which Spain is bursting
the trammels that for centuries have bound
her, and establishing religious liberty, Italy
asserting her claims to nationality and free
dom, and when Protestant England is
granting tardy justice, in religious mat
ters, to G thelic Ireltn |, the Goumenical
Council is asked to grant formal endorse
ment to the most extreme Papal doctrines
that have ever been enunciated, and to in
cite Catholic princes and people to stamp
out Professionalism by arbitrary methods
which would have been disgraceful even in
the dark ages. 1t will be curious to note how