LEO XIII. ON PROTESTANTISM IN ROME.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XI, Issue 3186, 5 December 1878, Page 3

LEO XIII. ON PROTESTANTISM IN ROME.

} On the Past of St. Joachim, the name day of his Holiness, several addresses' of congratulation and fealty were' prosente'd [ to Pope Leo XIII. In replying to an" address from the inhabitants 'of the. Trans- ; Tiberine district, which expressed devotion to the oause of Oatholio education, the Pope thus referred to the existence of Protestant schools in Home. He said he received with joy the intimation that the people of tho Trans-Tiberine district had resolved to do all within their power to make certain that their, children should receive such a religious education as tho times they lived in required, and that tbey viewed with loathing those unholy schools in which faith and innocence ran the risk of being lost. He deplored that in Home, the centro of Christianity, permission had been given to heretical seots to erect places of worship, to open schools, and to disseminate among the people injurious publications, and that, the Sovereign Pontiff was not permitted, as he de« sired to do, to oppose a remedy to the impiety which had invaded the city. It was the duty of the citizens, however, to render futile the efforts of the.impious people by making it an inviolable law to keep themselves and their children from any contact with heresy. Why should they have any desire to attend the temples of innovators and abandon the Oatholio churches, which abounded in sanctity, and had received thorn from infanoy ? Wore there wanting in Borne Oatholio schools in which their children could receive .in* structions without outrage to their faith or detriment to their morals P Thanks to the care of the Popes, the charity of the faithful, and the zeal of clergy and laity, there was not a corner of the city in which schools had not been opened or were' about to bo opened in sufficient numbers to meet every educational want. They were aware that the enemies of tho Oatholio faith, taking advantage of tho poverty which at present afflicted tho people, were employing every artifioi and scattering gold in profusion in, order to fill their schools aud their conventicles, but he would not wrong their consciences or their religious cause by supposing them capable of sacrificing their salvation and that of their children for any consideration of material interest. Bread bought at such a price killed the soul and I brought down the malediction of tho Almiuhty. He implored them to follow the example of their fathers and suffer rather than yield to temptation. Among the deputations presented. whs one from the Irish College, headed by Monsignbr Kirby, to whom His Holiness expressed the admiration he felt for the devotion of Ireland to tho faith, on which he had just • then been speaking lo tho Cardinals in attendance. . " s