638 



POPE, 



authority of the pope; and at last gave to the pope 

 supremacy over the Western world. The quarrels 

 of the popes with temporal rulers not only caused 

 the downfall of the temporal power of the holy see 

 over the European states, but, in the reaction which 

 they produced, even gave to the rulers great influ- 

 ence over the church. The spiritual power of the 

 popes was now brought back to its former limits. 

 Abuses, which the possession of power renders so 

 easy, had caused a general desire of a reformation, 

 both in the head and members of the church. The 

 council of Constance, in 1414, declared itself com- 

 petent to undertake this reform, and actually de- 

 posed two rival popes; and the decrees of the coun- 

 cil at Basle were still more energetic. The dis- 

 covery of tlie forgery of the decretals of Isidore a 

 natural consequence of a more attentive study of 

 history in modern times by the centuriatores of 

 Magdeburg and the ideas which the reformation 

 introduced contributed to circumscribe, within 

 just limits, tile spiritual power of the pope. In the 

 eighteenth century, the investigations of Febronius 

 (the suffragan bishop of Treves) mainly contributed 

 to shake the foundation of many of the adventitious 

 rights of the pope. 



This is the place to explain the system of the 

 Catholic canonists with regard to the power of the 

 pope. First, of his influence in temporal concerns. 

 The canonists of the middle ages derived from the 

 example of Gregory VII., and others, a right of the 

 pope to immediate interference in worldly matters. 

 Their argument was a very simple one: The church 

 is the highest of all institutions for the good of men, 

 and all other merely temporal institutions should 

 be subject to it ; the head of this institution is the 

 vicar of Christ, made such by divine appointment. 

 Peter was the first, arid his successors have inherited 

 his power. Like Peter, the popes have held the 

 double sword (the symbol of temporal and spiritual 

 power), and with this, the right of subjecting every 

 thing to the objects of the church, as the highest 

 moral institution, and of ruling, either in concur- 

 rence with the temporal power, or in preference to 

 it, since the eternal is superior to the temporal, and 

 the objects of the first are more exalted than those 

 of the last. Bellarmin afterwards varied from this 

 opinion, asserting an indirect power of the pope 

 over temporal affairs, as, for instance, the right of 

 reducing within proper limits, for the salvation of 

 his soul, any one who made a bad use of temporal 

 power. The present age, however, believes neither 

 in the direct nor the indirect power of the pope 

 over temporal affairs, and no one any longer de- 

 fends that opinion. As to the spiritual power of 

 the pope, all the true Catholic canonists agree that 

 the supremacy of Peter and his successors (and not 

 only the dignity, but also the jurisdiction) are of 

 divine appointment. That the seat of supreme 

 power is now at Rome, is accidental ; we do not 

 affirm, however, that it can be transferred from 

 Rome without the consent of the whole church. 

 This power is of divine appointment, and certain 

 rights are essential to it; those, for instance, with- 

 out which its object, unity in the church, could not 

 be attained. 



Other rights have been accidentally acquired in 

 the course of time; they have a historical foundation, 

 but they are not necessary to the existence of the 

 supreme power. The former, therefore, are called 

 essential ; the latter, adventitious. 



The essential rights are, I. The right of superin- 

 tendence over the whole church. To this belong, 

 I. The right of requiring from all bishops an ac- 

 count of the state of their churches (jus relationum}- 

 both in the Eastern and Western churches, we see 



a continual acknowledgment of this right in the 

 earliest times; the chuich ordained in tlie council 

 of Trent, that the bishops should, every five years, 

 send to the pope an account of the state of their 

 diocese (relalio de statu); 2. another right is that 

 of sending legates into the different countries of 

 Christendom ; in cases for which the requiring of 

 reports was insufficient, it became necessary that 

 information should be obtained by means of legates 

 in the country and on the spot ; 3. the right of 

 convoking general councils, of holding the presi- 

 dency there, and of ratifying the decrees; 4. the 

 right of pronouncing provisional sentences, in dis- 

 putes on matters of faith. 



Another class of essential rights was, II. The 

 right of superintending the observance of the laws 

 of the church. To this belong, 1. the right of pas- 

 sing new laws, and of enforcing the observation of 

 those which already exist; the bishops have a just 

 right to protest against new laws, and they do not 

 become binding until the whole church has accept- 

 ed them; 2. the right of dispensing with existing 

 laws a right which, as history tells us, was exer- 

 cised beyond what was necessary, but which in 

 general was indispensable, as the laws could not 

 extend to every case ; 3. the right of annulling un- 

 just grants of episcopal dignities (jus devolutionis) 

 an essential right, and one without which the 

 right of superintendence would be of little avail. 

 In reality, this right was also carried too far, and, 

 was not properly limited until modern times. 



The adventitious rights are the following: 1. The 

 right of censorship over all writings relating to the 

 doctrines of the Catholic church; 2. the right of 

 regulating the general liturgy; 3. the right of cano- 

 nization, and of deciding upon the authenticity of 

 the relics of the saints, and the degree of honour 

 due to them ; 4. the right of appointing and abol- 

 ishing festivals ; 5. the right of appointing fasts, 

 and days of humiliation for the whole church ; 6. 

 the right of dispensing from vows (see P'ows), and 

 of declaring the invalidity of oaths obtained by 

 fraud or violence, or of setting them aside, where 

 other circumstances seemed imperiously to require 

 it; 7. the right of being consulted in regard to the 

 alienation of the property of the church ; 8. the 

 right of imposing taxes upon the clergy, or of exact- 

 ing from them other contributions ( jus decimandi); 

 9. the right of raising certain taxes (annates) for 

 the support of the pope and his court (it has pro- 

 duced but a small income in modern times) ; 10. the 

 right of reserving to themselves the appointment to 

 tlie benefices of the church (by mandata de provi- 

 dendo, by expectativa, or by reservationes); 11. the 

 right of establishing and suppressing religious 

 orders ; 12. the right of confirming bishops (and 

 coadjutors) and of deposing them (in a lawful way); 

 13. the right of granting dispensations; 14. the 

 right of conferring the pallium. These are the ad- 

 ventitious rights; they can pass away by time (and 

 many have passed away), as they grew with the 

 lapse of time. We do not mean to say that they 

 can be arbitrarily denied to the pope by individuals. 



Among the rights of the popes, which were for- 

 merly the subject of dispute, were their infallibility 

 and supremacy over the councils, rights which 

 the German canonists no longer maintain. (See 

 Infallibility.') The pope is likewise a temporal 

 monarch, as the bishops of Germany formerly were. 

 The Suites of the Church, like all the states of the 

 middle ages, grew up gradually. A temporal 

 sovereignty was necessary for the pope, as he was 

 to be the organ of the church, the. opponent of 

 thrones, and independent of them. As man is still 

 human, though he wear the tiara, we cannot won- 



