The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-05-25

VII to declare invalid the marriage OF Henry
VIII and Ce tlarine of Arragon. 1t may
well be believed that the Pontiffs hesitation
was due no less to his alliance witt the EN-
peror, Charles V, than to a conviction that
the marriage was valid according to the laws
of the church. The course OF the Pope, at
all events. seemed at the time to be govern
ed by political considerations. And what
were the results? The King declared him
self the protector and head of the Engllsh
church. He 'boycotted' the Pope, and
from that act dates the separation of the
English church and the English state from
Rome. Bishops were made nominees OF the
King; the judicial jurisdiction OF the pa
pacy was annihilated, and all authority IN
matters ecclesiastical as well as spiritual was
vested in the crown. 1t will hardly be doubt
ed that in this affair the authority of the
Roman pontiff was successfully detied.
Continental history is full Of instances OF
papal intrusion upon secular fields, only to
be terribly atoned for. Popes who in certain
years made emperorS, were themselves IN
other years deposed by emperors. I'm the
ninth and tenth centuries, writes Bryce, IN
1.-THE Holy Roman Empire" 1.-THE emperors
extended the dominion of Peters chair IN
the tenth and eleventh they rescued it from
the abyss of shame" The struggle which
Gregory VII began, although it was politi-
cal rather than religious, awoke in the leu
tonic nations a hostility to the pretensions of
the Romish court. Between the years 1913
and 1908 Pope Innocent III moved heaven
and earth to set upon the imperial throne
one of two rivals, instead of the other, and,
says Milman, ''for ten dreary years Germany
was abandoned to all the horrors OF civil war.
TIL repeated protestations Of innocent that
he was not the cause of these fatal disorders
obtrude the fact that he was accused of the
guilt. He seemed frightened with the deep
humiliation of having provoked, inhamed,
kept up. this disastrous strife, only for his
own and the Emperor's discontinue ana de-
feat"
The annals of the last few years show the
temporal authority of the Pope curtailed
and utterly abolished, his right to order sec
ular affairs everywhere questioned, even by
those who look up to him as the lawful head
of the church on earth, and his spiritual au-
thority rejected by not a few. The French
revolution struck at ecclesiastical no less
than at civil rulers. In place of the Pope,
the Citizens of Paris set up a Goddess of
Reason, and Napoleon re-established rela-
tons with Rome principally in order to in
crease the apparent responsibility of his do
minion. In the sixteenth century political,
hardly less than religious, considerations led
to Professionalism
In calling to mind these occasions OF revolt
against Rome, and drawing from examina-
ton OF them the conclusion that an Irish re-
volt at the present time and on the present
grounds would not be unprecedented, no
comment has been made on he contents of
the Pope's circular to the bishops. So far as
that communication inculcates the duty of
moderation, justice and obedience, it con-
tains nothing more than a ruler in Christen-
dom might have been expected to say. 1t
was his duty to say it. But so far as it takes
sides against specific political movements, it
is a proclamation of a spiritual ruler upon a
purely secular matter. 1T is not easy to say
how much of the bitterness with which the
message has been received is due to its ex-
press d~isapproval OF certain political organ
i~Zations, and how much to the spirit which
inclines to reject all authority, whether in
church or state. Be this as it may, any re-
lection by the people of Ireland OF the
guidence OF the church must have certain
unpleasant consequences. In a very definite
sense, they can get along withous Rome.