The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-06-30
Advance Sheets of the Pope's Encyclical
~. on the Subject

hasssome bearing on Mr.. Gladstone's re-
cent letter, which has attracted so much
attention. The following is brief sum-
mary of the encyclical letter addressed by
His Holiness, Pope Leo NH. to all
bishops in communion with the holy see:
'The holy father, intent upon the work
of bringing all to the one fold of Christ
considers that it would conduce to that
end were he to set before the people of
the Christian world the ideal and ex-
emplar of the church as divinely consti-
tuted, to which church all are bound by
Gods command to belong.
I'm Scripture, the church is called Il
body and the body of Christ. 1t is visible
as being II living and organized society,
and is animated by the invisible vital
principle of supernatural life. Those,
therefore, who either deny that Christ's
church is visible body or refuse to allow
that it has the perennial communication
of the gifts of Divine grace are equally
in grievous and pernicious error.
The church which should embrace all
men everywhere and all times was clearly
foretold by the Prophet Isaiah and was
typifield as our Lords mystical bodya
body united to himself as head-a mysti-
cal body the members of which, if separ-
ated from the other, cannot be united
with one and the same head. So one like
the church; another must he invested. if
the church be Christ, other churches will
have to be set up
AS il Il necessary consequence. in his
Divine wisdom he ordained in his church
unity of faith-a virtue which is the first
of those bonds which unite man and God,
and whence we receive the name of the
faithful? The nature of this unity of
faith must and can he ascertained from
l..
Himself. The mere possession of the
scriptures Is not sufficient to insure unity
and belief, not merely because of the
nature of the doctrine itself and the mys-
teries it involves, but also because of the
divergent tendencies of the human mind
and the disturbing element of conflicting
passions.
Christ endowed His apostles with au-
thority like unto His own and promised
Spirit of truth should direct them and re-
mair with them forever, and because of
this commission it is no more allowable
to repudiate one iota of the apostles
teaching than to reject any point of the
doctrine of Christ Himself. This apos-
tolic mission was intended for the saliva
ton of the whole human race, and conse-
quently must last to the end of time
The magisterium instituted by Christ
in His church was by Gods will perpetu-
ated in the successors appointed by the
apostles and in like manner. the duty of
accepting and protesting all that is thus
taught is also perpetual and immutable.
There is nothing which the church
founded on these principles had been
more careful to guard than the integrity
of faith The fathers of the church are
unanimous in considering as outside the
Catholic communion any one who in the
least degree deviates from even one point
of the doctrine proposed by the authorita-
tive magistrium of the church.
The church is mans guide to what
ever pertains to heaven This is the
office appointed to it by God Wherefore
wish to interfere in civil matters or to
infringe upon the rights of State, either
Know 1T not or wickedly calumniate it
as no true and perfect human So
ciety can be conceived, which is not gov
erned by some supreme authority so
Christ of necessity gave TO His church
authority to which all Christians must
be obedient. For the preservation of
unity, there must be unity OF govern
ment, juro divine, and men may be
placed outside the one fold by schsm rs
well as by heresy
1.-The nature of this supreme author
NY can Dc aSceftalned from the positive
and evident will of Christ in the matter
As He willed that His kingdom should be
visible, Christ was obliged to designate II
vice regent ON earth in the person of St
Peter. He also determined that the au-
thority given to Him for the salvation of
mankind in perpetiity, should be inherit
ed by St Peters successors.
1t cannot be doubted from the words
of holy writ that the church. by the will
of God rests on St. Peter, as a building
on it's foundation. St. Peter. could not
fulfill this duty without the power of
forbidding, Judging, which
is properly called Jurisdiction 1t is bv
the power of jurisdiction that nations and
commonwealth are held together
The metaphorical expressions of the
keys and of binding and loosing' indi-
cate the power of making laws, of judg-
ing and of punishing--a power which our
Lord declares to be of such amplitude
and force that God would ratify what
ever is decreed by it, Thus the power
OF st. Peter is supreme and absol utely in
dependent, so that having no power upon
earth as its superior it embraces the
whole church and all things committed to
the church.
AS this governing authority belongs
to the constitution of formation of the
church as the very principle of unity and
stability it was clearly intended to pass
to st. Peters successors from one to
another. Subsequently the pontitfs who
succeeded him receive the supreme power
in the church duro divine. and this is
declared fully by general councils. and is
acknowledged by the consent of antio-
uity."