Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-09-02
VATICAN AND KING.
What Archbishop Corrigan Says on
the Situation at Rome

Archbishop Corrigan's pastoral letter read
yesterday in the Catholic churches Of New York
in connection with the papal allocution of June
80 reinforced the admonition of the allocutlon
based on the erection of the statue Of Giordano
Bruno. The archbishop gave a summary Of
the contest between the Vatican and the Italian
government as follows:
Nineteen years ago Victor Emmanuel "the
gentleman king" sent an agent to Pope Plus
IL to invite him to surrender the patrimony Of
st. Peter and the temporal power which Sc
cured his independence as the head of the Uni
versal church. Without waiting for the letter
of the sovereign pontif in rely to this inso-
lent request to reach him,-victor Emmanuel
invaded the papal territory and took for
chile possession Of Rome. To preserve a
show of decency, and to quiet in some
measure the outraged feelings of Catholics
throughout the world, a royal decree was
issued declaring that 1.-THE sovereign pontif
preserves his dignity. inviolability. and all the
prerogatives of a sovereign" Next it added:
"A special law will sanction the conditions
proper to guarantee. even by territorial fran
chises, the independence of the sovereign
pontif and the free exercise Of the spiritual
authority of the holy see." A further farce,
called the law OF guarantees. was subsequently
enacted measure passed by the so-called
Italian parliament. not permanently however,
binding the country at large, as, for instance,
the Constitution Of the United States is binding
on American citizens, but a provision revoca-
BILE at any moment on the mere vote of the
majority Of deputies.
PROMISES MADE TO BE BROKEN.
Judged in the light of subsequent events
these promises of the king and his parliam ent
(paltry they were compared with the high
handed injustice already committed) were
made to be broken. In fact, ever since the
occupation of Rome, slowly and stealthily, but
yet surely and steadily, the chains have been
wound closer and closer around the successor
OF st. Peter. The semblauce of sovereignty
enjoyed by the august prisoner of the Vatican
has been encroached upon, time and again,
in various ways, until at length the actual
government would openly affirm, if il dared
that the holy father is simply a subject of
the king of Italy. More than this the avowal
is now made, and apparently with high Off
cial sanction, that not only the temporal, but
also the spiritual power of the pontiff must
cease 10 exist. The holy father has more than
once called attention to these Vaccinations of
his enemies, and most pointedly in an allocution
pronounced In special consistory held on
June 80, copy Of which is herewith appended.
THE BRUNO STATUE.
But besides these grave and authoritative
declarations we have the confession of the con-
spirators themselves. On occasion Of the un-
yelling of the statue of Giordano Bruno on pente-
cost Sunday, Signor Bovio, a deputy of Parlia-
ment and the orator of the day. affirmed: To
day Rome inaugurates the religion Of thought.
the beginning Of another era.' The press of
Rome is even more outspoken. On Septem-
Der 20 US70) the temporal dominion was over
thrown; but today it is the spiritual dominion
itself whose obsequies are celebrated. 1t is
the very soul Of the church ct whose death We
are assisting In the same sense the latest
apologist of Giordano Bruno, in a pamphlet
published in Rome July g. in reply to the
aforesaid aIlocution Of the holy father, adds:
During the middle ages, the papacy, even in a
political sense, was conceivable. Now that the
state is a union Of free citizens-of freemen
who govern and are governed-the supremacy
spect.'"
On account. then, of the evident aim Of the
revolution to antagon..e the Christian religion
by attacking, and, If possible, destroying its
chief stronghold, the see Of Peter, it viii be
useful to notice the honors lavished on the
spirit Of rebellion. in the person of Giordano
Bruno and to examine the principle on which
his admirers base his claims to distinction
The archbishop refers to Bruno's monument
as 1.-THE dedication of unbelief."
FREE THOUGHT.
The archbishop then discusses free thought.
The church, he says, maintains that as truth
can never contradict truth, true scientific re-
search can never conflict with divine revela-
ton. But free thought, as advocated By the
admirers of Bruno, denies the right of higher
and divine authority to command the minds
assent ana control its speculstions and consti-
tutes human nature the sole supreme Judge of
all truth, human and divine. 1t asserts the
absolute independence Of the mind of man
from all responsibility even TO the Supreme
Lord and Master of all, discards His revealed
word and rejects His authority-in q word it is
dei6cation Of human reason. This doctrine 10
false in philosophy, false in theology, false in
ethics.
The Western Union telegraph company has
informed its customers that. comme ncinR to-