DISCOURSE BY THE HOLY FATHER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 45, 27 February 1885, Page 13

DISCOURSE BY THE HOLY FATHER.

Miss M. Orb. of St. Kilda, has kindly forwarded to us (Melbourne Advocate) from Rome the following by letter :—: — On Christmas Day the Sacred College of Cardinals was received in audience by the Holy Father. The Dean, Cardinal Sacconi, read an address of congratulation, to which his Holiness responded as follows :—: —

" The solemn festival of the Birth of our Lord, which brings gladness to the whole Church, is a source of joy also to us, and we accept with heartfelt pleasure the congratulations and good wishes which you. my Lord Cardinal, for the first time, have offered to us in the name of the whole Sacred College. " This joy would be more unmixed and exhilarating were the times less sad for the Church, and the government of it in. consequence less difficult.

" Among the many difficulties which encompass us the greatest is that of oar' present position— a position which we have always declared to be intolerable, ard which is proved so by the course of events.

" The year which is drawing to a close has clearly demonstrated, as you, my Lord Cardinal, have just observed, that in the present state of things not even in the exercise of charity is the Sovereign Pontiff free in his own city of Koine. Everyone remembers with what violence the greatest portion of the public Pres9 assailed our design of opening in case of need a hospital for cholera patients at our own expense in the vicinity of the Vatican. "The world knows how malicious insinuations and false constructions distorted the nature of that proposal ; how by stratagem and threats an attempt was made to prevent its execution, or, at least, to bring home to us the bitter fact that under the new order of things in Home the Pontifi is reduced to the ignoble position of a mere private individual. " But this is not all— there is worse. It is a keen, sorrow and a deep anxiety to us that Protestants are allowed to assail the venerable and sacred doctrines of our holy religion, and to disseminate without let or hindrance their heretical teachings here in Rame, which is the centre of faith and the See of the universal and infallible Teacher of the Church— here where the most effectual means should be adopted to guard the integrity of faith and protect the honour of the only true religion. " It rends our heart to see that under the protection of public laws places of heretical worship are multiplied, and that it is legal in Borne openly to attack that unity of Italians — the briehtebt and most precious— their religious unity — by means of the insane attempts of those who have taken upon themselves the unhallowed mission of setting up for Italy a novel Church outside that one corner-stone laid by- Jesus Christ as a solid foundation for bis heavenly building. "We have reason to dread other fresh and grievous affronts to religion and the Church. A bill to sanction divorce has again been laid before Parliament. A law which permits the dissolution of the marriage tie is in direct opposition to the command of God, gifcen to man from the beginning of the world—' What God has joined together let not man put asunder.'

" The law of divorce is at open variance with the teaching of the universal law-giver, Jesus Christ, and with the prescriptions of the Church with regard to matrimony. It is a law which does not recognise in this great sacrament the lofty position to which marriage was raised by Jesus Christ, for divorce drags it down to the condition of a mere civil contract. It is a law which lowers woman and degrades her ; it puts the education and well-being of children in jeopardy ;it severs the bond of domestic life and destroys it ; it sows discord in families ; it is a source of corruption to public morals, and a fruitful cause of decay to nations. In fact, the experience of recent times has been so appalling and bitter that even the upholders of divorce have been forced to re-establish the indist>olubility of marriage.

" Nevertheless, if the desires of secret societies and wishes of Freemasons be gratified, this law, which is so repugnant, to Catholio principles, will be promulgated from Borne, whence only the pure light of revealed truth and the splendour of Catholic practices should originate and be diffused throughout Christendom. " If God, in His mercy, preserves Italy from such a scourge, we will thank Him with a grateful heart, hut we caunot dismiss our fears so long as the present state of things exists. " Our present condition is so antagonize to the dignity and independence of the Holy See, so destructive of the Roman Pontiff in the exercise of his sovereign power, that it forces itself to the front on every occasion ; it make us feel the weight of a foreign power more intolerable, and it keeps prominently before the Catholic world the stern fact that ie is impossible for the Holy See to come to terms with the present order of things, or to remain indifferent to its continuance.

" The Son of God made Man, who ns an infant escaped the persecutions of impious ny n, and by His Divine power changed the face of the world, will certainly not fail to succour His afflicted Church and better the condition of His unworthy Vicar. But the Catholics of the world should hasten Divine Mercy by constant prayer, and more especially by a thoroughly Christian life in keeping with the faith and rules which they profes . " These are the sentiments which animate us in retura for the good wishes of the Sacred College ; and as a pledge of the favour of Heaven and our special affection, we lovingly impart to the members of the Sacred College, to the bishops, prelates and others here present, our Apostolical Benediction."