Growth of the Church.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 7, 12 February 1903, Page 29

Growth of the Church.

From the 'Literary Digest' we reprint the following translation of a remarkable statement of tho growth and growing power of the Church contributed to the ' Neve Kirchliche Zeitschrift,' of Leipzig, Germany, by the famous Church historian, Rev. Dr. Kolde, of Erlangen, one of the leading Protestant scholars of that country : Few people, and only those who study modern facts in the light of Church history, have any appreciation of the phenomenal advance made by the Catholic church during the last decades, especially as a power in the political world and in the conquests of new spheres of thought and life. It is by no means a pleasant thing for Protestants to contemplate : but it is an undeniable fact that not since the days of Innocent 111. has the Papal system unfolded such splendor and power as in the present time. Not the Catholic princes, but rather the Protestant rulers are the ones who ore trying to surpass each other in honoring the shrewd sage now occupying- the throne in the Vatican, although it is this same sage who has repeatedly called the Reformation a ' pest.' In other respects, the Church has grown phenomenally Each yea,r the number of those who swell the lanks of the religious Orders grows by the thousands, and in the German Empire alone there are now 40,000 of these Not since the days of the Reformation have these Oiders, especially the Jesuits, developed the strength) they evince in our days. The Catholics control the Parliaments and they make our laws, and in countries like Germany where State and Church are united, they cv en pass the laws regulating the afiairs of the Protestant Church. With every day the principle is gaining more and more ground that it is not ability and efficiency, but the attitude toward the Catholic Church, that opens the way for candidates to positions in the State serv ice. The statesmen of Europe are largely and in many f ases mostly influenced in their international politics by the v lews that may prevail in the Vatican and what is more remarkable, that which the ambitious Innocent lIT tailed to attain, and that against which even Catholic princes and bishops have constantly protested, nimely, the assigning of the position of judge on international difficulties to the Pope — this has been first voluntarily yielded to the Vatican by the leading Protestant Powers of Europe, Prussia and Germany, the former of these also having been the first J o recognise the Ciuia as a political power on equal footing with other Powers by sending an ambassador to the Vatican. In conclusion the famous German remarks : ' Humanly speaking, the Catholic Church is destined to achieve still more notable conquests in the twentieth century.'