The Catholic World, Vol. 09, April, 1869-September, 1869Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 09, April, 1869-September, 1869
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
But our space is nearly exhausted, and we must hurry on. Innocent
III. is another of those great bishops of Rome that excite the
wrath of _Harper's Magazine_--probably because he was really
a great pope, energetic in asserting the faith, in removing
scandals, in enforcing discipline on kings and princes as well as
on their subjects; in repressing sects, like the Albigenses, that
struck at the very foundations of religion and society, or of the
moral order; in defending the purity of morals and the sanctity
of marriage, and in espousing the cause of the weak against the
strong, of oppressed innocence against oppressive guilt.
{95}
This is too much for the endurance of the magazine. It indeed
does not say that Innocent did not espouse the cause of justice
in the case of Philip Augustus and his injured queen, Ingeburga;
but it contends that he did it from unworthy motives, for the
sake of extending and consolidating the papal authority over
kings and princes. Though he admits John Lackland was a moral
monster, and opened negotiations with a Mohammedan prince to the
scandal of Christendom, offered to make himself a Mussulman, and
would have embraced Islamism if the infidel prince had not
repelled him with indignation and contempt; it yet finds that
Innocent was altogether wrong in taking effective measures to
restrain his tyranny, cruelty, licentiousness, and plunder of the
churches and robbery of his subjects. His motive was simply to
monopolize power and profit for the papal see. He also, for like
reasons, was wrong in resisting Frederic II. of Germany, who, he
says, preferred Islamism to Christianity, as itself probably
prefers it to Catholicity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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