THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2370, 5 November 1870, Page 2

THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE.

To the Editor of the Evening Star. Sir, —In your leader last evening, yon seem jubilant at the idea of the Pope being compelled to yield to the occupation of his patrimonial estate by Victor Emmanuel; but, sir, your prophetic vision respecting the complete annihilation of his temporal power must indeed be clouded, notwithstanding your assertion that 1600 years failed to accomplish what in this enlightened century has been, according to your prediction, completed “and gone for ever.” But, sir, in your ecstacy you forgot that the Divine power which sustained the Papacy for the last 1600 years—though on innumerable occasions apparently overwhelmed by the fiery waves of persecution which swept over the Church and its patrimony—will now, as hitherto, protect and restore the jn-t rights and property of the Holy See, whoso title can he traced beyond tbe time when England and Prussia were marshes and forests, and their inhabitants moving hordes in a state of internecine war one with another. You also state that the Germans are now indirectly accomplishing what they began some 300 or more years ago ; but you should alsq inform your readers that then, as now, the then Pontiff was driven from his throne, and Rome given over to pillage and all the li rror i (if a conquered city for nine months ; and wc are told by historians of every creed that Home never suffered under Goths, Vandals, or Lombards humiliations or horrors equalling those of that period ; and if, as yon state, it was “the work of man,” it would have crumbled with the wreck of empires and kingdoms that are now almost forgotten. The present occupant may again bo compelled to fly from the persecution of his old enemies ; but, Sir, every true Catholic at all acquainted with the history of the Church feels assured that the same power which maintained the Holy See through past ages will remain with the Church to guide ami

direct it free from the trammels of prince or king; and rest assured, when this person whom the historian calls a New Zealand tourist, (which may ha some re'ation of your’s,) shall stand on the broken ar hes of Westminster Bridge sketching the ruins of St. Paul's, the Papacy will thou he as rcsplendant in all its majesty as when Gregory sent h : s missionary to convert Pagan England. Th vaunt and boast and the triumph of the enemies of the Holy See at the present weakness and isolation of the temporal state of Rome, is without foundation or sense, particularly as we find that 1800 years of conflict have thrown out into relief and light its divine stability, its imperishable life, its indivisible unity, its infallible voice, its perpetual visahility, its temporal sovereignty, its twofold prerogatives- spiritual and temporal—whereby it has ruled the destinies of the world, and will rcigu, even through conflict, to the end. But, a'as, you assert that the “temporal power is gone for ever.” Do nob imagine, Sir, that your Catholic or even intelligent Prote -itant readers are in despondency. Certainly Catholics all over the world grieve and mounie for the sufferings of their spiritual head ; nevertheless their fa’th tells them, and all history proves it, that though the Church may have again to descend to the Catacombs and wade through years of hloo I, it will again triumph and appear more luminous than before. You ought to be aware that there has hardly been a century where the hand of usurpers and invaders has not been upon the City of Rome—whether by barbarian hordes, or Arian Lombards, or Protestant Germany, Rome has been always covoted and assailed. There has not been a century in which the States of the Church have not been occupied, dismembered, and usurped. The Roman Stat :s have been changed and fashioned again and again into counties and duchies, into kingdoms and provinces of empires. Where I should like to know is the very name of tho-e kingdoms, and their lords who claimed to be its tempora' Governors ? Where now is Napoleon, “King of Rome,” and where to-morrow will be Victor Emmanuel, “King of Italy?” 1 lie past and future history of Europe will reply. Against the Papacy no man has spoken or lifted a hand and has passed unpunished. You may deride and mock at my assertions, hut, idr, I am prepared to prove them, and shall now respectfully defy you to disprove them.

In conclusion, sir, I may inform you that those passing moments of persecution and spoliation are as nothing. The waves go over the ship, but the ship of Petor will still go on expanding its glories through suffering and persecution and bloodshed, till the coming of its Divine Master. 1 hope that you will live to see the truth of my statements, and that you shall seek succour within the folds of Christ’s Vicar on earth, who will wield his Lord’s sceptre to the end. I am, &c., Eossr. Nov, 3, 1870.