Increasing Power of the Papacy
By L. A. S.
While the meaning of the increasing power and prestige of the papacy is clear only to those who know from inspired prophecy that we are living in the closing days of time, the fact that this is true of the papacy is apparent to many who are candid enough to admit the truth. We have but to quote the testimony of these from time to time to present abundant evidence that the signs of the last days, as regards this world-deluding power, are being fulfilled. Here, for example, is a noteworthy utterance on the subject by the Northwestern Christian Advocate (Methodist) of February 18. Under the heading, “Papal Power in England,” the Advocate says:— In an editorial in the issue of January 21 we quoted from Dr. Kolde, of Erlangen, an eminent church historian, his statement that few people, and only those who study modern facts in the light of church history, have any appreciation of the phenomenal advance made by the Catholic Church during the last decades, especially as a power in the political world and in the conquests of new spheres of thought and life. It is by no means a pleasant thing for the Protestants to contemplate, but it is an undeniable fact that not since the days of Innocent III has the papal system unfolded such splendor and power as in the present time. Not the Catholic princes, but rather the Protestant rulers are the ones who are trying to surpass each other in honoring the shrewd sage now occupying the throne in the Vatican, although it is this same sage who has repeatedly called the Reformation a “pest.” In confirmation of these statements of Dr. Kolde, we quote the following editorial from the English Churchman and St. James Chronicle, which shows the growth of papal power in England: “The occult influence of the papacy, exercised on all our institutions in both church and state, is becoming increasingly and ominously potent. An iron hand, gloved in velvet, has been laid upon every department of the British government, and the will of him who, from his Vatican throne, claims emperors and kings, with their subjects, for his vassals, is mysteriously dominating the policy of our statesmen, and using them for the furtherance of far-reaching evil purposes. . . .” “Roman Catholic influence, it has already been pointed out, has of late been significantly traceable in appointments made in connection with the foreign office. A papal spell appears to bind the chief authorities of the department, and so successfully has the Vatican intrigue been prosecuted, that not a few of the king’s ambassadors to foreign courts are papists, whose supreme allegiance is claimed by a foreign priest and potentate. King Edward’s representatives at the courts of Constantinople, The Hague, Vienna, Lisbon, and Morocco are Roman Catholics. The latest similar appointment made is that of Sir Francis Bertie to the court of the king of Italy.” Mr. Arnold White, says this authority, stated, in an article recently contributed to an English journal, that “the influence of the Duke of Norfolk, the head of the English Roman Catholics, has now become supreme in the foreign office, and is exercised in favor of Catholics rather than Englishmen.” “This condition of affairs,” says the English Churchman, “is very serious, when it is remembered that the Duke of Norfolk not long since presented an address to the pope in which he avowed his desire for the restoration of Leo’s temporal power—an open insult to the lawful king of Italy, an ally of the king of England. It certainly is highly unsatisfactory that the selection of an ambassador to the court of Rome should have fallen on a Roman Catholic, who, presumably, is a persona grata with the duke. The able article to which we have referred closes with the sentence: ‘The appointment of Sir Francis Bertie is the last proof of the Duke of Norfolk’s control of foreign office appointments.’ When we take into account the exceptional confidences affecting international politics involved in the position and duties of a British ambassador, it is an appalling contemplation that the accredited representative of the court of St. James at the Quirinal should be exposed to the least animadversion.” The Advocate adds that “while the power of the papacy is steadily declining in Roman Catholic countries, it is using every available means to secure power in the three great Protestant nations—the United States, England, and Germany6to force the government to permit the return of the Jesuits; and the accession of the Philippines, with its seven or eight millions of nominal Roman Catholics added to the population of the United States, is furnishing the papacy an opportunity for strengthening its power in this country, of which it is taking advantage. The significance of the recent movement on the part of the Vatican is not appreciated by American statesmen, but they will awake to the fact before long. Already there is a general and increasing demand for the support of the Roman Catholic parochial schools in this country from public taxes, and the Vatican authorities have practically declared that they must control the public schools of the Philippines. For American statesmen to ignore these facts is to shut their eyes to some of the most serious problems with which this nation must deal. What may be in store for the American people, if they are not watchful, is evidenced by the recent enactment of the new education law in England, which puts the education of a large portion of the children of the nonconformist churches in the keeping of the priests of the Roman Catholic and Established churches, many of whom will do their utmost to destroy the faith of nonconformist children in the church and teaching of their fathers.”