THE VATICAN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 269, 28 June 1878, Page 17

THE VATICAN.

(From the London Times.") Leo XIII., in his Encyclical, published this morning, April 25, distinctly endorses the policy and acts of his predecessor. He insists on the necessity for the restoration of the Temporal Power, condemns civil marriages, deplores the rejection of the authority of the Church, and proclaims that to be the cause of all existing evils, but in language of consummate calmness and dignity, devoid throughout of that tone of offence and violence which characterised the majority of Pius IX. 's utterances. [This our readers will perceive is a calumny on the great and Holy Pontiff referred to. — Ed. 2V. Z. Tablet] It is noteworthy that the Encyclical contains no attack whatever upon the civil government of Italy, nor any mention, direct or indirect, of the House of Savoy.

Leo XIII. commences by deploring the accumulation of evils with which, from the first day of his Pontificate, he beheld mankind afflicted. The chief cause of so much evil lies, he is convinced, in the denial of the holy and august authority of the Church, and the . contempt in which it is held. No sooner was this fact recognised by the enemies of public order than they perceived their best means- was to carry on a continued attack against the Church and overthrow the supreme power of the Roman Pontiff. Hence, those laws subversive of the Constitution of the Catholic Church, the dispersion of religious Orders, the confiscation of Church property, and the like. He did not refer to this accumulation of evil to add to the sorrow of his venerable brethren, but to indicate the serious condition to which those things had come which were the objects of his Ministry, and what pains it would be necessary fpr him to take to defend the Church of Christ. The dignity of the Roman Pontificate was especially assailed in these calamitous times by unworthy calumnies. It was evident civilization wanted a solid basis if not founded on the eternal principles of truth, rectitude, and justice. No one could deny that the Church had carried the light of truth among barbarous and superstitious nations, spread the flag of redemption, introduced or protected Science^ and Art, and founded or took under its protection charitable institutions.