THE ROMAN QUESTION IN AMERICA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 12, 19 December 1890, Page 21

THE ROMAN QUESTION IN AMERICA.

At the Fourth German Catholic Congress, recently held with great success in Pittsburgh, Pa., the Hey, Wm. Tappert, of Covington, Ky., dehveied a notable addie»s on " The Roman Question." We (Pilot) quote representative passages :—: —

To appear in defence of a sacred right which is attacked, of a consecrated possession which is assailed, is indeed a noble duty, and especially in tbe presence of free citizens of the United Btates, whose sense of right and justice is knowa to all tbe world. With the whole Catholic world we c*ll, and shall never weary or calling, for help for our Holy Father tbe Pope, for the " Roman Question is a question of international, ot universal importance. The '• Roman Questiun " hae, indeed, lost none of its importance in the course ot tweuty years, for in tbe reign ot our Holy Father Lao XIII , the difficulties which were oot overcome in the lifetime of the luamurtaL Pius IX. have become more entangled and more oppressive.

After toe revolt against tbe lnw of nature and of nations had, by violence, rubbed the Pope, in the years 1859 and 1860, of rive-sixibs ot his dominion, it daied, in September, 1879, without any pretext wnatBo°ver, to take the Holy City itself, and to confine toe Pope as a prisjuor la ibu Vatic.iv. In tbe taou of tbi se facts, we demand, in common wilb all tUu (Jalhohcs uf the woiid, Ihc restoration of the

territorial sovereignty of the Holy See, which is an absolute necessity for the autonomy, for complete freedom and independence in the government of the Cburch. We have before, at three conventions, made this free and open declaration, and we sliall not stop to declare it oar ceterum, censeo as long as the oppressions of the Holy See continue. We declare that the Head of the Church has a divine right to independence in the exercise of bis spiritual functions, and that this •independence is impossible without temporal sovereignly. Divine Trovidence has ordained that Rome should be the centre of the Church upon earth. With Leo XIII. we declare :— " The claims which the Roman Bishop has upon Rome are bo Bacred and so imprescriptable that no earthly power, no political purpose, no lapse of time can destroy, or lessen or weaken them." Not only the Popes, but all the bishops of Christendom demand tbe territorial sovereignty of the Holy See. Of these, almost 300 ia number, who had assembled in Rome around the Pope, on the Feast of Pentecost, in 1862, declare : — " We acknowledge, in fact, that the temporal dominion of the Holy See ia a necessity, and was instituted by the evident will of Divine Providence ; we declare, without hesitation, that in thp present circumstances of worldly affairs this temporal sovereignty is absolutely necensary for the welfare of the Church and for the free guidance of souls. The Roman Pontiff, the head of the whole Cburch, Bhould not be the subject nor the gneet of a prince, but sitting upon his throne and the Lord of his dominion, he can acknowledge no law but his own, and thus, in the enjoyment of a noble, peaceable, and sweet freedom, can protect the Catholic Faith, and defend, guide, and govern the whole Catholic Commonwealth."

Even a Protestant writer, Guizot, says, with the greatest fairness — " The union of the temporal and tbe spiritual power in the Papacy did not arise from the systematic development either of an abstract principle or an ambitious objest. Theory and ambitious motives may have been incidentally connected with it. But what, in spite of all opposition, really and tiuly brought forth and preserved the temporal power of the Popes, was necessity, a substantial, perpetual necessity. These worldly possessions and temporal power fell to the Papacy as a necessary Bupport of his magnificent spiritual condition. The donations of Pepin and of Charlemagne were buc landmarks in this development, which began, spiritual and secular altogether, at an early time, and was materially furthered by the willingness of the nations and the favour of kings. As temporal Lord the Pope has never made much ado, but he had in his temporal dominion an effective guarantee of his freedom of action, and of his moral power" (Thus Guizot). r

Borne, with its splendid churches and edifices, belongs to the Pope ; it belongs to tbe Catholics ot tte whole world, who, by their endeavours, endowments, gifts, and alms, have cieated that magnificence ; there they flock as aiound a centre ; there they have embodied their love and veneration for the representative of Christ on earth. There every stoae, every edifice, reminds us of religion, of the blood of martyrs, of the tminent wisdom of the Popes, of the virtues of so many saints. Tbe piesent condition ot Rjme, wnich places the Church, whose members spread over the whole earth, number nearly 250,000,000 souls, in a most unfavouiable condition, can evidently not bd lasting, and must be abated.

But they reter us to the hw of guaranty, which in Title 1., Article I., provides that " the person of the Pope is sacred and inviolab.e,"aod Article 11. provides : •• An attact upon the person of the Pope, and the inciting to such an attack, shall be punisned in ihe same manner as «v^ attack upon the person of ihe King, and tbe inciting to the same." Such, indeed, are the provisions ot the law of guaranty, and yet the Holy Father is exposed to a thousand insults, all of which go unpunisued. I but call to mind the terrible outrage committed in Home last year upon the Feast of Pentecost. A monument is erected to an apostate monk, whose only merit consisted in his revolt against divine authority, who denied his taith, broke his vows, and filled the world with i Jimoral and infidel writings. The law of guaranty is an absurdity. It solemnly guaran.ees something that does not exist ; that is, the independence of the Pope, who is a prisoner in his own house, because he is prevented by well-grounded apprehe isious of insult '■> appear in public.

We Catholics have confidence in God ; the noblest attribute of confidence id constancy, and even after years of hope and expectation w»; still continue to hope, until by divine interposition ourhopis shall be realised. Ttjus did the Church hope for 300 years in the first ages of Christianity, and her hopes were not in vain.

As Attila ovei-ran tl c Weat with his irresistib'e Huns, he v»a^ met at the gate of Rome by L. o the Great, and Attiln turned back. What «as there so tenible in the man in pritstly >imeat seated on a while piiftey .' As history relates, Atula B iw" over St. Leo a higher powi-r and a mys eaous force oppressed the mighty man, in whose \ ower it was to crush the kidgdoms of the earth. The strength of Leo the Great has again manifested itself in Leo XIII. The Holy See has a mysterious power which impresses itself upon those who can have no idea ot its origin. Is it noi wondenul that the waves of revolution, alter twenty years of stoim. break at the gate of the Vatican I Is it not wonderful that the Holy Father, under so many adverßitiea, troubles and boitowh, shoul i Htul lead the Church of Gud with a firm hand ? Is it not wonderful that the Holy F.ttur, robbed 'of all his income, can still give free bcope to his benev lent love an • alttough poor himself and living upon alms, he can yet with open hands bestow upon other poor the contributions of love from his children ? Who does not peiceive here the interposition of Divine Providence in .avour of His representative upou earth.

Were it in the domain of possibility for the Church, and with her the Holy See, to perisb, theu she would have alie-idy perished a hundred nines Noiiiui,; can cotuc to p.s., cnhvi from man or fioin events, that she has not already wiib&iood. Tuo pasi is a guaiant c for the fu me, that the Papal Chair will a-aiu become tbe seat of judgment tucontound the Titausot hum in wiadoia and eurlhly power.

Et portae inferi now, praevalebunt ! — and the gates of hell ehall not prevail against her— is everlastingly true. While the enemies of the Cburch and of human society are everywhere engaged in perfidious plans, Leo XIII. relies upon the one, true, and living God, who leads and directs the world according to His unfathomable designs. In reliance upon Divine Providence we await, with our Holy Father, coming events, an i let us ever have our eyes upon the past, in order th*t the past may be our consolation for the present, and th 3 harbinger of victory in the future. In the m-aotime, let us raise our hearts and hands to Heaven and pra7, Tit inimlcos sanctae eccleshae humlliare digneris—'il&Y you confound the enemies of the Church 1