Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/21

Rh men—that any one can venture in speech and in writing to accuse the Apostolic See of being an obstacle to the civil progress of nations and to the prosperity of Italy. Seeing, therefore, that all the hopes of Italy and of the whole world lie in the power, so beneficent to the common good and profit, wherewith the authority of the Apostolic See is endowed, and in the close union which binds all the faithful of Christ to the Roman Pontiff, We recognize that nothing should be nearer Our heart than how to preserve safe and sound the dignity of the Roman See, and to strengthen ever more and more the union of members with the Head, of the children with their Father.

Wherefore, that We may above all things, and in every possible way, maintain the rights and freedom of this Holy See, We shall never cease to strive that Our authority may meet with due deference; that obstacles may be removed which hamper the free exercise of Our ministry and that we may be restored to that condition of things in which the design of God's wisdom had long ago placed the Roman Pontiffs. We are moved to demand this restoration. Venerable Brethren, not by any feeling of ambition or desire of supremacy, but by the nature of Our office and by Our sacred promise confirmed on oath; and further, not only because this sovereignty is essential to protect and preserve the full liberty of the spiritual power but also because it is an ascertained fact that, when the temporal sovereignty of the Apostolic See is in question, the cause of the public good and the well-being of all human society in general are also at stake. Hence We cannot omit, in the discharge of Our duty, which obliges Us to guard the rights of Holy Church, to renew and confirm in every particular by this Our Letter those declarations and protests which Pius IX., of sacred memory, Our predecessor, on many and repeated occasions published against the seizing of the civil sovereignty and the infringement of rights belonging to the Roman Church. At the same time We address ourselves to princes and chief rulers