The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-09-25
POPULAR APO[0GET|CS
ADAPTED FROM THE GERMAN OF
REV. PETER MIKES, S. j., BY
REV. JAMES WATCHER.
81. Holy Father"

81 Holy Father"
objection: Catholics must also call
the bad Popes "Holy Father" and
they must obey them. Is that not re-
voting?
Answer: The title Holy Father"
refers, as is we'll known, to the of
fee and not to the person of the
Pope, and in his official capacity no
Pope has ever commanded anything
bad. But suppose that this would
happen, as it alas happens with par
ents and civil officers, we all know the
rule which the fist Pope, st. Peter,
set up: 1--WE must obey God rather
than man." When any superior COM
mands anything sinful he ceases in
that particular point to be Gods rep
resentative.
But if he does not command any
thing bad, but is bad personally, he is
to be pitied but for all that we must
obey his commands. st. Paul de-
manded obedience even for Nero, of
course in all that is lawful, and Christ
obeyed Caiphas and PLATE. We do
not obey superior because of his
good looks or his good morals, but be-
cause of his authority, which remains
also in an unworthy superior other
wise many a ruler would have to be
deposed. That would lead to anarchy
Furthermore, if we would demand
that the present Pope should abdi-
cate because a few of his predeces-
sors were bad 500 or 1000 years ago,
how many rulers, if the same test
were applied, would retain their
throne?
2S. Bad Popes.
Objection: The Papacy cannot be
from God because there were so
many bad Popes.
Answer: l. How many bad Popes
were there? There never was one
who was so bad that he falsifed
Christs doctrine or commanded any
thing immoral. AS teacher and shep-
herd of the Church no Pope was ever
bad.
But his private life, it is objected.
How many were there? Among the
more than $50 Popes there were
about four or five whose private life
can be called bad, and these were
mostly elected not in strict accord
with the laws of the Church, but more
through political influence, as for eX-
ample in the tenth century by the
party of the goddess Marozia.
We do not want to whitewash an
Alexander VI at the end of the fif-
teenth century, though the common
accusations are exaggerated. See Pas
tors History of the Popes.
2. Now allow me cOunter-uues-
ton: How many good Popes we're
there? | mean extraordinarily good
and holy Popes. You know the few
bad Popes; of the many holy Popes
you have no idea. Eighty-three are
saints; thirtyone of these are mar.
tyrs. Even the most malicious crit.
les q do not mean mere mudslingers)
have not dared to attack the charac
ter of the Popes of the last three or
four centuries. They stand before us
without blemish and great, like stat
ues of white marble.
Where is the dynasty where we FIND
so much genuius, energy, science anC
virtue as in the Popes? Among them
we have doctors of the Church like
Leo the Great and Gregory the
Great, heroes and statesmen like
Gregory VII. and Innocent ILL.,, learned
men like Sylvester H., Plus H., Greg
DRY Kill, Urban VIII, Benedict XIV.
patrons of art like Julius II. and Lee
X, under whose patronage a Raphae
and Michael Angelo created their i'm
mortal masterpieces. And what
brilliant figure was not the late LIE,
XIII!
The Protestant Herder (f1S03
writes in his "Ideen zur Geschicht
der Menschheit-Ideas on the Histcr,
of Mankind" (vol. 10, y: cit woul'
be long list if only the principal
worthy and great Popes would b
mentioned" And the Protestant his
torian Gregorovius (f1S9D, often ur
fair to the Church, summarized hi
judgment of the Popes at the end Q
LIS NeoCulCHte IeoLlS ILL IhllGeldltc
History of Rome in the Middl
Ages" (vol. 8, p. $3.50 as follows
History has not hero titles enougl
to describe only approximately tn
world-embracing activity, the grea
creative deeds and the immol
tai glory of the Popes." They de
serve "the full admiration of mar
kind" and their long line will forr
a system in the armament of the hi!
tory of culture, that must outshine a
other lines of princes and rulers