The Pope, the Kings and the People: A History of the Movement to Make the Pope Governor of the World by a Universal Reconstruction of Society from the Issue of the Syllabus to the Close of the Vatican Council — John Shaqi
The Pope, the Kings and the People: A History of the Movement to Make the Pope Governor of the World by a Universal Reconstruction of Society from the Issue of the Syllabus to the Close of the Vatican CouncilArthur, William
History
The Pope, the Kings and the People: A History of the Movement to Make the Pope Governor of the World by a Universal Reconstruction of Society from the Issue of the Syllabus to the Close of the Vatican Council
Arthur, William
Catholic Church -- History -- 19th century; Papacy -- History -- 1799-1870; Pius IX, Pope, 1792-1878; Popes -- Infallibility; Popes -- Temporal power; Vatican Council (1st : 1869-1870 : Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano)
legislature, and the nation as a society, shall _profess the Catholic
faith_. Ordinary Englishmen do not realize all that is meant by that
formula. But beyond that, the prince as a prince, the legislature as
a legislature, the nation as a society, are not only to believe in
the Pope, but to be _subject to him_. What fulness of meaning that
formula possesses will gradually open up to the reader as the narrative
unfolds. He will often hear ecclesiastical politicians of the school to
which Cardinal Manning belongs, talking in their native dialect, not
modulating their voice to win the are of Protestants. This national
_profession of the faith_, and this subjection of kings, lawgivers, and
nations to the Pope, constitute in one word the _Civiltá Cattolica_
(the Catholic civilization); or, in plain English, the Catholic civil
system; or, in other terms, the true Catholic constitution, the reign
of Christ over the world, to establish which in all nations the Vatican
is to move heaven and earth.
In his first paper Cardinal Manning seeks to impress us with the belief
that the raising of Papal infallibility to the rank of a dogma was not
a chief object of the Pontiff, much less his only one, in convoking the
Vatican Council. On that point the narrative will often incidentally
present the expressions of prelates, official writers, and others,
so that the reader will be able to form an opinion of his own. In
his second paper the Cardinal shows that throughout the whole of the
present pontificate the dogma has been kept in view as an essential
object. Of that position illustrations will frequently occur. In the
second paper, also, the Cardinal repeats his old allegation that it was
Janus who invented "the fable of an acclamation." The course of the
tale will tell whether it was or was not Janus who originated the talk
of a design to get up an acclamation, and whether that talk was or was
not a fable.
The Cardinal, while attempting to justify, though for the most part
keeping out of sight, the disabilities imposed upon the bishops by
the Pope, disabilities of which they loudly complained, glances at
one out of many of the real ones. He says that the Commission which
was empowered to say whether any proposal emanating from a bishop
was worthy to be recommended to the Pope for consideration, without
which recommendation it could not come before the Council, was "a
representative commission." The fact is that it was a selection of
prelates made by the Pope, who excluded from it all who had avowed
themselves opponents of his infallibility, and included in it creatures
of his own, who had nothing of the bishop but the orders and the pay
which the favour of the Court had given to them.
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