teenth is the leader of the Church
militant. This seems to be the reason why he has more than once been
accused of inconsistency in his actions, notably in his instructions to
French Catholics, as compared with the position he has maintained
towards the Italian government. People seem to forget that, whereas the
question of temporal power is deeply involved in the latter case, it has
nothing whatever to do with the former, and as this question is the one
most often brought up against the papacy and discussed in connection
with it by people who seem to have very little idea of its real
meaning, it may be as well to state here at once the Pope's own view of
it.

'The temporary sovereignty is not absolutely requisite for the existence
of the papacy, since the Popes were deprived of it during several
centuries, but it is required in order that the pontiff's independence
may display itself freely, without obstacles, and be evident and
apparent in the eyes of the world. It is the social form, so to say, of
his guardianship, and of his manifestation. It is necessary--not to
existence, but to a right existence. The Pope who is not a sovereign is
necessarily a subject, because (in the social existence of a monarchy)
there is no mean term between subject and sovereign. A Pope who is a
subject of a given government is continually exposed to its influence
and pressure, or at least to influences connected with political aims
and interests.'

[Illustration: RAPHAEL'S "TRANSFIGURATION"]

The writer from whom these lines are quoted comes to the natural and
logical conclusion that this is not the normal position which should be
occupied by the head of the Church. I may remark here that the same view
is held in other countries besides Italy. The Emperor of Russia is the
undisputed head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Queen Victoria occupies,
by the British Constitution, almost exactly the same position towards
the Anglican Church. In practice, though certainly not in theory, it is
the evident purpose of the young German Emperor, constitutionally or
unconstitutionally, to create for himself the same dominant pontifical
position in regard to the Churches of the German Empire. It seems
somewhat unjust, therefore, that the Popes, whose right to the
sovereignty of Rome was for ages as undisputed as that of any King or
Emperor in Europe, though secondary in itself to their ecclesiastical
supremacy, should be blamed for protesting against wh