CIUDAD to - the Catholic Kingdom!

234 CITY OF GOD
and forget to make them fruitful in themselves, how
can they expect them to flow over on the rest of the hu
man family? On this account the infidels are not con
verted on learning of the true faith, although they live
within sight of the princes of the Church, the ministers
and preachers of the Gospel. The Church in our times
is richer in temporal goods, rents and possessions; it
abounds with learned men, great prelacies, and multiplied
dignities. As all these advantages are due to the blood
of Christ, they ought all to be used in his honor and ser
vice, promoting the conversion of souls, supporting his
poor and enhancing the worship and veneration of his
holy name.
246. Is this the use made of the temporal riches of
the Church? Let the captives answer, whether they are
ransomed by the rents of the Church; let the infi
dels testify, whether they are converted, whether here
sies are extirpated at the expense of the ecclesiastical
treasures. But the public voice will loudly proclaim, that
from these same treasures palaces were built, primogeni
tures established, the airy nothingness of noble titles
bought; and, what is most deplorable, it is known to
what profane and vile uses those that succeed in the ec
clesiastical office put the treasures of the Church, how
they dishonor the High-priest Christ and in their lives
depart just as far from the imitation of Christ and the
Apostles, as the most profane men of the world. If the
preaching of the divine word by these ministers is so dead
and without power of vivifying the hearers, it is not the
fault of truth or of the holy Scriptures but it is because
;
of the abuse and of the distorted intentions of those that
preach it. They seek to compromise the glory of Christ
with their own selfish honor and vain esteem, the spirit
ual goods, with base acquisition of stipends; and if those
More Free Items at www.catholickingdom.com