ROMAN CATHOLICISM 291 



judgment sitting as the teacher of the one, universal Church. 

 The Pope cannot add to the deposit of faith or subtract from 

 it.. But when there arises among the teachers of the Church 

 a controversy which alleges on the one hand that a certain 

 doctrine is of the faith, and on the other hand that it is not 

 of the faith, the decision of the Pope, sitting in his capacity 

 as the Chief Bishop and Teacher of the whole Universal 

 Church, is unalterable and conclusive. The word "infalli- 

 bility" means that his decision will not fail to be a correct one, 

 as carrying out the promise of Our Lord : "Simon, Simon, I 

 have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not" (Luke, xxii, 31- 

 32), under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, "the Spirit of 

 truth, who will teach you all truth" (John, xvi, 13). 



The Catholic Church comes immediately into contact with 

 the world through her preaching and her sacraments. In these 

 she knows neither race, color nor civil condition — all sorts and 

 conditions of men are alike at her shrines. She has been 

 called the Church of the poor and the ignorant; well, so she 

 is; they are the very kind of persons with whom Our Lord 

 associated. She has been reproached for cultivating the rich 

 and the powerful; but He also was the honored guest and 

 associate of rich men and rulers. She has as many learned 

 men as any other organization in the world, but their learning 

 is for the supreme end of saving souls and not for earning 

 distinction as erudite scholars. The prince, the savant and 

 the beggar meet together at her altar rail ; one can find it here 

 in this very city, or in any of the stateliest shrines of the old 

 world; and I myself have taken communion in a resplendent 

 church, kneeling at the altar rail between a negro and a long- 

 shoreman, and in a magnificent cathedral a Bedouin of the 

 desert has entered and worshipped beside me. Within those 

 hallowed walls we were all equal citizens of the Kingdom of 



God. 



Upon this great body of worshippers the Church brings to 

 bear her great sources of dynamic power — the Sunday Mass, 

 with its accompanying sermon or familiar instruction, the 

 confessional and Holy Communion. These are the main bat- 

 teries of the Church in her warfare against sin. They are 

 the means on which she relies to build up strong spiritual 

 lives in her children. The other sacraments are all needful, 

 but she puts these at the forefront. 



