NAPOLEON'S CATHOLICITY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 3, 17 May 1873, Page 14

NAPOLEON'S CATHOLICITY.

A few weeks before the death of the late Emperor Napoleon he received a visit from the correspondent of the Paris Univers, to whom he expressed some Bentiments concerning his relations with the Chuich. He said to thii genttleman that he adhered heart and soul, without any mental reservation whatsoever, to the dogma of Papal infallibility, and be expressed his regrets that he r had seemed, shortly before the definition had been made at the Vatican Council, to oppose it. "I am a submissive son of the Roman Catholic Church," said the Emperor ; " I believe beforehand all that it teaches, and in spite of all the bad theology . with which I was wearied in the latter end of my reign, I always promised myself to bow my bead like an infant as soon as the Church had spoken. I never had any taste for the subtleties of GaUica n j Bm , while the Roman doctrine satisfied my mind with its clearness. £ religion which has built the Gothic Cathedrals — the Catedral of Exeter, for example, which I was admiring the other day — cannot admit of GalHcanisra, which is wanting in grandeur and simplicity. Since the Roman Catholic Church is one, it stands in need °f a chicf — a monarch. The king of the Church is the Pope. We w ho belong to the laity and are imperfectly instructed deserve some indulgence, when the authority of so great a name as Bossuet erred for so long. May the Catholic Church pardon us like a mother. Had I remained in power I never would havo sanctioned the invasion of Rome, which gave me infinite, pain."