ng
as a part of their faith; or when he tells them that certain things are
sins, they must believe him and avoid what he declares to be sin. He
could not make a mistake in such things. He could not say that Our Lord
taught us to believe and do such and such, if Our Lord did not so teach,
because Our Lord promised to be with His Church for all time, and to
send the Holy Ghost, who would teach it all truth and abide with it
forever. If then the Church could make mistakes in teaching faith and
morals, the Holy Ghost could not be with it, and Our Lord did not tell
the truth--to say which would be blasphemy. But remember, the Pope is
not infallible unless he is teaching faith or morals; that is, what we
believe or do in order to save our souls. If the Holy Father wrote a
book on astronomy, mathematics, grammar, or even theology, he could make
mistakes as other men do, because the Holy Ghost has not promised to
guide him in such things. Nevertheless, whatever the Pope teaches on
anything you may be pretty sure is right. The Pope is nearly always a
very learned man of many years' experience. He has with him at Rome
learned men from every part of the world, so that we may say he has the
experience of the whole world. Other rulers cannot and need not know as
much as the Holy Father, because they have not to govern the world, but
only their own country. Moreover, there is no government in the whole
world as old as the Church, no nation that can show as many rulers
without change; so we may say the Pope has also the experience of all
the Popes who preceded him, from St. Peter down to our present Holy
Father, Pius XI--two hundred and sixty-one popes. Therefore, considering
all this, we should have the very greatest respect for the opinions and
advice of the Holy Father on any subject. We should not set up our
limited knowledge and experience against his, even if we think that we
know better than he does about certain political events taking place in
our country, for we are not sure that we do. The Holy Father knows the
past history of nations; he knows the nature of mankind; he knows that
what takes place in one nation may, and sometimes does, take place in
another under the same circumstances. Thus the Holy Father has greater
foresight than we have, and we should be thankful when he warns us
against certain dangers in politics or other things. He does not teach
politics; but as everything we do is either good or bad, every statesman