Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-09-06
THE POPE'S ENCYCLICAL.
1t is we'll known that the writer o

| 1t is we'll known that the writer OF
What May Be His Last Just Issued.
| the articles on Catholicism in the
New York Sun is not only of great
literary attainments but of authority
and standing in the Catholic church
This gives great weight to the follow.
ing editorial from the Sun on the re-
cent encyclical of Pope Leo MIL:
We have before us the original Latin
text of the Apostolic letter recently
put forth by Leo Kill, and it is plain
that the interest and importance OF
the document have been in no wise
exaggerated. One can see, too, why
the epistle should be regarded by its
author as in some sort his spiritual
will and testament, for it expresses,
with peculiar and, SO to speak, final
emphasis what historians will recog-
nize as the controlling purpose of his
pOntlticate, the aim to reunite all the
sects of Christendom in one universal
church, and thus array the strongest
religious and moral forces of the world
in behalf of public order and of those
rights of property on which the whole
structure of modern ciyilizatio rests
The very superscriptiOp of this encyC-
liCal is significant Of the authors in
tention, for it is addressed, not to the
bishops and clergy, Or even to the
Catholic community at large, but
principibuS popuIsque universiS-"to
the princes and peoples of the earth
What we have here, in word, is a
yaledictory appeal to the followers of
all the dissident forms Of Christianity
to return to the fold from which at
various crises of Christian history and
under varying conditions in the past
they have departed.
1t is naturally to those oriental
churches, which were the earliest
schismatics, and especially to-4the ad-
herents Of the Armenian and of the So
called orthodox or Greek communions
that the pope first addresses his plea
fo" publication. A fusion of those &C.
clesiaStical bodies with the church of
ROM has been repeatedly attempted
by the occupants OF the papal chair,
and tehre have been moments when
such efforts seemed to have i fair
chance of success. But in the end they
have miscarried, owing not so much
to discrepancies of theological doc
trine, although such discrepancies ex-
ist, dis to differences of ritual and of
hierarchical organization. The pope
in this encyclical assures the eastern
schismatics that in the event of their
reunion with the Roman church the
privileges of their patriarchateS and
the rites Of their liturges shall never
be abrogated. These certainly are
large concessions, but the Greek and
Russian parish clergy, as distinguish
ed from the monks or regulars"
would also demand that their right to
marry should be acknowledged, and
it is also very questionable whether
the Russian bishops and the0l0gians
would submit to the authority OF the
Roman Pontiff now that his eX cathe-
dra utterances have been invested by
q council, in which the orientlls took
no part, with the attribute Of infalli-
biIity.
The fact that diplomatic relations
have been resumed between st. Peters
burg and the vatican will undoubtedly
have the effect of allaying friction be-
tween the papacy and the Russian
civil power with regard to the ap-
ptintment of Catholic bishops in Po-
land. But it does not follow that the
c1a' would be able, even if he wished,
to induce his orthodox subjects to
make those sacrifices Of traditional
Isages and ideas which would be in
seDarahlC from an adoption of Cath
olic.sm, no matter how anxious the
papacy might be to facilitate the move
meur. AS for the Armenian church,
this seems more likely to be ultimately
absorbed by the orthodox church Of
hussia than by Catholicism. The out
come of the last war with Turkey
was 20 include a large part Of Ar
menia within Russian territory, and
the next partition Of the ottoman pos
sessions will doubtless make the great
mass of Armenians subjects Of the
car.
On the whole, a union Of the ortho-
dox and Armenian cOmmunions with
the church of Rome seems 10 be d
deyout hope, rather than a PROBABLE
ity; and the same thing must be said
| of the innumerab bic Protestant sects
to whom the pope's appeal is next di-
rected. If a return to the Roman fold
on the part Of the Lutheran church
| and Of the estab lished church Of Eng
! land, can not be described as incon-
ceivable, there is apparently no chance
! Of such a reunion on the part Of the
! Evangelical or Reformed churches OF
the European continent, or of the Pres
byterians, Congregationalists, Metho-
+: dists and BaDtists of the United King.
| dom Of the United States.