| OCR Text |
Show THE POPE'S ADDRESS. His Reply to Cardinal Cavallari on the Occasion of the Conferring Insignia on Seven Newly Created Cardinals. We accept with the warmest satisfaction the feelings of devotion and of filial love towards I's and towards this Apostolic See which you have expressed ex-pressed in your own name and in that of our dearly beloved colleagues for having been called to ' the honor of the Purple. But .while we accept your thanks we feel bound to say that the striking virtues vir-tues that adorn you, the works of zeal yon have done and the other notable services you have rendered ren-dered to the church in different, fields, made you worthy to be numbered on the roll of Our Sacred Senate. And we rejoice, not in the hope merely but in the certainty, that now that you are clothed with this new dignity you will' continue as in the past to consecrate your intelligence and your strength to assisting the Roman Pontiff in the government of the church. If the Roman Pontiffs have always needed the aid of others for the fulfillment of their -mission, this need is now more keenly felt than ever on account ac-count of the most critical conditions of the times in which we live and of the continual assaults that are being made on the church by her enemies. Do not think, Venerable Brothers, that we are now alluding to the events of France, painful as these are, for they are largely recompensed by consolations con-solations very dear to I's by the wonderful unity of that venerable Episcopate, by the generous disinterestedness disin-terestedness of the clergy and by tho touching firmness firm-ness of the Catholics, willing as they are to face any sacrifice for the preservation of the faith and for the glory of their country; once again it will be found that persecutions serve but to bring out and to hold up to the admiration of all the virtues of the persecuted, and arc at most like the waves of the sea which breaking themselves in the storm on the rocks, purify them of the mire that haply may have sullied them. And 3-011 are aware, venerable brothers, that for this reason the church had no fear whe i the edicts of the Caesars intimated to the early Christians that they must either abandon the worship of Jesus Christ, or die; because. ;. the.bl ood. of the martyrs was the seed of new adherents to the faith. - But the' torment of war that makes her cry out: Erce in pace amaritudo mea amarissima, is that which arises from the' mental aberation which makes men misinterpret her teachings and sends echoing through the world the cry of revolt for which .the rebels were driven out of heaven. And rebels, only too truly, are those who profess and propagate under deceitful forms monstrous errors er-rors on the evolution of dogma, on a return to the pure gospel, which means a gospel, ns they put it. stripped of the explanations of theology, of the definitions of the councils, of the maxims of aseet-k aseet-k - ; on emancipation from the church, but after a litW fashion, by avoiding rebellion so as not to be cut off. but at the same time by refusing subjection in order not to retain their own convictions, and finally on the necessity of falling in with the times in speaking, in writing in preaching a charity without with-out faith, and full of tenderness for infidels, but which unhappily opens to all the road to eternal ruin. You see clearly. O Venerable Brothers, whether we. who have to defend with all our strength the deposit that has been nitrusted to us, have not reason to be troubled before this attack which is not one heresy but the summary and the poison of all heresies, "which tends to shake the foundations of the faith and to annihilate Christianity. Yes to annihilate Christianity. For the Sacred Scripture has ceased to be for these modern heretics the sure fount of all the truths appertaining to the faith, and is no more than an ordinary book; for them inspiration is limited to dogmatic doctrines, and these understood after their own fashion, and differs but little from the poetical inspiration of Aeschilus and Homer. The legitimate interpreter of the Bible is the church, but the church in subjection sub-jection to the rules of the so-called critical science, which dominates- and enslaves theology. Finally, for tradition everything is relative and subject to changes, with the result that the authority of the IIolv Fathers is reduced to zero. And all these and. a thousand other errors are propagated in pamphlets, reviews, ascetical works and even in novels, and so wrapped up in ambiguous terms and nebulous forms as always to leave an opening for defense so as not to incur an open condemnation and yet be calculated to take the unwary in their toils.' We count greatly, therefore, Venerable Brothers, on your efforts. Whenever you with your suffragan bishops know of these sowers of cockles in your regions re-gions unite, with Us in combating them, let Us know of the danger to which souls are being exposed ex-posed by them, denounce their books to the sacred congregations of Rome, and in the meantime make use of the faculties granted you by, the sacred cannons can-nons to condemn them solemnly, in deference to the most solemn obligation you have undertaken to heip the Pope in the government of the church, to combat com-bat error and to defend the truth even to the shedding shed-ding of your blood. For the rest. Beloved Sons, We trust in the Lord who will give us in due time the help we need; and may the Apostolic Blessing which you have invoked, in-voked, descend copiously upon you, upon the clergy and the people of your diocese, and above all upon the venerable bishops and the beloved sons- who have graced this solemn ceremouy by their presence, and upon your relatives and theirs, and be to each and all a source of the choicest graces and the sweetest consolations. |
