ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



lamation !>y the bisfiops of the last lines of 

 the encyclical letter which proclaimed a gen- 

 eral jubilee, but to prohibit the publication of 

 all the remainder. Austria, in accordance with 

 the stipulations of the concordat, transmitted a 

 copy of the encyclical to every bishop, but it 

 expressly declared in the official gazette of 

 Vienna, that it did not wish this act of mere 

 mediation to be understood as an approval of 

 the sentiments of the court of Rome. Italy 

 also concluded to allow the publication, but 

 made the same reserve as the Government of 

 Austria. In Spain, the bishops had promul- 

 gated the encyclical without previous author- 

 ization. The Government declared that this 

 was contrary to the laws of Spain, but that in 

 this particular case no action would be taken 

 on the offence. 



The reception of the Encyclical on the part 

 of the political press and the legislatures in the 

 Catholic countries, was decidedly unfavorable. 

 In France, most of the imperialist papers, in- 

 cluding " La France," the only one among these 

 papers considered friendly to the Church, de- 

 plored the publication of the circular, as in 

 their opinion likely to widen the breach be- 

 tween the Church and modern Society, which 

 they all profess a desire to reconcile. Among 

 the liberal papers of France there is hardly a 

 single one which pretends to believe in the pos- 

 sibility of a reconciliation between the Roman 

 Catholic Church and civilization. They say, 

 without regret, that the circular will greatly 

 hasten the emancipation of the people from the 

 Church, and that in particular it will tend to 

 bring about a complete separation between 

 Church and State, as in the United States. The 

 combined strength of the imperialist and the 

 liberal opposition parties, may be inferred from 

 the fact that in the legislative body, which num- 

 bers two hundred and eighty-three members, 

 and is elected by general suffrage, not more than 

 about twenty members are found on the side 

 of the Church whenever the claims of the latter 

 are opposed by the Government. Of the total 

 population of France, which on 31st December, 

 1801, amounted to 37,472,732 souls, only about 

 1,700,000 were estimated as non-Catholics. 



In Austria, according to the census of 1857, 

 there were in a total population of 35,018,988 

 souls, about 8,500,000 non-Catholics. Of the 

 periodical press of the country, according to 

 statements made by prominent Austrian Catho- 

 lics at the Catholic congresses of Germany, 

 more than five-sixths are decidedly anti- 

 Catholic. They have again shown themselves 

 thus in discussing the Papal bull. In the Aus- 

 trian Reichsrath an overwhelming majority of 

 the lower house persists in demanding entire 

 religious liberty to be inserted among the fun- 

 damental principles of the constitution. 



Italy, with a population of about twenty-two 

 millions of people, was until a few years ago 

 considered a purely Catholic country, tolerat- 

 ing with reluctance a few congregations of 

 Waldenses and a few thousand Jews. Now the 



lower house of the Italian Parliament contain! 

 among its members less than half a dozen 

 members who in ecclesiastical questions sup- 

 port the views of the Pope. The overwhelm- 

 ing majority have but recently repeated their 

 desire to aid in the abolition of the temporal 

 power of the Pope, and in the annexation of 

 the papal territory to Italy. The sentiments 

 of the majority of the press and the members 

 of Parliament are expressed by the " Nazione," 

 the leading paper of Florence, the present cap- 

 ital of Italy, when it remarks : " The position 

 of the papacy and the Church is determined, 

 therefore, by the circular : war without truce 

 and without armistice between the papacy and 

 modern civilization." 



Spain, a country with about sixteen millions 

 inhabitants, still proscribes the public exercise 

 of every non-Catholic Church. Public opinion 

 in Spain is more influenced by the Roman 

 Catholic Church than in any other country of 

 Europe. Still the progressive party, which is 

 very numerous, which last year carried a large 

 number of municipal elections, and feels con- 

 fident that it would easily obtain a majority in 

 the Cortes under a liberal electoral law, is unan- 

 imous in demanding universal religious liberty, 

 and in rejecting the views of the Pope. The 

 " Pueblo," one of the leading democratic papers 

 of Madrid, regrets "the obstinacy and blindness 

 manifested by the court of Rome in branding 

 and condemning modern civilization." "From 

 Rome," it says, " nothing favorable to freedom 

 can ever be expected." 



Portugal, which has about four millions of 

 inhabitants, is still as exclusive in its ecclesias- 

 tical legislation as Spain, but public opinion is 

 much less under the control of Rome. In the 

 last Parliament about one-third of the House 

 of Representatives supported the demands of 

 the Pope in his controversy with the crown of 

 Portugal. The majority of the Portuguese 

 papers call upon the Government not to allow 

 the bishops to promulgate the Encyclical. 



In no country of Europe did the publication 

 of the Encyclical produce a more violent 

 commotion than in Belgium. The constitution 

 of this country, which is almost exclusively in- 

 habited by Roman Catholics, expressly guaran- 

 tees to every citizen personal freedom and lib- 

 erty of conscience. Both the great political 

 parties of that" country, the " liberal " and the 

 " Catholic, "profess an equal loyalty to the con- 

 stitution. The "Monde " of Paris, has always 

 represented the fundamental principles of the 

 Belgian constitution as irreconcilably opposed 

 to the spirit of the Catholic Church. The 

 " Catholic " party of Belgium have generally 

 avoided the discussion of the principle of their 

 constitution, but insisted that for their country 

 it was an accomplished fact, and that they did 

 not intend to abandon it. They adhere to this 

 view in defining their position relative to the 

 Pope's circular. Thus " La Paix," of Brussels, 

 one of the leading Catholic papers of Belgium, 

 argues that the Pope means to say that truth 



