The Pope’s Address to the Sacred College
On the 24th ult. the Pope delivered an address to the Sacred College, which is said to have been unusually violent and bitter. The "great infallible" said that he was thankful for the blessing that had come to him on the occasion of his jubilee, but he complained bitterly of the treatment which the Papacy has received from the Italian Government. He said, "The whole world sees in what a painful situation I am placed." Again in referring to hostile acts of the Italian Government, he said, "One can only ask, How far will they go?" "At the present time," says the dispatch, "a systematic war is being waged. Even the person of the Pope is exposed to the threats of the mob." The fact that the bishops in other lands are laboring for the restoration of the Pope's temporal power was referred to as showing that the interests of the whole Catholic Church are bound up in the cause of the Papacy.