Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1871-01-12
America and Rome.

StAnoiitS w tAt tRt bHph pbtssSAOi
of the occupation of Rome by the Ital-
ians, in accordance with the almost
unanimous wishes OF the Roman peo-
pie, is an extraordinary document. The
address states that the American Ro-
man Catholics ''revere the sacred SOW
ereignty of the Holy See over its tenn
poral domain" Now the despotic rule
of the governor OF certain part OF
Italy is in no sense more sacred be-
cause he is also the chief officer of an
ecclesiastical organization than the I'M
constitutional rule of Victoria in Eng
land would be because she is also the
head of the English Church. The
spiritual sovereignty of the Pope may
be sacred to those who are of his
Church, but his temporal Government,
which was probably the worst in
Christendom, was in no conceivable
sense sacred" And if these Ameri-
cans ''repudiate and condemn the law
less injustice" which has respectfully
and considerably reduced the temporal
dominion of the Pope, what do they
think and say of the lawless injustice
of the Papal rule over the wretched
people who were subject to til Is the
sympathy of the American Roman
Catholics devoted to the one man only
who rules, and not to the million of
men who are ruled9
In this document these Americans
also profess faith in the divine right of
rulers. They declare that as the Vicar
of Christ the Papal Governor of Rome
is entitled by divine right to complete
liberty in the exercise of his office, and
rights to civil princedom, which is nee
essary to that liberty. If this really
means anything, it is that the Pope has
the divine right to govern a million
of men as he chooses, because
otherwise he could not properly fulfill
his ecclesiastical functions. 1t is GER
tainly not surprising that Father Far
rell suggested that, instead OF merely
hurrahing over such an extraordinary
declaration, his society should consider
it little. The very necessity of say
ing such things, if anything at all were
said, should have suggested to Ameri-
can citizens, of whatever faith that the
temporal sovereignty of the Pope
could not be successfully defended. No
thing can be more preposterous than
such an argument for despotism as this
address proclaims. And not content
with asserting that. the Pope has di-
vine reight to be a temporal irrespon-
siole monarch, it proceeds to allege
that these Americans have right, us
Roman Catholics, to be governed by
chief completely exempted from and
independent of all civil authority, for
in no other condition could our inter
course with him be free and unre-
stricted".
This, again, is the statement that,
unless the Bishop of Rome has absolute
power as temporal monarch, his Papal
functions are impeded. But if this be
so, the argument is much more sweep
ing than the address implies. For why
be limited to certain tract in the CEN
ire of Italy9 The Pope is no more in
dependent, in this sense, as the head of
little state of less than million of
inhabitants, as history shows, than he
would be at the head of the Leonine
City. Indeed, he is not so in
dependent, as the head of scant mil
lion of unwilling subjects, as he is as
master of a square mile OF territory
guaranteed by the power of Italy. The
Popes independence of all civil author
ity certainly does not depend upon the
extent of the domain granted to him.
He may be as independent in a single
palace, under guarantees, as he ever was
in the Roman States. But if space and
absolute political supremacy over its
population are indispensable to this in
dependence, there must be domain
and a people so large as to make for
eign coercion impossible. So it is
merely absurd to insist upon his late
little Roman states as satisfying the
conditions demanded.
Moreover, if he must be ''independ
ent of all civil authority no other
state in the world may rightfully put
any barrier in the way. Ii, therefore,
the Government OF the United States
continues to recognize the Government
of the kingdom of Italy, after the ''sac-
riligious violence" with which it has
assaulted" the governor of Rome, the
United States deny the divine Papal
right to the absolute rule of a people
who were never consulted, and
the United States violates the
right of American Roman Catholics
to free and unrestricted Intercourse
with the head of their Church. And
all this because the Pope, instead of re-
naming the ruler of the Roman States,
is now the ruler Of part Of city. The
allegation of the address is that certain
Italians must be subject to a Govern
ment which they unanimously abhor in
order that certain Americans may have
free access to their chief bishop. 1t is
certainly remarkable that any Ameri-
cans should declare their religious