"Once upon a time We used to know a certain writer of amatory novels. The sentimental balderdash, which he put into the mouths of his marionettes (he only had one set of them), influenced Us greatly. He had a living to get. He thought He could get it by recommending the Temporal Power. He was a very clever worldly Catholic indeed: but the arguments, which he produced in so vital a matter as the earning of his living, were so sterile and so curatical, that We summed up the Temporal Power as negligible. Then there was the disgracefully spiteful tone of the Catholic newspapers--gloating over the misfortunes of hard-working well-meaning people, prophesying revolution and national bankruptcy for this dear Italy, and so on. Well: Our sympathy naturally went, not to the malignant but, to the maligned. Oh yes, We had reasons." "That is enough. One's hands obey one's head," said Sterling. "For my part, I think that if the temporal Power is worth having it is worth fighting-for. Lord Ralph Kerrison, who's a British general, once told me that, if the Pope cares to call-upon Catholics throughout the world and order military operations, he is quite ready to throw-up his commission to-morrow and enlist in the pontifical army," Semphill asserted. "No?" Mundo with big eyes inquired. "Fact: I assure you," Semphill asservated. "But is it worth fighting-for?" "Of course, Holy Father, the possession would confer a certain status," put in Saviolli. The Pope smiled. "'Certain'--and 'status'? Oh really!" Talacryn was annoyed. He considered the query too sarcastic. "His Holiness perhaps leans upon the theory that the Church never was more powerful than She is now," della Volta ventured. "I calculate that's fact, not theory!" exclaimed Grace. "Well then?" "I see. In these thirty-odd years without the Temporal Power, the Church has increased in power. It might be argued on that that Temporal Power is not essential." "Prosecute that argument, and----" "Has anyone a theory as to what precisely is the chief obstacle in Our way here in Italy?" the Pope interpolated. "The secret societies." "Atheism." "Poverty." "Socialism." "Corrupt politicians." "What do we new comers know of Italy?" asked Whitehead of Leighton, who had made the last remark. "The newspapers say----" "The newspapers!" Carvale ejaculated. "Don't we know how the newspapers are written? Has no one of us ever contributed a paragraph? Well then----" "Please view the question from this stand-point. On the one side, you have the Paparchy and the Kingdom, Church and State, Soul and Body. On the other, you have the enemies of those. What is necessary?" "The destruction of the enemies." "Or the conversion of them into friends. But how?" "How shall two walk together unless they be agreed?" the Pope inquired. "The Paparchy and the Kingdom are not agreed," said Courtleigh. "Your Holiness means that they should be agreed: that they should unite forces?" Ferraio asked.