The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-04-15
possible for them to attend.

government as the de facto govern
ment, they have never recognized or
ratified it's solution Of the Roman
Question. Z 1t was left to Italy to find
modus yiyendi with the Pope This
Italy undertook to do by voting the
famous Law of Guarantees" and an
annual allowance of so many million
Ira to His Holiness in return for the
acknowledgment that the temporal
power was at an end. But, unlike
Judas, three successive Popes, two Of
them noted for the longest papal
reigns in history, refused to betray
their trust for thirty pieces of silver
or thirty million Ira. Had Plus x.
decided to yield and accept the &C
cumulated millions be could easily
have bankrupted Italy. But the papacy
cannot be purchased with money any
more than Christ could be purchased
by the offer of "all the kingdoms OF
the world"
| Hence the breach between Italy and
the Pope is not healed, but the situa-
ton is more intolerable than ever.
During forty years, if we except the
ruler Of the petty principally of Mon
AGO and ex-President Loubet of France,
| (who went for the express purpose of
proving that France was no longer a
Catholic government not single
Catholic sovereign has been able to
visit Rome. Even non-Catholic mon
archs, like King Edward VII of Eng
land and Emperor William of Ger
many, found it necessary to take ex-
traordinary precautions when visiting
the Pope, the former setting out from
the extra-territorial ground of the
British embassy, the latter importing
his own state carriages and a detach-
ment Of German soldiers to escort him.
We all remember the entanglements
that beset an ex-President of the
United States who applied for ad-
mission to the Vatican through our
Ambassador to the Italian government
in spite of his own and the Holy
Fathers mutual desire to meet each
other.
The principle of papal independence
presents no difficulty to Americans
since we, ourselves, invoked it at the
birth of the Republic when we set
aside the District of Columbia as neu-
trail ground for the Federal Govern.
ment. We could not brook the spec
tacle of the national government recog-
nizing any State as master" The
same idea was systematically ex-
pressed by the late Daniel Dougherty
the "silver-tongued orator." in these
words, where the Pope is at home
there, of necessity, must he be mas
ter"
Forty years ago Archbishop Ireland
then fresh from the service of his
country as chaplain of the Fifth Min
nesota, exclaimed at a meeting called
to protest against the taking of Rome
by an Italian army, What efforts
have not princes and powers made in
the past to keep the voice of the Vati
can from resounding within their Dor
ders? If they had held the Vatican
itself would that voice have at all
spoken? Were the Pope today Ger
man in Germany or Frenchman il
France, would he be equally loved and
cheerfully obeyed by the Catholics Of
the contending nations?"
Gregorovius in his History of Rome
Vol. Ill, P. 5, declares: "The Me
. tropolis of Christianity, representing E
universal principle, was bound to have
liberty, and full access to it was the
right of the Pope. The Chief Priest
who resided there could not be the
: subject of any king. It was this idea
that preserved to the Pontiff, even tt
our own days, the small States of the
; Church. The existence of an ecclesias
teal Roman State was an essentia
. condition of the spiritual indepen
dence of the Pope"
The principle has been recognized
by Protestant powers and Lord Pal
merston said in substance: ''It is with
out doubt to be desired that person
who in his spiritual character exer
cises vast influence in the internal al
fairs Of the greater part of the ma
tons of Europe che might have sait
Of the world), should be so indepen
dent as not to become, in the hand!
OF any European power whatsoever, .
means of embarrassing Others
For centuries it was the glory o
} Italy that the papacy was situated
: within her borders. That fact made
| her the queen of nations in the art!
and sciences. During seventy year!
l that the papacy was transferred tt
r Avignon the population of Rome
dwindled to $4,000 inhabitants, the
streets were grass-grown and the
Y Eternal City resembled Goldsmith.
J Deserted Village" Even today in it!
: abnormal condition there is not a mer
|. chant, hotel keeper, hack driver, o.
. beggar, in Rome who does not prof
pecuniarily by the presence of tn,
4 Pope even though prisoner in hi
a own palace"
;. The unsettled condition Of the "Ro
q man Question is well illustrated by al
- . n.