Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-02-27
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, Aso.
An Apparent difference.

FEBROARH 27, L $50.
An Apparent difference.
The late encyclical letter of P Ipe Lao.
in which he places the duty of Catholics
to the Church above the oh Iag.tions of
such seem 4 to be the
plain intent of his deli sery when the
two shall come in conflict sis in marked
contrast to the liberal and progressive
utterances of the Catholic Congress
which assembled in !kaltimore last year.
Pope Leo substanti ally resfirmed the
position taken by. Pope Plus TX,
and, if the term re dictionary be the proper
phrase to be used in describing the atti-
tude Of that iIlEstriouz prelate, it is
equally applica ole to his successor. The
position of the. Vatican IL a peculiar one.
Guaranteed temporal sovereignty, and
some of tie fairest of the italian
States, by most solemn treaties,
which had received the sanction of the
leading powers Of Europe, the Pope
found himself divested of power and
despoiled of his possessions. Confronted
by such circumstances, the spiritual head
of the Catholic Church added to the
natural indignation of the man the re.
sentiment of an offended hierarchy which
conferred in his person. The Italian
Government, while stern and peremptory
in the assertion of the new order OF
things, endeavored to placate the sue
cessor OF st. Peter by appropriating for
the maintenance of the Vatican large
civil list, which both Pope Plus TX. and
Pope Leo disdainfully refused to touch.
1t has been accumulating in the Italian
treasury ever since, monument to the
infexible purpose and pecuniary disin-
terestedness of the sovereign PontiH.
Under the stress of such continuously
strained relations between the Pope and
the King of Italy, the natural tendency
is to confirm and intensity the traditions
OF the Roman Curia. Plus TX. be-
gan his pontifcate with the reputation
of being governed by unusually liberal
ideas. He was dispossessed of his liberal
tendency by Mszzini and Garabaldi and
the red republicans, who captured Rome
in 1913. The second capture of Rome by
Garabaldi and Victor Emanuel natur-
ally heightened his reactionary predi.
lections. Plus TX, beginning life
as gallant captain in the papal guards,
and Plus TX, Pope, hardly past
the middle age and still full of enthu-
siasm, and the aged Pontiff who surren-
dered his trust to Pope Leo, were very
different individuals. His encyclicals
and allocutions were full of the most i'm
passioned protests against the spirit of
the age. AS far as could be said of SO
amiable man, it may be asserted that
Plus died an embittered and grievously
disappointed man.
It was thought that the accession of
Leo would mark new chapter in the
later developments of the papacy. His
deserved reputation as diplomat, his
wide and various learning, in which he
resembled his predecessor, his eeuable
temperament and decided sausir fa;re,
his enlightened ideas, all pointed in tn 9
direction of an adjustment of the diff
culties of the Vatican conformable to the
tendency of modern thought.
The earlier years of his pontifcate
confirmed this impression. His handling
of the controversy with Germany ex-
torted the admiration and eventually the
compliance of Bismarck. His firm but
temperate policy procured the practical re.
peal of Bismarck's offensive Culturkampt
laws. That the inspiration which gov
erned the first years of his reign has
undergone material change cannot be
questioned, and doubtless the true
solution OF his altered attitude
is to be sought and found in
his advancing years. In marked con.
trast, not antagonistic to the latest posi-
tion of the Vatican, are the fresh
spirited, patriotic, progressive and mod
crate utterances of the Baltimore Cath
olic Congress. The handspring of that
really noble assemblage of patriotic
Americana, who were proud to call
themselves Catholics as well, there can
be no doubt, was Cardinal Gibbons.
This young, able, liberal and enlightened
prelate, who bids fair to develop to the
standard of a modern Bossuet, has
struck the sentiment of the American
people between wind and water. he
openly allied himself with whatever was
good in the spirit of the age, or the
ameliorating influence of other church
organizations. While maintaining with
splendid eloquence and erudition what |
he regards as the superior claims of the
Oldest Christian church, it is noteworthy |
and encouraging to observe that his
advances are being met in a similar
spirit. The Rev. Heber Newton, of New
York, distinguished Protestant clergy.
man, devoted sermon, the other day,
to showing the inestimable service the
Roman Catholic Church had rendered
mankind in creating and preserving
civilization, a path in which he follows
IN the wake of some of the most brilliant
men of letters in recent times, notably
Ranke and Macauley. In this sermon,
Dr.. Newton pays graceful and fervent
compliment to the spirit which pervaded
he Baltimore Congress, and augured the
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