Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-06-19
Free speech of the vatican.
BY LEONARD W. BACON.


The boldest and most powerful, condensed ar
gument extant against the pretensions of popery
is a speech pronounced by a Roman Catholic
bishop in the Roman council. The copy in my
possession is published in the Italian language
by the association which issues in Florence the
journal entitled "Papal Rome Unveiled TO the
People," The great speech is published without
name; but my copy, which has just reached me
from Rome, bears on its ttle-page, IN the hand
writing of one of the most eminent Catholics in
that city, the note: "This speech is by Mgr.
Suossmayer bishop of Bosnia in Croatia" It
is difficult to abridge what is already marvel
of condensed force; but ! will do my best,
After few calm, weighty words of introduction,
the bishop says that under grave sense of the
responsibility to God, he has studiously applied
himself to the examination of the holy scrip
lures on the question whether the holy pontiff
who presides in the council is really the sue
cessor of ST. Peter, the vicar of Jesus Christ and
the infallble teacher of the church, The effect
of this inquiry has been startling; open, then,
these sacred pages But what! Shall
l dare to tell it? l find in them nothing to JUS
tify, however remotely, the ultramontane view
Nay morel to my utter aStoniShment, / find
nothing said about pope. successor to st.
Peter and vicar Of Jesus Christ, any more than
about successor TO Mohammed Yes, Arch
bishop Manning, you will say that blaspheme;
and you, Bishop Pie, that am out of my Senses
No, no, nv lord bishops am not disappearing;
1
from the reading of the New Testament from
beginning to end, declare to you before God,
lifting my hand toward yOnder great crucifiX,
that find in its pages no trace of the papacy as
it now exists. Do not refuse to listen to me,
venerable brethren! Do not, by your murmurs
and interruptions, justify those who declare,
with Father Hyacinthe, this council is not free,
but that our votes are imposed upon us in adj
vance, If this were SO, this august assembly,
toward which the eyes of the whole world are
turned, would fall into the most shameful con-
tempt. If we would be great, we must be free.
| thank his grace, Bishop Dupanloup, for that
! nod of APPROVAL 1t gives me courage to 60 on.
1.-THE speaker then continued in the boldest
| manner to show how the scriptures were at war
with all the pretensions of the papacy, until
voices in the assembly, crying "Silence, hereto |
SilenceP interrupted the thread of his dis
course. He continued, however, as follows:l
Keep calm, venerable brethren have not
got through yet. By hindering me from going
on you will show the world that you are in the
wrong, and that you have gagged the humblest
member in this body. | proceed: The apostle
Paul, in not one of his letters addressed to the
various churches, makes any mention of the
prmacy of Peter. If this primary had existed,
if in short the church had had supreme head,
infallible in teaching, would the great teacher of
the Gentiles have omitted all mention of it?
Nayl He would have written long epistle on
this important, this vital subject. When, there
fore he is rearing the edifice of Christian doc
trine, is it possible that he leaves out the foun-
dation and the keystone? Now, unless the
apostolic church is to be reckoned heretical,
which we neither wish nor dare to say, we are
constrained to acknowledge that the church has
never been more fair, more pure, nor more holy,
than in the days when it had no pope. Voices:
ut is falseI 1t is falsePl
MonsignOr de Laval cannot contradict this;
for if any of you, venerable brethren, should
dare TO think that the church, which at this day
has a pope for its head, is stronger in the faith
or purer in morals than the apostolic church, he
must say it openly in the face of the world for
this room is the centre from which our words
fly from pole to pole. Iproceed: Not in the
writings of st. Paul, nor in those of St. John or
st. James, have found any trace or germ of the
papal power St. Luke, the historian of the
missionary labors Of the apostles, is silent on
this vital point. The silence of these holy men,
whose writings are part of the canon of the in
spired scriptures, is as inexplicable, if
Peter had been pope, as that of Theirs would
have been if he had omitted the title of en-
peror in the history of Napoleon Bonaparte
see before me member of this body who says
pointing at me with his finger, "He is a schis-
matte bishop who has got amongst us under
false pretences" No, no. my venerable brethren,
thief by the window. | came by the door
Just as regularly as yourselves. it is my
right as a bishop, as it is mysright as Chris
tan, to speak and declare what | know to be
true. But the thing which astounds me beyond
all expression is the silence of Peter himself
If he had been what we say-the vicar of Christ
upon earth-he must have known it. If he
knew it, how does it happen that he never once
not one solitary time-acted as pope ? He
might have done it on the day of Pentacost,
when he pronounced his first discourse; but he
did not. He might have done it at the council
of Jerusalem; but he did not. He might have
| done it at Antioch; but he did not He might
have done it in his two epistles to the churches
but he did not. Imagine such pope as this, o
my venerable brethren If then we would
maintain that Peter was pope, it necessarily
| follows that we must maintain that he was not
| aware of it at the time. put it to any man
with head TO think and a mind to reflect,
whether these two suppostions are credible.
To sum up, then: During the lifetime of the
| apostles, the church never thought of the posi-
bility of pope. To maintain the contrary, it
would be necessary to put the holy scriptures
| into the fire, or out of the mind. But hear
| from all sides the questions, "Was not ST. Peter
at Rome ? Was he not cruciied here head
downward The chair from which he taught,
the altar at which he said massacre they not in
| this Eternal city p Venerable brethren, the so
| journ of st. Peter at Rome has no other proof
| than tradition. But even if he was bishop of
| Rome, what argument can be drawn from his
| episcopate here to prove his supremacy A
| scholar of the highest rank, Scaliger, has not
| hesitated 10 say that the episcopate and sojourn
| of St. Peter at Rome must be classed among
ridiculous legends. Repeated cries "Silence
him Silence himl Down with him from the
platform. ] Venerable brethern,I am ready TO be
silent; but is it not much more becoming to
such body as this to prove all things, as the
apostle enjoins, and believe that which is good
In the midst of such storm of disapproba.
ton, the bishop reached the close Of his main
scrptural argument. The interruptions he en-
countered, and the retorts he made upon the
overwhelming majority thai roared against him
are not the least interesting and instructive