The Irish standard., 1898-03-19
and dynasties disappeared. The Pope
WAS 500 vaara old whon hn cro,u1iod

Charlemange emperor of the West. To-
only Carlovingan, but Lancaster and
| Tudor and Bourbon are mere symbols Of
| q faded glory; yet. the Pope still lives.
| Lives? Yea, among the more Than go
I, Popcs who have sat in the clair Of
| Peter not one exercised a more vital
| influence or was obeyed by millions
with more alacrity than Leo XIII.
Among all those Popes, not one can be
| named who. In Il matter of faith and
morals, taught an erroneous doctrine.
! History has been siftcd, papal DEGREES
have been scrutinzed and compared with
each other, and this by Catholic aud
non-Catholic alike; yet, never has a
single error been found. At the time of
tho vatican council IN 1870. every sup
posed difficulty against this doctrine was
raised and magnlted. Much was writ
ten and more said ON each of them, but
all alike were clearly explained; not
one initiated, in fact, against the
Catholic position that In teaching the
church a doctrine of faith or morals, no
Pope has ever fallen into error. We are
aware of the cases Of Liberius of Homo
RUS. of Gregory XIII, OF Paul w, Of
Sixtus V. and in none of them can there
be found aught against the infallibility
of the Pope
| Nothing Is clearer III the New Tcst;-
singled out Peter from among his fell
| low apostles and endowed him with cX-
! ceptional prcrogatives. TO Peter alone
he said: Thou are Kipho and upon
this Kipho | will build my church, and
the gates of hell shall not prevail
against It," This name. kipho, means
Il rock. What the foundation is to a
material cdifce. that Peter il to the
church, the society which Christ organ
lied The unity and solidity of tho
whole structure arises out of the foun-
dation. The foundation of the one an
swers to the chief authority In the
other a church's unity and solidity
are in her faith and moral code On
these then. Peter will teach und legls-
late with uncrring certainty as long as
the church lasts. Because the church
is founded upon Peter, therefore shall
the gates of he'll not prevail against her.
Observe too that our Lords words
preclude the possibility Of any other uu-
thCrity III The church superior, or even
equal, to that of Peter. In one ediilce
there can be but one foundation; there
can be but one supreme law making
and teaching authority In n moral cdi-
, flee, such as the church. SO is it with
the Pope: he Is the successor of Peter
From the day when he Is elected to sit
in the chair of Peter. he has all the
authority that Peter had as head Of the
church.
VIII 1t he said that this power is too
tremendous to be entrusted to the hands
of a man; that he might any day bind
the consccnccs of millions OF Christians
with obligations either TOO ncaly to
bear, or contrary to the law of Christ?
say no power Is too great that is
given for the good of mankind. and Of
all the imperative needs of the human
mind, guidance Is the first and greatest
The Popc's infnlliblc tcnching author
ity has been given lin by God in order
that he may guide the feet of men in
the path of right unl truth Tho dread
power of life and death. that power
which, if any, would seem to belong of
right to the Creator alone. we give not
merely to one man, venerable by reason
of his age, and distinguished for his
wisdom and probIty, but To every ono
OF the hundreds of Judges In our district
courts throughout the land; nor are we
tempted to revoke IT, We gave this
power for the common good
We cntr,Ist to a few hundred delegates
the power to tax us $50 ,O0O. 900 in Il few
hours ANA they are well aware that thai
sum is not the limit of the power that
we have endowed them with: the same
men who voted That sum out of our ma
tlonal treasury. and placed it at the dis
erection Of one man, might have laid IN.
|
they Thought the need of the hour de-
mnndcd 1t, and with the same ,lnanimity
with which we applaudcd their action
but few days ago, every son of free
Columbia would pronounce one grand
well Donc.'
In like manner. the supreme rontifr
has by divine appointment the right to
decide when Il moot question arises what
is, and what is not, of Catholic faith, In
conformity with the. teaching given from
the beginning. But we know with a Ger
tninty that paSscth human understand
ing. that his decision will in every ease
he Just what our Lord himself, were he
here in person, would pronounce This
is the purpose of his gift OF infallbiIity
In all thnnkfulncss, then for the care
which God takes of his church, we
should SO dcmcHn ourselves as always
by word and example. to strengthen the
faith of our fellow citizens. We share
in the benefits of this Gudlikc gift;
they do not. This may be no fault of
theirs; of this, God alone shall Judge;