STATE PAPERS. 



731 



lo carry the true faith to the extre- 

 mities of the earth, has been restored 

 through the paternal care of the em- 

 peror, so as to be able to recover 

 the property it once possessed, and 

 ^Tcn to acquire new. Missiona- 

 ries, APho have been sent to the most 

 distant climates for the propagation 

 of the true religion, are encouraged 

 and protected by the government of 

 the emperor. We have ourselves 

 given, with the most heartfelt joy, 

 the apostolic benediction to certain 

 distinguished priests, who made part 

 of the mission to China. Among 

 such a number of provident cares, 

 we could not have forgotten our pa- 

 triarchal church of the Lateraa, the 

 mother and chief of all the churches 

 in the world. This church, by the 

 munificence of the most generous of 

 emperors, has been compensated for 

 the loss of its property in France, 

 which the fury of the times had 

 wrested from her. Other measures 

 of considerable importance have also 

 been adopted. It has been decreed, 

 that the bishops shall freely exercise 

 their powers of judging, with respect 

 to spiritual offences, and those which 

 relate to ecclesiastical discipline, and 

 to punish, as provided for by the 

 canonical law. That the attempts 

 made by the civil officers to shackle, 

 in a manner at once unjust and 

 oppressive, the ecclesiastical juris- 

 diction, shall be discontinued ; that 

 the obstacles which existed to the 

 entrance of young men into the ec- 

 clesiastical state shall be greatly di- 

 minished ; and those which prevailed 

 with respect to the religious educa- 

 tion of youth ; to the affording spi- 

 ritual comfort to the sick, to the 

 soldiery, or the inhabitants of the 

 country, entirely done away. These 

 benefits, which we have derived 

 from our discussion with this great 



I 



prince, guarrantee, as we have al- 

 ready observed, the effect of the 

 other demands which we have made 

 from him, and which we have every 

 reason to expect from his religion, 

 — We cannot, however, pass over 

 in silence those other spiritual bene- 

 fits, which God, the father of mer- 



cies. 



grant 



us n\ 



has deigned to 

 France. You know with what zeal, 

 with what pious ardour, the French 

 people have, in our person, revered 

 the supreme pastor of the catholic 

 church. That which you have been 

 apprised of, far from surpassing, 

 even falls short of the truth. It is 

 beyond the powers of language to 

 express the love, the zeal, and the 

 external veneration, which the peo- 

 ple of France bear towards religion. 

 The God of mercies has vouchsafed 

 to shower down so many blessings 

 upon our journey toFrauce; that the 

 bishops have not hesitated often to 

 assure us, that those are beyond 

 conception, as tending to the spiri- 

 tual advantage of [the people. We 

 have not ciscontinued that general 

 facility of access to us, that wc may 

 hear the complaints of the aggrieved, 

 and remedy, as far as in us lies, 

 those spiritual evils which still ex- 

 ist ; and that we may promote th« 

 principle univenally among the peo- 

 ple, Ave have visited all the parish- 

 es in Paris, and 'here, as we after- 

 wards did at Lyons, we distributed 

 among many thousands of the faith- 

 ful, the eucharisjcal bread. We 

 also visited the hospitals, where the 

 sick received the succours of chris- 

 tian charity, or wHch were conse- 

 crated to the religious instruction 

 of youth. An innumerable crowd 

 of catholics followed us every v^hcre, 

 as well at our return, as on our 

 going out, and appeared never'ired 

 of receiving our apostolic bemdic- 



tion.— 



