Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1903-07-29

eQ through Ill Tue years VI uAo POhOA-
ficate and as he began with the good
will so he has ended with the praises
and blessings of all manner of men.
We are too near him and his day to
pass judgment on his life and his
work. Nor is it very practical thing
to compare him with his predecessor.
Still it is impossible for me to resist
the feeling that Leo would neither
have fought nor won that heroic fight
which Plus fought and won for the
church. They we're different types of
men and they had to do with far diff
ferent conditions. 1t is the greatest
merit and the highest praise of each
that he did his peculiar work in his
own way and that in his high place
each pope so bore himself that all |
men respected and most men loved |
them both.
In glancing at the career of Plus IL |
[ have said nothing of the difficulties !
which that pope had to encounter
within his own fold. The third quar-
ter of the nineteenth century was no.
table for much intellectual activity in
England and in Germany. Great
strides were made in the natural sci
ences and some of these advances were
loudly boosted to be subversive of all
Catholic and Christian teachings.
Lyell by his Principles of Geology
and Darwin by his Origin of Species
were thought by many to- have made
it impossible for thinking men to ac
cept any more the inspiration of the
scriptures.
1t was precisely at this time when
all other Christian sects were trembl-
ing before the new cult that Plus IX
announced his intention of cOnvOking
an ecumenical council to define the
dogma of the Immaculate conception
and that of the papal infallibility.
The news astonished the world and
alarmed great part of the Catholic
population. Many of the ablest
priests and prelates in the Catholic
church declared the pope's intention
to be inopportune and they did not
scruple to let Plus himself know their
opinions. Among those who openly
disputed the wisdom of the head of
their church on one or both of these
points were Newman in England,
Dupanloup in France, DOllinger in
Germany, and Kenrick of St. Louis
in America. These great church men
commended that the pope's actions
would provoke hostilities and excite
controversies at a time when the.
church had quite enough of old troub
les to fight without making new ones.
But under his sweet smile and tender,
fatherly ways, Plus had clear head,
strong will, and fearless heart. The
time, he said, might be inopportune
but the church was eternal and indie
pendent of time. He knew the truth
and was determined to state it in sci
entific terms unmistakable of all men.
And so the councils we're held, the two
great dogmas we're defined and the
opportunists like Bismark and com
pany had to confess that the pope was
right and they we're wrong.
Plus lived IN day of political, So
cial, and intellectual storm and stress;
Leo in a time of peace, prosperity,
and calm. One was a great soldier
and a great general successfully fight
ing for great principles; the other
was a great statesman collecting.
solidifying, and enjoying the fruits of
victory.
May the next pope be not unworthy of
his last two predecessors, and in what
ever ways his lot may be cast whether
of war or of peace he. will be no small
persoH7who shall be able to bear com
parisou either as a man or as pope
with Plus IN or with Leo XIII.
One word Us TO the attitude of the
non Catholic world toward the char
acter of the late pope. One would
think to read the papers that there
never had been good or great pope
until Leo held that office. All stud
ents of history know that of the 259
popes who preceded Leo at least fifty
were superior to him in intellectual
power and not fewer than 30 we're as
conspicuous as he was for the virtues
that belonged to that office of awful
power and of tremendous responsible
ity. But it must have touched many
millions of Catholics to see the re
spect, veneratiOn and love shown by
the whole protestant aud infidel world
toward the dying head of their
church 1t is hopeful and health
full sign of the times that the pope
who was once and is even yet, in
places like Kalamazoo, Phenix and
McCabe, thought to be anti-Christ;
dying amid the regrets and the sym
pathies of civilized mankind.
1t is said that the highest ambition
of the late pope's life was to reconcile
the Russian Greek church with the
Roman Catholic communion. He did
not indeed succeed in that project but
one of the last sounds that he heard
ON earth was message of sympathy
and of love from the Greek church.
Perhaps the dead pontiff has quietly
and unconsciously laid the foundation
for that great work of reconciliation.
We may be sure at the least that of
all the kind words spoken in his dy- |
ing ears this message from the Rus !
sian church gave him the greatest con-
ISOLATION and the liveliest satisfaction
His last moments we're cheered with |
the hope that the day may not be far
distant when the eastern and the west
ern rites shall be reconciled and unit |
ed in the one fold and under the one |
shepherd.
NJ. J. Whyte.
Sacred Heart Church,
Prescott, July u, 1908.
A SURGICAL OPERATION.
is always dangerous-do not submit