The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-03-19

Charlemange emperor of the West. To-
day, after the lapse of 1900 years, not
| only Carlovinglan, but Lancaster and
Tudor and Bourbon are mere symbols Of
faded glory: yet, the Pope still lives.
Lives? Yea, among the more. Than 26O
Popcs who have sat In the ctair 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 matter of faith and
morals, taught an erroneous doctrine.
History has been sifted. papal DEGREES
have been scrutinizcd and compared with
each other. and this by Catholic aud
non-Catholc alike; yet. never has a
single error been found. At the time of
the vatican council, In 1870, every sup
posed difficulty against this doctrine was
raised and magntied. 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
rius. of Gregory NlII, OF Paul Nv, Of
SiXtus V. and in none of them can there
be found aught against the infallibility
of the Pope.
Nothing Is clearer In the New Tcsta-
ment writings than that our divine Lord
singled out Peter from among his fell
low apostles and endowed him with eX-
! ceptionnl prcrogativcs. To Peter alone
he said: Thou are Kipho and upon
this Kipho l will build my church, and
the gates of hell shall not prevail
against It," This namc kipho, means
Il rock. What the foundation is to a
material cdtlce. 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 clurch's unity and solidity
are In her faith and moral code. On
these then. Peter will teach ana lcgls-
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 nu-
! thhGiriity T." The church superior. or oven
equal. to that of Peter. "a. " ediilcc
there cnn be but one foundation; there
can be but one supreme nw-nlaking
and teaching authority in Il moral cdi-
+; flee, such as the church. So is ii 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
church.
| VIII II he said that this power is too
tremendous to be entrusted to the hands
of Il man; that he might nny day bind
the conscicnccs of millions of Christians
with obligations either TOO nca,y to
bear, or contrary to the law Of Christ?
say no power is too great that Is
| given for the good of mankind. and If
all the imperative needs of the human
mind. guidance IL the first and greatest
The pOpcs infnlliblc teaching author
ity has been given him by God in order
that he may guide the feet OF men in
the path of right and truth. The 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 one
| 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 cntrlst to a few hundred Delegates
the power to tax us $50, 900 600 in u few
hours. ana they are well aware that THAI
sum is not the limit of tho power that
we have endowed them with: the same
ncn who voted that sum out of our ma
tional treasury, and placed It at the dis
on us a debt many times greater If
they Thought the need of the hour de-
nandcd 1t. and with the same unanmity
with which we applnudcd their action
but few days ago, every son of free
Columbia would pronounce one grand
well Done"
In like manner, the supreme uOntifr
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 Il cnr-
| tainty that pnsscth human understands
| ing, that his decision will in every case
be just what our Lord himself, were he
here in person, would pronounce. This
is the purpose Of his gift OF infallibility
In all thankfulncss, then, for the care
which God takes OF his church, we
should so dcmran ourselves as always
by word and example. to strengthen the
faith of our fellow citizens. We share
in the benefits of this Godlikc gift;
they do not. This may be no fault of
theirs; of this, God alone shall Judge:
vet we ought to uray WithOu cpagipr