The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES. 165subsequent Emperors. Hence the patrimony ofthe Roman Pontiffs soon became very considerable.And Voltaire himself tells us that the wealth whichthe Popes acquired was spent not in satisfying theirown avarice and ambition, but in the most laudableworks of charity and religion. They expended theirpatrimony, he says, in sending Missionaries to evangelize Pagan Europe, in giving hospitality to exiledBishops at Rome, and in feeding the poor. And Imay here add that succeeding Popes have generously imitated the munificence of the early Pontiffs.An event occurred in the reign of Constantinewhich paved the way for the partial jurisdictionwhich the Roman Pontiffs commenced to enjoy overRome, and which they continued to exercise, tillThethey obtained full sovereignty in the days of KingPepin of France.In the year 327, the Emperor Constantine transferred the seat of empire from Rome to Constantinople, the present capital of Turkey. The city wasnamed after Constantine, who founded it. A subsequent Emperor appointed a Governor or Exarch torule Italy,who resided in the city of Ravenna. Thisnew system, as is manifest, did not work well.Emperor of Constantinople referred all matters tohis deputy in Ravenna, and the deputy was moreanxious to conciliate the Emperor than to satisfythe people of Rome. Italy and Rome were thenin a political condition analogous to that in whichthe Irish have been placed for several centuries