THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE POPES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 356, 13 February 1880, Page 17

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE POPES.

In one of a series of remarkable articles in the Ossermtore Romano on the ' Two Powers of the Roman Pontiff," the writer considers the Pope without the temporal power and the effect of this abnormal state of things. After the Church came forth from the Catacombs heresies rose up, which, supported by the arms of the powerful, attempted to destroy the Church and the Papacy. Pope Liberius was banished by a heretical Emperor. Silverius died in exile. Virgilius was imprisoned and exiled. S. Martin died in exile a martyr. S.Leo 111. was obliged to fly to Spoleto. Leo 11. was driven from his throne and died in prison. John XII. was obliged to fly from Borne. Benedict V. was transported into Germany. John XIII. had to take refuge in Capua. Benedict VI. was assassinated. John XIV. was imprisoned in Castel S. Angelo, where he died of hunger. Gregory V. and Benedict VIII. were driven into exile. Benedict IX. and Leo IX. were exiled by the Normans. S. Gregory VII. went as a fugitive from one land to another, and died at Salerno. Victor 111. could not take possession of his See, and died at Benevento. Urban 11. was brought back to Home by the French Crusaders. Pasqual 11. was taken away by the Emperor Henry V. Gelasius 11. was forced to fly to Gaeta. Honorius 11. was constrained to take refuge in France. Eugenius 111. was driven from Rome by Arnaldo da Brescia. Alexander 111. was put in prison on the very day of his consecration. Urban 111. and Gregory VIII. could not take possession of Rome. Lucius 111. fled to Verona. Gregory IX. was obliged to take refuge in Perugia. Innocent IV. fled to Genoa, Alexander IV. to Viterbo. Martin IV. never entered Rome. Boniface VIII. was made a prisoner in Agnant. Then succeeded the great schism of the West, by which more than seven Pontiffs were obliged to reside in France. Urban. VI., Innocent VII., Gregory IX., John XXJ.IL, and Eugenius IV. were made a prey to the enemies of God and of the Church, His Spouse. And now the writer asks, was this an era of peace for the Church, and is it true what the enemies of the temporal power of the Popes assert, that the Pontiffs always governed the Church of God i n most perfect peace when they were deprived of the temporal power j