municating him and separating him from the Church, and furthermore delivers him to the secular tribunal to be exterminated thereby from the world by death." 24

That became the law of the Church, which, wrapping itself in a mantle of theoretical impeccability, and piously citing St. Augustine, St. Ambrose and St. Leo 25 against the shedding of blood, passed the "heretic" on to the State for extermination. The significant point is that the physical sanction of the shedding of blood was thus in reality secured for the sovereignty of the Church and its laws. The Catholic Encyclopedia states that the "present-day legislation (of the Roman Church) against heresy has lost nothing of its ancient severity; but the penalties on heretics are now only of the spiritual order; all the punishments which require the intervention of the secular arm have fallen into abeyance." 26

24 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Part II, second part, p. 154. Cf also C. E., vol. viii, p. 35 a. Even in the Inquisition the Church condemned the heretic and the State executed him. The Church, however, itself applied torture in the trial of heretics and it was authorized by Pope Innocent IV in the Bull Ad exstirpanda (1252), renewed by Popes Alexander IV, Clement IV, Nicholas IV, Boniface VIII. (C. E., vol. viii, p. 34 b)—a clear instance of the employment of force in its cruelest aspect by the Church.

25 C. E., vol. viii, p. 27 d.

26 C. E., vol. vii, p. 260 d.

"Abeyance" is commonly defined as "a state of suspended action or existence, or temporary inactivity." Century Dictionary.

The instruction given by the Brothers of the Christian Schools on Papal penalties and power will be found in their Exposition of Christian Doctrine, Part I, Dogma, p. 480 (see infra p. 267 note 22), from which we quote:

"211. Which are the temporal penalties that the Pope may inflict? "Public penances, fines, exile, detention, etc.

The claim of the Roman Church to sovereignty has been asserted by its highest authorities. As far back as 1250 Pope Innocent IV said, "Christ established not only a pontifical but a royal sovereignty (principatus)." " 27 "We teach and declare," said the Vatican Council of 1870, "that by the appointment of our Lord the Roman Church possesses a sovereignty . . ." 28 "The Almighty . . . " said Pope Leo XIII in his

"212. Which are the marks of the Pope's power in the (Roman) Church?

"The Pope's power is: 1st. A plenary power. In things of ecclesiastical right, there is nothing that the Pope may not do when necessity demands it;

2d. A supreme power. The Pope has no superior here below; he is subject to God alone;

3d. A universal power, extending to all, pastors and faithful; 4th. An ordinary power, that is, a power inherent in the very dignity of Sovereign Pontiff, and not an accidental power derived by delegation or commission;

5th. An immediate power, which he may exercise over all, either in his own person directly, or through delegates appointed by him. (Vatican Council, Constit. Pastor Eternus, chap. iii).

"As the Pope is the vicar of Christ, the head of the visible Church, the successor of St. Peter, he has authority over all the Church. . . . All the members must look upon him as their father. His word must be considered as the instrument which God employs to make known His will. (Saint J. B. de la Salle)."

...

27 Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. xiv, p. 580 c (Codex epist. Vatic. No. 4957, 49 quoted in Raumer, Hohenstaufen, iv, 78). The statement in full is as follows: "The emperor doubts and denies that all men and all things are subject to the See of Rome. As if we who are judges of angels are not to give sentence on earthly things. . . . The ignorant assert that Constantine first gave temporal power to the See of Rome; it was already bestowed by Christ Himself, the true King and Priest, as inalienable from its nature and absolutely unconditional. Christ established not only a pontifical but a royal sovereignty (principatus) and committed to blessed Peter and his successors the empire both of earth and heaven, as is sufficiently proved by the plurality of the keys."

28 Constitution Pastor Eternus; see infra, appendix I, p. 285.

Encyclical Immortale Dei (1885) "has appointed the charge of the human race between two powers, the ecclesiastical and the civil, the one being set over divine, the other over human things. Each in its kind is supreme . . " 29 In the Encyclical Letter Sapientiæ Christiana (1890), on the Chief Duties of Christians as Citizens, Pope Leo XIII said:

"But the supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore, requires, together with a perfect accord in the one faith, complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman Pontiff, as to God Himself. This obedience should, however, be perfect, because it is enjoined by faith itself, and has this in common with faith, that it cannot be given in shreds;-nay, were it not absolute and perfect in every particular, it might wear the name of obedience, but its essence would disappear." 30

Again, the same Pope said: "The (Roman) Church alike and the State, doubtless, both possess individual sovereignty

99 31

"The (Roman) Catholic Church possesses, by divine institution, the power of jurisdiction or govern

ment." 32

Those who have taught that "coercive jurisdiction of every kind belongs to the civil power alone, and sought to restrict the (Roman) Church to the use of 29 Infra, appendix III, p. 310.

30 G. E. L., p. 193.

31 G. E. L., p. 197.

32 S. Woywod, A Practical Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, vol. i, p. 75 (Canon 196).

The Roman Church has expressly decreed that it has "received from God power, not merely to direct by counsel and persuasion, but further to command by laws, and to coerce and compel the delinquent and contumacious by external and salutary penalties. . . . Nor may it be held that the pope's laws must exclusively concern spiritual objects, and their penalties be exclusively of a spiritual character."

..

The Roman Church ". . . is not dependent on the permission of the State for her existence, but holds her charter from God."

66

there is a fallacy in the assertion that the (Roman) Church is a spiritual society; it is spiritual as regards the ultimate end to which all its activities are directed, but not as regards its present constitution nor as regards the means at its disposal." 33

"As a perfect society she (the Roman Church) has a right to all those means which are necessary for the attaining of her end. These, however, will include far more than spiritual objects and spiritual penalties alone; for the (Roman) Church requires certain material possessions, such, for example, as churches, schools, seminaries, together with the endowments necessary for their sustentation." 34

"The (Roman) Church has the right to preach the Gospel everywhere, willing or nilling any state author

33 C. E., vol. xii, p. 266 b, c.

34 C. E., vol. xii, p. 266 c. The claim of this right is conspicuous in the present controversy between the Roman Church and Mexico.

ity, and so to secure the rights of its members among the subjects of any civil polity whatever." 35

The Second Council of Lyons (1274), as confirmed by the Vatican Council of 1870, declared:

"The holy Roman Church enjoys supreme and full primacy and princedom over the whole Catholic Church, which it truly and humbly acknowledges that it has received with the plenitude of power from our Lord Himself in the person of Blessed Peter, Prince and Head of the Apostles, whose successor the Roman Pontiff is ..." 36

The following four propositions are condemned by Pope Pius IX in his Syllabus:

that "the (Roman) Church has no innate and legitimate right of acquiring and possessing property"; that "the (Roman) Church has not the power of using force, nor has she any temporal power, direct or indirect";

that "the teaching of those who compare the Sovereign Pontiff to a prince, free and acting in the universal (Roman) Church, is a doctrine which prevailed in the Middle Ages";

that "in the case of conflicting laws enacted by the two powers, the civil law prevails." 37

The Catholic Encyclopedia 38 states:

"The (Roman) Church has the right to govern her

35 Ibid., vol. xiv, p. 251 c.

36 See appendix I, p. 288, infra

37 See appendix II, p. 295-297, infra

38 Vol. xiv, p. 251 c, d.