POPE LEO XIII. ON MODERN CULTURE.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3001, 27 September 1878, Page 4

POPE LEO XIII. ON MODERN CULTURE.

In reply to a deputation from the Arcadian Academy of Home, conveying to his Holiness an address announcing his election as sovereign pastor of that body, Pope Leo XIII. delivered an address on modern culture which has just been officially published. " His Holiness said, in the course of his reply:—" The war which is waged now-a-days against the 'Church and Koman Pontiff is made, as you know, in the name of science and of progress, of which some persons; would lead you to believe the Church • and the Roman Pontiff are the persons would you to believe the unrelenting enemies. Eeason and the history of centuries emphatically contradict these ealuminous statements. If the diffusion of science, of-literature, and of the arts throughout the nations be a sign and proof of the culture of the people, no institution that we know of has better merited of civilization and culture than the Catholic Church. It is a fact that the Roman Pontiffs have .always sheltered the arts and sciences under their protection. Under the protection of the Church they have developed their ■ power and their vigour. For the sublime thoughts of faith and religion with which all men of great genius are inspired, they are indebted to that divine impress which is vainly sought for in the ranks of infidelity and mere naturalism. Ali the literary and artistic'institutions of which this city of the Pontiffs has ever been the revered asylum, and even your own academy, which is seated between the two hills sanctified by the martyrdom ami the tomb of the first Pope, and which counts among its pastors a long series of Popes, are to-day a proof of the favour accorded .by the Sovereign Pontiffs to science and to literature and of the benefits which religion has lavished upon them. Follow then your noble labors and keep in high reverence the honor of human literature, treading carefully in the steps of the great masters of the classical school. We are reminded of that expedient which Julian the Apostate adopted . when he desired to degrade the Christians of his time and make them contemptible in the eyes of Pagan society: he forbade them to study or cultivate literature. Do not permit this weapon to remain in the hands of our enemies; but rather, by .the persevering study of the sciences and letters, train yourselves to use it dexterously, that by it you may attain victory."— Times.