THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 272, 19 July 1878, Page 9

THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES.

(Concluded.)

" Our ultimate aim," they openly declare, " is that of Voltaire and of the French Revolution : the total annihilation of Catholicity and of every idea of Christianity" This is the end aimed at by the Protestant schools already opened in many towns in Italy : it is to this that all hostility against the clergy is directed ; this is what it is sought to accomplish by ridding the laws, education, marriage, and finally society, from what is called theocratic tyranny. It is to this that independence, renovation, progress, as they understand it, that is the abolition of Catholic worship, the annihilation of the religion of Jesus Christ, the destruction of faith in souls, a return to the darkness of Paganism, resolve themselves. This plan of conspiracy is by no means obscure to any one who does not refuse to open his eyes. But how is it to be carried out ? It is to be carried out, (listen attentively to this, dearly beloved, that you may not fall into the snares of the wicked), it is to be carried out by multiplying assurances, by making protestations, by swearing loudly that there is no desire to touch religion nor to violate it in any manner whatever. Now, this horrible design being exposed, it is evident that there is no longer any middle course for us : we must either stand with Christ and His Church, that is with the Roman Pontiff, who is the Vicar of the first and Visible Head of the latter, against the enemies of our faith, or stand with those against God and His Church. It is no longer a question of politics, it is a question of conscience. We are no longer permitted to halt between Christ and Belial ; we would show ourselves vile and foolish before men, enemies and guilty before God : Qui non est mecum contra me est. Constrained, as we are, by this necessity, to decide between the courage of Catholic conscience and adherence to perfidious principles, can I believe even for an instant, that there is one among yoii who would prefer to take the side of the enemies of the Vicar of Jesus Christ ? This would be betraying the traditions of your ancestors ; it would be (allow me to use the words of the pact of your country) "to degenerate from the ancient and noble blood of your ancestors," who not only displayed the greatest zeal for the faith, but who even wanted to make a buckler and a rampart of their breasts for the temporal domain of the Sovereign Pontiffs. They knew too well by what an intimate bond the" freedom of conscience and the honor and independence of the Catholic family were united to that domain. Even before the time of Charlemagne, that illustrious soldier of the Church, as far back as the year 727, Perugia spontaneously gave itself to the Holy Roman See.

It was at the time that the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, opposing the worship of holy images, was excommunicated by Gregory 11. Perugia no longer wishing to be subject to the dominion of a sacrilegious prince, and having abandoned him, pledged itself by a solemn oath to defend for ever the State and the life of the Sovereign Pontiff, under whose authority it was careful to place itself, and all its possessions. When the factions of the Guelphs and Ghibelins sprang up in Italy, Perugia always remained faithful to the Sovereign Pontiffs. If any trouble broke out in Rome against them, Perugia immediately offered them a secure hospitality, where they found safety, and the Conclaves the fullest freedom. This fidelity on the part of Perugia shone forth with marvellous brilliancy under the Pontificate of Alexander IV. The Pope called your fathers tlie robust athletes and the incited warriors of the Church, not surpassed in, constancy and strength of sold, oy the generous Macluibees. But Perugia reached the summit of her glory when, in the first half of the fourteenth century, she carried her victorious army beyond TJmbria, which was already subject to ha.', and reduced the adversaries of the Pontiffs to extremes. Your archives arc full of Pontifical Briefs that bear testimony to the assistance given by your ancestors to the Holy See, and to all the blessings with which they were rewarded. The history of your country is full of splendid feats of valour by which their invincible arms put their enemies to flight, and restored, the rebellious regions to the authority of the Church. Such was the extent to which the religious spirit and a love for the Sovereign Pontiff burned in their souls ! Ah !if they were to rise up out of their graves, with what noble indignation would they not hurl far from them, the counsels of those who would dispossess the common Father of the Faithful, and rob the Church of her liberty I They made the most complete sacrifice of the goods of this world, and even of life itself, whenever there was any question of defending and honouring the power of the Papacy ; and would you be doing too much in abstaining from participating in the sacrilegious enterprise for its destruction ? They have merited by the blood they have shed, the glory that surrounds the name of the defenders of the Church, and will you allow youselves to be misled by chose who seek not to have this honour, but who are preparing the most ignominious pages for the history of our country 1 Ah ! rouse up, once more, within your souls those magnanimous and Christian sentiments that your noble ancestors have transmitted to you with their Mood ; and with the courage that faith imparts, sever, henccfort "h, all relations with these innovators ; ever attach yourselves more closely to the centre of Catholic unity ; cast those odious pamphlets that ai*e circulated among you, and in which the majesty of the Sovereign Pontiff is reviled, insulted and outraged, into the fire.