Chapter II. The limits of appeals to the Apostolic See

And as we have come upon the question of appeals, it will not be irrelevant to pursue the subject somewhat farther. For the conduct of them a deeply religious insight is required, so that what was intended to meet a great need may not be rendered useless through abuse. It seems to me that they may even be productive of much mischief if they are not employed with the utmost moderation. Men appeal to you from all over the world. It is a proof of your singular primacy. But if you are wise you will rejoice not in your primacy, but in its fruitfulness. The apostles were told not to rejoice in the spirits being subject to them. Men appeal 1 St. Luke x. 20.

to you, as I have said, and I would the resulting benefit were equal to the necessity. Would that when the oppressed cries the oppressor might have reason to know it ! Would that the wicked in his pride did not consume the poor ! What so fitting as for the oppressed to call upon your name and find a refuge, but that the crafty should not escape ? What on the other hand is so perverse, so unfair, as that the wrong doer should rejoice, and he who has suffered wrong should be harassed for nothing ? You sadly lack humanity if you are not drawn towards a man whose heart is full of grief through the wrong which has been done him, the toilsome journey, and the expenses which he has incurred. But there is a no less sad lack of spirit if you are not roused against him who is partly the direct, partly the indirect, cause of so many calamities. Rouse thee, man of God, when these things happen ; let both your pity and your indignation be stirred. The one you owe to the injured, the other to him who inflicts the injury. Let the former be consoled for his losses, by satisfaction for his wrongs, by putting a stop to the malicious charges ; let the latter be so handled that he may be sorry for having done what he was not afraid to do, and may not laugh at the punishment of the innocent.

them. They are appealed against that they may not presume to punish in the least degree, or check rapine, theft, sacrilege, and crime of that description. They are appealed against that they may be powerless to close the sacred offices against unworthy or infamous persons, or deprive them when admitted. What remedy are you seeking to discover for this disease, so that what was devised as a remedy be not found unto death ? The Lord was zealous for the house of prayer when it was made a den of robbers l ; do you, his minister, disguise the fact that the refuge of the wretched has been made an arsenal of iniquity ? On all sides you may see the oppressed fore stalled, and those who are eager to appeal are not the wronged, but those who wish to do wrong. Here is a mystery. What is the explanation ? It is for you to consider, not for me to study the matter. And do you ask why the victims of these appeals do not come to prove their innocence, and show the malice of their opponents ? I will tell you what the usual answer is — ' We don't care to be troubled for nothing. In the court there are men too ready to favour the appellants and foster appeals. If we are to give way at Rome, it is better to give way at home.' convicting the works of darkness. They are by all means to be cherished and upheld, but only those which are demanded of necessity, not those devised by craft and cunning. All unlawful appeals are of this description ; they do not help in time of need, they only minister to iniquity. They could not fail to become contemptible. How many defendants have in answer to such appeals even abandoned their rights that they might not be worn out by a long and fruitless journey ? Yet there have been more who, unable to endure the loss of their own, have shown but scant respect^ for these unsuitable appeals and for personages bearing great names.

you to thus spare so many men enormous trouble and expense ! But you must take particular care in selecting those whom you trust so much. I might add many useful hints on the same subject ; but I am mindful of my purpose, and, content with giving you an opportunity of making the addition, I pass to other things.