recognised that problem from his reading of history or from his instinctive reaction against the presence of the (Roman) Catholic Church, can foretell one either. But presented the problem certainly will be, and in one or other of the many fashions, stable or unstable, more or less tragic, it will have to be solved.”

CHAPTER II

SOVEREIGNTY IN THE CHURCH OF ROME

THE word sovereignty, we are aware, is now relegated by many authorities to the realm of the unreal, and the political changes of the last two centuries make room for doubt whether there is an unlimited sovereignty among the governments of secular States. In accordance with these changes the word has been somewhat discarded in politics, and in his first message to Congress, at a time when State sovereignty was hotly asserted over a part of the country, President Lincoln adroitly alluded to the fact that the word does not appear in the Constitution of the United States nor, as he believed, in that of any of the States. But, whatever may be the present status of the word, or the conception-category or fact-it is one of the terms in which the human mind still thinks, and, in history and political science, we would fare badly without it. The relation of the Roman Church to the modern State cannot be considered without recourse to it, and surely the history of that Church and the State, which has been little else than a conflict of sovereignties, would be meaningless did we exclude it. Bare of it as our American political formularies may be, it is written with emphasis and frequency in all documents up to date wherein the Church of Rome has defined its jurisdiction or asserted its ecumenical powers.

The sovereignty thus referred to is not, in Roman

doctrine, a human or secular institution. Had it been so regarded it might happily have shared the theoretical modification that has fallen to all secular sovereignty. It is in theory a sovereignty created by God in the Supreme Pontiff by which he is made the Vicegerent of God and the Vicar of Christ. It must be borne in mind that in Roman doctrine these titles are fact, not metaphor. They are the clear expressions of the Pope's fundamental sovereignty whereby he, being factually God's appointed representative on earth, must be the medium for the revelation of the Divine will to man. As such, he is necessarily the source under God of all moral truth and of the validity of all political power. Once the premises are admitted these conclusions cannot be evaded. There can in reason be no disagreement between God and his appointed Vicegerent and Vicar on earth in respect to moral truth or the validity of political power. And in a secular State wherein a part of the people accept the Pope as such Vicegerent and Vicar, the State can have for them no authority in matters belonging to morals that is not, in objective truth, subordinate to that of the Pope. "The position of the Roman Pontiff," says Dr. Woywod, "is altogether without parallel in the world. In all other independent human organizations and societies, the form of government is dependent on the will of the majority, but the form of government of the (Roman) Church is fixed by Christ, and thus cannot be changed by men. The authority of the Supreme Pontiff does not come from the (Roman) Church, but from Christ." 1

1 Woywod, vol. i, p. 85 (Canon 219). See also p. 85 (Canon 218),

It may be doubted whether a more concise definition of the word "sovereignty" exists than that given by President Lincoln in the Message alluded to: "a political community without a political superior." " It is supreme power and jurisdiction in government over a territory and the people within it-the State-or over a religious solidarity of people irrespective of territory-the Roman Church.

In the claim that the Roman Church and the State are each such a political sovereignty, with jurisdiction in certain respects over the same matters, lies the crux of their conflict. They are, in Roman theory, the two perfect societies-societates perfecta-Church and State of which political and religious history has had and still has much to say.

p. 86 (Canons 220-221). Dr. Woywod states that all that the Church can do as against the supremacy of the Pope is to determine the manner of electing the Pope. But the Church qua Church does not possess this power, for the laity have no real jurisdiction in the Church, such jurisdiction being confined entirely to the clergy (vide infra p. 159) in strict subordination to the Pope. In view of the powers conceded by Roman Catholic doctrine to the Pope (vide infra chapter VIII) it is inconceivable that any change in the election of the Pope could be made against the will of the Pope.

2 H. J. Raymond, History of the Administration of President Lincoln, p. 146.

3 Sovereignty has been defined as the supreme and supereminent power of doing what pertains to the spiritual and bodily welfare of the members of the State. (Dunning, A History of Political Theories, from Luther to Montesquieu, p. 63). "It is essential to the modern conception of sovereignty that it should be exclusive of any other human superior authority, should be wielded by a determinate person or organization of persons, and should be on the whole habitually obeyed by the bulk of the community." (Century Dict.). The sovereignty claimed by the Pope pertains to "spiritual" welfare, is "exclusive" of "human superior authority", "wielded by a determinate person", and is "habitually obeyed" by the church membership. Cf. Maine, Early History of Institutions. p. 349.

In Roman Catholic theory the religious society in the State was a natural society, until the revelation of Jesus Christ eliminated the conception of a natural religious society and established the Roman Church in its place as the one universal religious and supernatural society. In this view the Roman Church becomes the sole and universal Church, superior by reason of its divine nature and purpose to the State, and exclusive, in objective truth, of the claims of all other religious societies to moral and legal rights.

The two perfect societies are thus defined by Roman Catholic authority:

"The (Roman) Church and the State are both perfect societies, that is to say, each essentially aiming at a common good commensurate with the need of mankind at large and ultimate in a generic kind of life, and each juridically competent to provide all the necessary and sufficient means thereto." 5

This proposition would make of each, the Roman Church and the State, sovereignties in their respective jurisdictions, inasmuch as each claims to enjoy inherently all the necessary and sufficient means to its ends.

4"... in the natural order and by force of reason alone man, though morally obliged to social worship, was morally free to establish a parallel organization for such worship or to merge its functions with those of the State, giving a double character to the enlarged society, namely, civil and religious . . . The development of all this has been given an entirely different turn through the intervention of the Creator in His creation by positive law revealed to man, changing the natural status into a higher one, eliminating natural religious society, and at the last establishing through the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ an universal and unfailing religious society in the (Roman Catholic) Church. This is a supernatural religious society.” C. E., vol. xiv, p. 77 b, c.

5 C. E. vol. xiv, p. 250 d.