G80 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



finally, the shameful and obscene spectacles pre- 

 sented to the eyes of the people, constitute such a 

 state of things as can be tolerated by one who, in 

 consequence of the charge of his apostolate, ought, 

 and most assuredly desires, to ward off so many 

 evils. But, on the contrary, he is deprived of every 

 means and of every assistance, as also of every ex- 

 ercise of power that could enable him to employ the 

 most necessary remedies, even for one of these 

 many evils, and of going to the aid of those souls 

 that are running to their own destruction. 



Such, venerable brethren, is the condition we are 

 forced to endure by the act of those who rule in this 

 holy city ; such is our freedom to exercise the min- 

 istry, the false freedom that is foisted upon us, and 

 which it is impudently asserted that we enjoy. It is 

 the liberty of witnessing the progressive diminution 

 ef order and of the constitution of ecclesiastical 

 things ; of seeing the loss of souls without being 

 able to exert ourselves efficiently to repair so much 

 destruction. In such a state of things, should we 

 not regard as a piece of bitter irony and as another 

 mockery what is so often repeated, viz., that we ought 

 to take measures of conciliation and harmony with 

 the new masters, when there could be no other means 

 of conciliation on our part than that of entirely giv- 

 ing over, not only the sovereign rights of this Holy 

 See, which, at the time of our elevation to this su- 

 preme chair, we received as a sacred and inviolable 

 trust, to be protected and defended, but to deliver 

 besides, and above all. the divine ministry which has 

 been intrusted to us for the salvation of souls, and 

 to abandon the inheritance of Jesus Christ into the 

 hands of an authority of this kind, whose efforts tend 

 to destroy, if it were possible, the very name of the 

 Catholic religion? Now, every one can certainly see 

 in all their manifestness, and under all their phases, 

 the force, the vigor, and the good faith of those pre- 

 tended guaranteeSj by means of which, to deceive the 

 faithful, our enemies have boasted of meaning to se- 

 cure the freedom and dignity of the Roman Pontiff, 

 and which are at the mere mercy of the hostile whims 

 and caprices of the governments on which they de- 

 pend, according to their plans, their purposes, and 

 the pleasure of their whims, to apply, preeerve, in- 

 terpret, and execute. 



Never, most assuredly never, can the Reman Pon- 

 tiff ever be fully master of his freedom and of his 

 power, so long as he remains subjectHo the rulers in 

 his capital. There is no other destiny possible for 

 him in Rome but that of a sovereign or a prisoner ; 

 and there can never be any peace, security, or tran- 

 quillity for the entire Catholic Church so long as the 

 exercise of the supreme ecclesiastical ministry is at 

 the mercy of the passions of party, the caprice of 

 governments, the vicissitudes of political elections, 

 and of the projects and actions of designing men, 

 who will not hesitate to sacrifice justice to their own 

 interests. 



But do not imagine, venerable brethren, in the 

 midst of so many evils that afflict and weigh us down, 

 that our spirit is broken, nor that the confidence with 

 which we await the decrees of the Almighty and 

 Eternal God is about to depart from us. Indeed, 

 ever since the day on which, after the usurpation of 

 our states, we made up our mind to reside in Rome 

 rather than go and seek for peaceful hospitality in 

 foreign countries, and to keep vigilant guard over the 

 tomb of St. Peter, for the defense of Catholic inter- 

 ests, we have never ceased, with God's help, to com- 

 bat for the triumph of His cause, and we continue to 

 'do so everyday, nowhere yielding to the enemy save 

 when repulsed by force, so as to preserve the little 

 that yet remains after the assaults of robbers and 

 perverters. Where other assistance wherewith to de- 

 fend the rights of the Church and of religion failed 

 us, we had recourse to our voice and our remon- 

 strances. You have seen this, yourselves, you who 

 have shared the same dangers and undergone the 

 same afflictions that we have. You have, in effect, 



often heard the words we publicly pronounced, either 

 to condemn new assaults and protest against the ever- 

 increasing violence of our enemies, to instruct the 

 faithful by timely warnings, lest they be deceived by 

 the snares of the wicked and by a sort of feigned re- 

 ligion, and that they might not allow themselves to 

 be caught by the perverse doctrines of false brethren. 

 May it please God that they, upon whom devolves the 

 duty, and for whom it is of the greatest advantage to 

 sustain our authority and energetically to defend our 

 cause, the most just and holy of all causes, may at 

 last hearken to our voice and turn their eyes toward 

 us 1 For is it possible for their wisdom to ignore the 

 fact that it is in vain to look for the true tnd solid 

 prosperity of natione, for peace and order among peo- 

 ples, and for stability ol power among those who 

 wie!d the sceptre of authority, if the Church, which 

 maintains through the bond of religion all justly 

 constituted societies, is mocked and insulted with 

 impunity, and if its supreme head cannot exercise 

 lull freedom in the power of his ministry and con- 

 tinues subject to the will of another power? 



We rejoice, most assuredly, at that most happy 

 fact that our words have been most cheerfully re- 

 ceived and with much profit by the whole Catholic 

 people united to us by bonds of filial piety. 1 he con- 

 tinual and reiterated evidences we have received cf 

 their affection are such, indeed, that they reflect great 

 glory upon them selves and upon the Church, and lead 

 us to hope that brighter days are in store for this 

 seine Church and for this Apostolic See. And, in- 

 deed, it is difficult for us to find words sufficiently 

 adequate to express the joy and consolation we have 

 experienced, although deprived of all tangible suc- 

 cess, when admiring the beautiful movements of 

 minds and the valiant efforts which, springing forth 

 spontaneously, have daily extended themselves even 

 to the most remote countries, and whose aim it is to 

 take in hand the cause and the defense of the dignity 

 of the Roman Pontificate and of our humility. 



The generous subsidies that pour in upon us from 

 all parts of the earth, tl at we may provide for the 

 urgent necessities of this Holy See, atd the frequent 

 Pilgrimages of our children which flock frcm all 

 countries to this Vatican Palace, to shew their devc- 

 tion to the visible Head of the Church, are such ev- 

 idences of the fidelity of their hearts that it is alto- 

 gether impossible for us to offer Divine Goodness 

 an adequate evidence of our gratitude. We would, 

 moreover, that all might understand and regard as 

 a salutary teaching the inward force and true sig- 

 nificance of these Pilgrimages, which we see multi- 

 plying so much, just at the very time when this 

 Roman Pontificate is the object of such bitter as- 

 saults. Because these Pilgrimages are not a mere 

 manifestation of the love ar.d piely ot the Faithful 

 toward us, but they especially afford, in a particular 

 manner, a manifest proof of the cares ana sorrows 

 which offtict the l;earts of our children because their 

 common Father is in a situation entirely abnormal 

 and in no manner becoming to him. And this anx- 

 iety and uneasiness, far from diminishing, will go 

 on "increasing until the day when the Pastor of trie 

 Universal Church will be restored, at last, to the 

 possession of his full and genuine freedom. 



In the mean time, venerable brethren, we desire 

 nothing so much ns to see our words extend beyond 

 the confines of this Hnll to the uttermost ends of the 

 earth, that they may benr witness to the ef ntiments 

 of our heart toward the Faithful of the whole world, 

 in gratitude for the admirable evidences of love ana 

 of filial devotion which they unceasingly display 

 toward us. We desire, therefore, to thr.nk them for 

 the pious liberality with which, not unfrequently, 

 forgetting their own necessities, they come to our 

 assistance, fully confident that everything they give 

 to the Church is given to God. We desire also to 

 congratulate them upon the magnanimity and cour- 

 age with which they disregard the anger and rail- 

 leries of the impious, and to tell them thnt we are 



