The Temporal Power of the Pope
ONE of the dreams of the papacy through all the centuries has been that the church should have two arms,—the spiritual arm, exercised by the cardinals, bishops, and priests direct; and the secular arm, exercised by the rulers of states. She believes that the Church of Rome should have sovereign temporal power as well as sovereign spiritual power. And one of the interesting things in connection with the war in Europe, and especially in connection with the peace discussions, is the prominent place given to the papal power. Of course we must take into account that much of this discussion is colored for the occasion; but whenever you have discussion, you must at least have some basis for it. Prominent in these discussions are such utterances as that all has been done that could "to assure the Vatican that the question of temporal power would be brought forward . . . when the war ended." Another utterance is, "His holiness has even been assured that to any general conference of the powers preparatory to peace, the holy see will be asked to send a representative." Further, "The pope will again reign over the historic states of the church." All such utterances and discussions are exceedingly interesting to the student of prophecy; and equally interesting is the fact that Protestantism is so weakening in its attitude toward the papacy that for the pope again to arise to supreme power will be comparatively easy.