THE POPE'S DECREE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2472, 15 May 1888, Page 2

THE POPE'S DECREE.

TO THK BMTOK ■Sill, —" Junius Hiberniciis " affords a practical verification of the views expressed by you in your leafier f>f sth May, that amongst certain numbers of the extreme Irish the Pope's Decree wonlil be met by open dufianco and threatened schism. Junius H. is a thorough representative of that wretched cr»wd, whose inmute love of sedition and disorder, and whose irradicablo hatred of all lawful authority from whatever quarter it is exercised, is covering Ireland with psrpatual shame, destruction and ruin, keening her from attaining that peace and progress which liave been within her reach for years. J. H. cannot be a good Catholic (if he is one at all), or he would not indulge in the rank treason against tho Pope, whose infallibility he denies, whilst he, at tho same time, admits thu infallibility of the Church. This is a sample, of his dense ignorance, of the teachings of the Catholic Faith. Tho dogma of infallibility is this; that the- Pope's decisions, when given ox cathedra, in all questions of faith and morals, are infallible. Catholics who do not accept this doctrine become excommunicate as recalcitrants. I give an extract from the Pastoral of Cardinald Dechamps of Mechlin in 1870. "The Pope is not infallible when he expresses only his own ideas, but he is infallible, when, as he-xd of the Church, he defines truths contained in the depository of revelation, the scriptures and tradition. The Pope is not infallible when he judges purely personal questions ; but he is so when lie judges doctrinal questions affecting faith or morals by virtue of his apostolic authority." In tho present case Pope Leo XIII has not "fulminated " against the aspirations of the Irish in tho Home Rule movement, but he has, with the consent of his congregation of Cardinals, and after much careful investigation, put hie foot down on the ferocious immorality and detestable deeds of certain Irishmen, encouraged by Irish prieets, which are not only a disgrace to the manhood of any nation, but also a shame and scandal to the Church of which the Pope is the Supreme Head. "Junius Hibernicus " indulges in the purely Irish blatherings about the "down-trodden," "insulted," and "misgoverned for centuries." There is not a people on the face of the earth who, in the course of their history, have not been as much, and more, down-trodden and tyrannised as the Irish ; but most of them have emerged from the age of barbarism, and, casting all past sorrows and enmities behind them, have

marched onwards, gathering peace, plenty and contentment. The Irish, or a section of thein, cannot find that higher plane, for they ara not built that way. Irish blood has bean shed, and many noble Irishmen have helpod to build up our mighty empire, but do not Irishmen in all parts of its wide dominions enjoy the same freedom, religious and temporal, and fill honorable positions in the public service, as the rest of Hi r Majesty's subjects? The most amazing spectacle in the Irish trouble is the remarkable forbearance of "powerful" but generous England. Would thesaiue patience boshown anywhere else? No; Irishmen were promptly shot down by American police in Chicago, add several were lately hung there. Would we tolerate the thing here? No; the Timaru and Christchurch Irish rioters, a few years ago, were suppressed and severely punished by the local magistrates. There is nothing of Protestantism or K>manism in this question ; it is whether law and order shall prevail, or whether established society shall be torn to pieces by anarchism and revolution. Irishmen of the genius Junius 11. may prefer to be blind dupes of such trucculent i iiHi ins and coarse blackguards as O'Brien, but all right thinking men and loyal Britishers will elect to support tho great and gifted statesmen who guide the destinies of their proud empire, and will applaud the Pope, with whom wj stand on common ground in the interests of humanity.—l ain, &c., BIUTANNICUS. Hamilton, 11th May.