The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-12-28
The Present Pontificate.

The Present Pontificate.
The pontifcate of His Holiness has
merited only universal commentator,
but as opposition to Christ existed so
| it will continue to exist against His
Wears until the end of time. Those
who oppose the Vicar of Christ, search
| ing the Utmost recesses Of their hearts,
| should pause and ask themselves
whether they would have been also
the opponents of Christ had they lived
with Him. Like the Blessed Master
whose Vicar he is, Pope Benedict XIV
has been able to apply to himself dur
ing the trying years of his pontificate
the words of Isaias, what is there
that l ought to do more to my vine.
yard that l have not done?' (Isaias 5,
A. The words of the august pOntiff
have been misinterpreted, wrong
construction has been put upon his
silence, his acts have been condemned
and presented in a false light His
| Holiness has been prevented from do
| ing much good that he could have eff
| fected had he been allowed the eXeT-
else of the liberty that he should enjoy
as the Vicar of Christ. The enemies
of the Holy See have sought that an
appreciation justly due the pontiff be
withheld. Some with the excess OF
prejudice and malice have made out
the Sovereign Pontiff not to be true
| father to all, not just judge. By a
propaganda of disappearing silence,
some have condemned the benevolent
acts and paternal words of Benedict
| XIV. 1t is likely that the Holy Father
with his strong character seeks few
human consultations, but surely one
! gratifying thought for His Holiness
must be the reasonable assumption,
that if the Saviour Himself, conceal
| ing His Divinity, were to have taken
over the actual direction of the Church
He would, in the present crisis of the
world, in calling men and nations back
to justice, to peace and to love, have
been misinterpreted, misjudged and
falsely accused even as His Vicar has
| been.
The forces opposed to the Holy See
are determined in their worldly wis
dom to exclude the Holy Father
from the Peace Congress. Ma
tons by secret treaty have already
made their decision of exclusion.
Worldly wisdom does not take into
account that the greatest agency in
| the world for peace is the Holy See.
| Worldly wisdom does not consider
that the Vicar of the Prince of Peace
has the graces peculiar to his Office of
promoter of peace, restorer of peace,
guardian of peace. His graces as
| Vicar of the Prince of Peace are for
the benefit of the human race in it's
| three-fold division, that of the domes-
/ tic society or the family, civil society
or the State and the religious society
or the Church. 1t is absurd to think
of peace on solid basis If morality
founded on the supernatural be not
| the foundation. Worldly wisdom may
rear superstructure of peace on an
other foundation, but it cannot have
endurance. The nations inviting the
L v L
Conference of Peace would have been
the benefciaries. His exclusion will
be the nations loss and civil society
throughout the world will suffer in
consequence. The Holy See would in
no way have transgressed upon the
domain of civil affairs in its 1abors of
assisting the nations to restore. a lasr-
ing peacea The Holy See has been
/ put to "a test during the war and Ben
edict XIV, stands aloft, incomparably
the greatest figure in the world. His
tory will establish his place. If again
the Holy See be tested during the
Peace Conference it will be found that
the powers of opposition shall not pre-.
vail against it.
CONTINUED next week.