Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1899-03-08
The Pope and the Papacy.

E'ghty-nine years ago to-day was born
the boy who now, as Pope Leo XIII, is
venerated by over 230,000,00O Christians
as their spiritual head. And now that he
lies in the shadow of death not only his
own followers, but the people of the whole
civilized world watch anxiously the bull
letins that tell the varying course of his
brave fight against age and disease.
Looked at from purely human point
OF view, as topographer would examine
a mountain range, the papacy is the most
remarkable institution known to man. 1t
is centuries older than any nation in
Europe, and while the power of every civil
government is limited by definite bounda-
ries, the power of the Pope extends to
everv spot on the globe on which a Cath
Ole lives.
1t is an interesting fact that with all the
growth of free thought, and all the vigor-
GUS progress of non-Catholic churches, the
Pope has more followers to-day than any
of his predecessors ever had in the whole
history of the world. Seventy cardinals,
IA patriarchs, 172 archbishops and 766
bishops carry the authority of Rome to the
heart of Africa, the deserts of Central
Asia and the remotest islands of the Pacific.
Nine European sovereigns and 10 presi-
dents Of republics bow before the spiritual
authority of the Pope. Alfonso XIII,
Canovas, Sagasta and Weyler on one side
and Gomez, Garcia and Maceo on the
other were associated in his communion,
Aguinaldo, in the Philippine jungles, looks
to the Vatican for religious guidance, and
so does Mataafa, in the Samoan bush.
There are more Catholics in the islands of
the Pacific now than there were in the
world when the first popes began to reign.
Among the many unique features Of the
papacy there is mono more extraordinary
than its combination of autocracy and
democracy. The Pope is an absolute
ruler, but he may have sprung from peas
ant family. Hildebrand, who kept the
holy Roman emperor standing barefoot in
the snow before his gates at Canossa, was
the son of carpenter. The importance
of such an influence in preserving the dem
ocratic idea through the reign of class priv
ileges in the middle ages cannot be overes-
timated.
Although the Popes no longer attempt
to exercise the political power they welded
few centuries ago, their position now is
more secure and more respected than it
was then. In the middle ages they were
harried, insulted, and often assas.insted
by men who protested TO be devout believ-
ers in their divine authority. No Protes-
taut or even Mohammedan conqueror would
treat Pope now as the soldiers of the
Catholic King" of Spain treated Clement
VII. at the time of the sack OF Rome under
the constable of Bourbon.
The Pope in our day, no longer tenn
poral prince, except within the precincts
of the Vatican, receives sovereign honors
even from the government that has taken
possession of bis capital There is diplo-
matte corps accredited to him who have the
same immunities in Rome that are granted
TO those accredited to King Humbert.
The Italian government for 81 years has
guaranteed to the Pope an annual income
Of $500. 900, which he has steadily refused
TO accept. The arrears of this annuity
amount now to over S17 200, 900, and if
the money had been accepted from the
beginning and invested at compound inter-
eat at four per cent it would have reached
$50, 200, 900. 1t is rather refreshing in
this commercial age to find anybody that
can refuse a sum like that for principle,
whether the principle commends itself to our
Judgment or not.-New York Journal.