HOME.

Southland Times, Issue 581, 22 October 1866, Page 3

HOME.

The Paris ' Temps ' has the following extraordinary story :— It" our information from Home is correct, the Pope is on the eve of taking in anticipation of the term fixed by the C invention of Sept. 15, a determination not wanting in originality, and which, if realised, will certainly provoke long controversies and complications of more than one kind. After having announced his intention to the Catholic world" in a solemn encyclical, his holiness will write, report says, a letter to the Emperor Napoleon, in which he will offer to hand over to him, under the title of a vieariate, the States of the Church. This transfer would comprehend, be it observed, the provinces which Italy has annexed to herself in virtue of royal decrees, which the Holy See has never recognised, and which the French government at first disavowed. The motives invoked by Pius IX. to justify the step are said to be the following :— ln presence of the dangers incurred by the temporal power, the Holy Father cannot abandon the domain of St. Peter to the covetousness of the revolution: and the Papacy not being itself able to defend the possessions insured to it by the two founders of the Carlovingian dynasty, can only place them in the hands of the heir of the donor, the successor of Pepin-le-Bref, the Catholic Prince par excellence, his most Christian Majesty the Sovereign of France. The donor would thus resume, under a provisional title, and whilst waiting for days less troubled by impiety, the guardianship of the consecrated provinces ; and just as the Pope is the spiritual vicar of Christ, the Emperor Napoleon 111. would become the temporal vicar of the Pope. Our readers will readily believe that we give this news under all reserve.