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Show 1 f "rmMMi SYILS : Translated from the Italian of L'Falconl. THE PAPAL SYLLABUS. I With a refutation of the Errors which it condemns. Translated from the Italian of L. Fal- : corn. ! Twenty-eighth Error. "It is not ! lawful for Bishops to publish even Let- tens Apostolic without the permission 1 of government." j Refutation. When the Pope ad- , dresses the Christian world by means ; of Letters Apostolic, he sometimes in- j culcates a truth, sometimes enjoins ;he i performance of an external act. that j may possibll conflict with the ordi- . nances by which ruiers provide for the j temporal welfare of their subject:. n j such cases the supreme ruler of the Church does not desire to secure s-pir-itual advantage at the expense of an unnecessary ogstruction of the social or political machinery. Hence it is that the Roman Pontiffs have frequently fre-quently entered into arrangements with princes with a view of se'ttring a due observance of their own instructions without detriment to the interests of others. And although it has never been J conceded that Catholic governments have of themselves any right to dispute dis-pute pontifieial decrees, still whenever they manifested a dt-sire to treat with the Pope, as children with their father, they have always found him most indulgent in-dulgent and ready to instruct the Bishops to suspend the execution of those decrees until such time as they could arrive at an understanding with the civil power and thus avoid all possibility pos-sibility of a collision. It has befn customary cus-tomary to make thes,? concession to Catholic princes but only in relation to those instructions which refer to purely pure-ly external acts and the Immediate execution of which might have a tendency ten-dency to disturb public order in those matters lying directly and properly in the sphere of its competency. When the ordinances of the Pope relate solely to the conscience of the individual, or to the internal life of the family or to the rites and practices of religion, within with-in the temple, he will tolerate no delay, de-lay, will await no placet or exequatur from temporal rulers; in all such matters mat-ters they are wholly incompetent; they are but external Bishops as Constantine the Great said of himself, that is. as obedient children of the Church they must see to it that the truths: which she proclaims shall be respected, and that the commands, of him who stands at the helm of Teter's bark shall be obeyed in their respective states. They should be ready, when required, to lend their assistance, but only when re quired: otherwise they would cauws confusion because in that bark everything every-thing is regulated in accordance with the rules of order, and appropriate Ju-tj,.s, Ju-tj,.s, are aligned to all. To maintain, th contrary is to despise the ordinance ordi-nance of Jesus Christ. Our Divine S.tvior did not clothe civil government 3 with the mission of pre:iehing the truth and teaching th- nations: He allotted this task to Peter and to the other Apc-stles; nor did He- seek to secure for them the good will of temporal rulers; He bade them go to the uttermost utter-most bounds of the earth in virtue of that limitlofri power which was given Him by His Father in Heaven. "All power is given, m in Heaven an l oa Earth: going, therefore, teach ye all nations." They who teach otherwise, cither d not believe in the promise made b;.- Christ that He and the Holy "ihost wouM abide with His Church forever. Kcce ego vobiscuni. tum usque ad eon sum mat rone ry saeculi Spiri- tUf San'-tu doeebit vos omnMn veri- table a pud vos manebit et in void:' erif. or they do not beii- ve II ;m adequate to the task of instructing a:id guiding Hi.- Church: or finally th.-y believe be-lieve Hisi .l.xtrines to be prejudicial to the interests of states. There are thei blasphemUd of heretics h-cause- they in reality constitute only so many calumnies uttered against the sacred name of Jt-sus Christ. But let thos.- persons have a cart- how they meddi--! with the teachings of the Church. Let them beware lest, in extending their hands) towards a tree, forbidden them, to touch, they should pluck only fruit; V which should prove mortal to themselves. them-selves. The tree was nfided to th I special keeping of Peter: he alone must i nouris-h and protect it; he alone can, gather from it fruit.-! of eternal life for ; the nations of the earth. The pastoral i rod belongs exclusively to I'eter, an l in no way to kings or governments. He feeds the flock of Christ and confirms con-firms its wavering members; wherever enters, uncalled, within that sphere of his authority, is a wolf that devastates devas-tates smulsi and steals them, from their true sihepherd: qui no intral per ostium ille fur est e-t latro. Let princes and i government? cease, therefore, to desire to constitute themselves judges of the ! doctrines taught by Christ and Peter. Let them beg'.n to appreciate the fact j that they are only members of the laity, without voice or authority in the di- : rection of spiritual affairs and let thent ' remember the terrible fate of Ananias, j Caiphas. Pilate ar.d all the self-consti- ! tuted judges of the Church in every 1 age of her history! |