ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



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tolic restored the ancient archiepiscopal sees 

 of St. Andrews and Glasgow, and created the 

 episcopal sees of Aberdeen, Dunkeld, Whit- 

 horn or Galloway, and Argyll and the Isles. 

 The Catholics of Scotland, who had from the 

 time of the Reformation been subject to vicars 

 apostolic first one for all Scotland, then two, 

 and afterward three, for as many districts had 

 thus a regular episcopal organization. The 

 Pope made this one of the subjects of his allo- 

 cution to the Cardinals on March 28th. On 

 his accession he appointed Cardinal Franchi, 

 Secretary of State and Master of the Sacred 

 Palaces; Cardinal Simeoni, Secretary of the 

 Propaganda; Cardinal Sacconi, Prodatary ; and 

 Cardinal Morochini, Chamberlain. 



In April he issued his first Encyclical, fore- 

 shadowing his policy, as follows : 



To all the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and 

 jBishops, in, Grace and Communion of the Apostolic 

 See. Leo PP. XIII. : 



VENERABLE BRETHREN: Greeting, and the Apos- 

 tolic Benediction ! 



Lifted, though unworthy, to the summit of Apos- 

 tolic Eminence by the unsearchable will of God, we 

 have found ourselves pressed forthwith by an ear- 

 nest desire, and in some way a necessity, to address 

 you in writing ; not merely to show the feeling of 

 our inward love for you, but that we may, by the 

 power divinely committed to us, strengthen you, 

 who, with us, are called to share our troubles, and to 

 bear with us the battles of this age (horum tempo- 

 rum dimicationem). 



For, in these first days of our Pontificate, we find 

 ourselves in face of woes that are weighing down the 

 whole human race ! 



They are the openly avowed assaults on first truths, 

 on which, as foundation stones, the fabric of human 

 society rests, and is held together ; the frowardness 

 of minds following the bent of their passions, without 

 regard to legitimate authority, the continual cause 

 of quarrels, whence come internal conflicts and bitter 

 and blooJy wars ; contempt of laws governing morals 

 and justice; unbridled lust for things that perish in 

 the using, and forgetfulness of things eternal, even to 

 the crazy rage that leads so many, everywhere, auda- 

 ciously to lay violent hands on themselves ; the profli- 

 gate administration, waste, and malversation of pub- 

 lic property ; not to speak of the shamelessness of 

 those who, wherein they are most conspicuously 

 culprits, fashion themselves so that they may seem 

 as if they had done these things as defenders of 

 country, liberty, or of this or that right. A death- 

 dealing plague, to sum up, that is creeping through 

 the pulses of society, never permits it to have rest, 

 and is the portent of new upheavals and of woful 

 ruins. 



The cause of these calamities, we are fully per- 

 suaded, lies in this : The august and holy authority 

 of the Church, which, in the name of God, is set over 

 the race of man, and is the arbiter and safeguard of 

 every legitimate authority, has been despised and 

 rejected. 



The foes of civil order have understood this so 

 well that, as the surest way to subvert the founda- 

 tions of human society, they have sought, first of all, 

 by obstinate attacks and most vile calumnies, to bring 

 into disfavor and hatred the Church of God. As if 

 the Church could be in antagonism to true and abid- 

 ing civilization, they seek to undermine her power 

 and authority by daily assaults; and they would 

 overthrow the Supreme Power of the Eoman Pontiff, 

 who, by his office, is the guardian and the champion 

 of the eternal and immutable laws of what is good 

 and of what is just. 



Hence, too ? have come legislations uprooting the 

 Divine constitution of the Catholic Church, that wo 

 have to deplore, as clone in many regions. Henco 

 have flowed disregard of Episcopal authority ; hin- 

 drances opposed to the exercise of the ecclo&iastical 

 ministry ; the dispersion of societies of religious 

 persons, and the confiscation of goods by which func- 

 tionaries of the Church and the poor were supported, 

 and institutions devoted to charity and mercy have 

 been stolon from the wholesome management of the 

 Church. 



And, again, a licentious and wicked freedom of 

 teaching and publishing; while, on the other hand, 

 the right of the Church to instruct and educate youth 

 has, in every way, been violated and hindered. Nor 

 of a less hostile meaning is the usurpation of the 

 civil principality, which Divine Providence, many 

 ages ago, granted to the Eoman Pontiff, to the end 

 that, freely and promptly, he might employ the 

 power given him by Christ for the eternal benefit of 

 all peoples. 



We have enumerated this mournful accumulation 

 of miseries, Venerable Brethren, not to add to your 

 sorrows, heavy enough in bearing the wretched con- 

 dition of affairs, but because we understand that, by 

 this exposition, you will the more fully see the heavi- 

 ness of responsibility that calls on our ministry and 

 zeal, and how earnestly we must work to defend and 

 vindicate the Church of Christ, and the dignity of 

 this Apostolic See, wounded by so many calumnies, 

 especially in the crookedness of these times. 



It is known and manifest, Venerable Brethren, that 

 the plan of human civilization (civilis humanitatis) 

 has no solid foundations, except stayed on principles 

 of eternal truth, and on the law of what is right and 

 just ; and unless an affectionate regard, really sin- 

 cere, pervades the will of men, and controls gratefully 

 the occasions and rules of their relations with each 

 other. 



But who will dare deny that it was the Church 

 that, by preaching the Gospel everywhere among the 

 nations, introduced the light of truth among savage 

 peoples, addicted to vile superstitions, and moved 

 them to a recognition of God as their Creator, and 

 to a respect for themselves ? It was the Church that 

 took off the misfortune of slavery, and called men to 

 the original dignity of a most noble nature. Has 

 she not, in all regions of the earth where she has dis- 

 played the sign of our redemption, been the protect- 

 or of sciences and arts, even at her own expense, 

 and, by most excellent institutions of charity, cared 

 for the solace of all kinds oft miseries ? By founding 

 or accepting the care of these, the Church has cher- 

 ished the race of man, privately and publicly, has 

 rescued it from the wretchedness that marked it, and 

 has fashioned it, with exquisite care, to a form or 

 living agreeable to the dignity and the hope of what 

 man may become. 



Let any one of sane mind compare this age in which 

 we live, that is in bitter antagonism to religion and 

 the Church of Christ, with those more auspicious 

 times when the Church was cherished as a mother 

 by nations, and he will recognize that this our age, 

 full of troubles and ruins, is rushing straight and 

 rapidly to its own destruction ; and that those peri- 

 ods in which peoples showed themselves the most 

 observant of the laws and rule of the Church were 

 marked by the most happy condition of society, 

 quietness of life, and wealth and prosperity. 



But if the benefits we have enumerated have sprung 

 from the ministry and salutary help of the Church, 

 how foolish it is to imagine that the Church of Christ 

 can disapprove or reject these, and not, rather, count 

 them as of her glory, she being their nurse, their 

 mistress, and their mother. 



There is, indeed, a kind of human culture repug- 

 nant to the holy doctrines and laws of the Church. 

 It is a counterfeit of civilization. It challenges the 

 name, but lacks the substance, and is altogether 

 empty. The proof of it is found in looking at those 



