The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1875-08-13
THE POPE md POLITIC.aL
POWER.
From the National Protestant.


ranged herself on the side of despotism. y
The records of the past and the strug.
gle now going on between the Papal
See and civil governments, both in the
Old and New Worlds, stamp the ut
terance as true. Although Plus IN.
pretends to infallibility, and claims, as
the Nicegerent of Christ, to have abso-
lutte power over all things spiritual and
temporal, it is no uncommon thing for
journalists and party men in our own
country to hippantly contend that the
influence of Rome over political affairs
belongs wholly to the dead past. They
assert that her power has long been on
the wane; that the higher civilization
of the age, the development of intellect,
and spread of education among the
masses, have forced her to relinquish
coercive power, and that the resumption
of her former influence is simply impossi-
bic. Whenever the matter of Papal
interference with civil government is
limited at or asserted, we are confronted
by prelates, priests, and political pan
derers to Catholicism, who zealously
maintain that the supremacy of the
Pope in temporal affairs is not an es.
tablished doctrine of the Romish Church;
that &" it is merely Sententta IN eccle
a-an unadjudicated question, having
no positive authority. and incumbent
upon the faith of none With much
vehemence they assert that "a Roman
Catholic may believe what he pleases on
the subject, and be a good child of the
Church still"
Are such declarations to be accepted
as the truth p? Has the Papacy abated
one iota of the pretenses and claims put
forth for the past ten centuries or more!
All history admonishes us TO the contra
ry, and stamps as untrue the assertion
that the head of the Roman Church
has abandoned all claim to political au-
thority. That Romansm is politico-
religious organization is shown by all
It's past record. At an early period the
Bishops of Rome learned the value of
temporal power, and craftily moulded
men and monarchies to their will. They
did not hesitate to arrogate as right
that which originally had been granted
as favor. When princes protested
against the assumptions of Rome, or
.jurists denied the validity of her claims,
forgery was resorted to in defense of
ecclesiastical usurpations, and prefer
ment were the rewards Of assassins who
removed her opponents. The See Of
Rome took early advantage Of the strug
gle between the Eastern and Western
Empires to reject the Byzantine yoke
and by this act asserted right to resist
goyernments-a right which it has never
ceased to claim.
h assuming the of prerogatives tenn
poral princes, the Popes proclaimed to
the world thata union could exist between
the temporal and spiritual, and that the
protested successors of humble Jewish
fisherman, claimed power over the bod
les as well as the souls of men. By
degrees the Papacy matured its secular
policy, establishing its authority by pre-
cedents until HlLDEBRAND become Pope
in 1913, under the title Of GREGORY VII,
and set himself up as the rival of the
powerful Emperor Of Germany. The
contest between GREGORY and HENRY
~. was severe, but, in the end, the
Emperor was obliged to succomb. AT.
ter standing for more than three days
barefoot in the snow, clad in haircloth, !
without attendants and without food, in |
the courtyard of the Castle of Canossa
suing for pardon, GREGORY received the
suppliant monarch, and extorted such
conditions as made the German crown,
for the time, dependency of the Bishop
OF Rome. But the operations of the
Papacy were not confined solely to Ger
many. Its emissaries were active else
where. They imposed and collected
taxes in England without the consent
Of the authorities, and by their rapacity
and extortions frequently melted insur.
rections. In France the Civil power
vas forced to interfere against their ex.
ravagant demands, and the French
monarch decreed the Pragmatic Sane.
ion" curbing the power of the Papacy
n his kingdom. The conduct of Rome
lrove monarchy to rebellion, and then,
u accordance with settled policy, she
esolved.to gain by wiles what could
lot be acquired by force.
Aiming at temporal power, it formed
10 part of the policy of Rome to permit
reedom to the people. The Papacy al.
led itself with tyranny at an early date,
vel understanding that liberty would
'e death to its pretensions. When the
truggle begun in the thirteenth centu
y between the people and feudalism,
Rome quickly sided with the enslavers
nd oppressors of the masses. The Eng
ISL Barons who assembled at Runny-
nede and extorted from King JOHN
hat famous deed known as MAGMA
JHABIA, were communicated by the
Pope. \ barbarous crusade was set on
GOT against the Albigenses, the object
Being to deprive them OF political and {
'eligious freedom. They were under
,he protection of the CoUNT OF ToU-