The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1900-12-09
COUNCIL OR cohellYE;; WHICH?
DEPENDS on LIFE Of THE POPE

ment, may. have temporarily placed in
Office. As matters now stand, the Ro-
man Curia exercises supreme admins
! lie Church throughout the world, every
diocesan and priest being subject 10
its orders. The Curia is in turn sub
| jet TO the Italian government. This
is an intolerable condition of affairs.
/ IL might be remedied in measure by
restoring the temporal power of the
papacy. But since that is out of the
! question. and would constitute a sorry
ana altogether unsatisfactory method
OF dealing with the issue, il il had been
| practicable, there remains but one al
| tentative, namely. TO reorganize in the
most radical manner the Roman Curia
| in such way that the foreign element
| should no longer be entirely excluded.
as at present, but should predominant
altogether the Italian element. the lat
ter being restricted to a degree CT
power proportionate TO its rank among
| the Roman Catholic nations of the
| universe.
In one word, since the Curia consti-
4 tutes not merely the senate, but like
wise the cabinet and supreme eXecr
| tive council of the Catholic Church.
| it should be converted from an exclu-
/ sively Italian body into one that is
! international. and consequently catno-
! lie in the best sense of the word.
| The extinction of the temporal SOW
! ereignty of the pope, and the CONVEX
! sion of Rome into the metropolis of a
united Italian kingdom. has had the
effect of creating altogether new con-
| ditions for the Catholic Church
! throughout the world These altered
| conditions necessitate a radical trans
formation of the system of church
/ government and ii is to bring about
| these reforms that the ecumenical
council of 1901-the twenty-first in the
history Of the papacy-fs about to be
summoned in the face of the oppo-
sition of the Curia.
In order to form proper conception
| of the latter, it must be pointed out
that the Roman Catholic Church is &
vast organization. governed theoreti-
| cally by the pope. who, however ALSO
| lutte, cannot attend to all the affairs
of 200, 100000 persons in fifty different
! nations. but in reality ruled by an
executive styled the Curia. established
at Rome and consisting at present eX-
clusively of Italian cardinals and pre-
lates Of minor rank. The Curia inves-
| tigates all questions, issues all orders,
exercises nearly all patronage, renew
| ing its numbers of co-optation, and
thus keeps up from age to age an au-
| thority which is the very embodiment
o conservatism. From decade to dec
| ade the Curia settles all issues. al
ways on the same principle and in the
| same way. Its favor promotes or keeps
| back all Catholic ecclesiastics in all
: nations: it suggests-that is a mild
1 way of putting it-most nominations
/ to the red hat. and through the cardi-
/ mails it elects the pope. The church. in
/ fact. is not governed as it appears to
+ be. by an absolute pope, possessed of
/ infallibility in spiritual matters. but by
| a corporation purely Italian. which is
( omnipresent through its agents in
/ every land, and one might almost say
omnipotent. Its deliberations are Sc
/ cret, practically unrecorded, without
appeal, and irresistible except by the
/ few who are prepared to face the or
/ deals-dread to men trained as the
! Catholic priesthood is trained-of open
/ secession and defiance.
/ This may convey some faint idea OF
( the extent of the power of the Curia,
/ and when ii is borne in mind that the
| Italians as nation are inferior in in
Iellectual development. in progress
| and enlightenment, as well as in
| ureauth and modernity of view. to the
/ Germans, the Scandanavians. and.
! above all. to the Anglo-Saxon races, il
will readily be seen that as now COM
/ posed the Curia as an organization
! tends TO retard rather than 10 promote
the growth of the Roman Catholic
I Church.
Naturally the present Curia will re-
sist to the utmost every attempt to
| rob it Of its power. or to divest the
! Italian prelacy of the monopoly which
il has enjoyed until now. Its men,
bers do not relish the idea OF sur
rendering their predominant share in
the rulership of the Catholic universe.
nor their sole control of the manage
ment and expenditure of those vast
sums of money which flow ia-o the
Golfers of the Vatican from the faithful
in every part OF the world, and the
disposal of which remains at present
exclusively Italian Some time ago
France determined TO react against
this condition of affairs. and insisted
upon having cardinal of its own ma
tionality. who should reside ut Rome.
and represented in the Curia After
solved by the French government IN
dertaking to pay the stipend OF the
cardinal although strictly speaking
the Vatican Is bound 10 furnish the
salary of every cardinal living in
Rome. Mgr Matthew was Invested with
the red hat But he has been care
fully excluded from the Curia and Is
treated as an outsider. while the Polls
Cardinal L.esiochowski's position rs
project OF the propaganda has been
made so difficult that he has virtually