The Madison Daily Leader

IN ALL ITS DETAILS
Something More About the Latest Encyclical of the Pope and the Causes For It.
BIBLE PRONOUNCED INSPIRED In Whole and in Detail, and if Science Is at Variance With Its Teachings, Then It Is Science That Is at Fault--The Controversy May Be Opened as a Result of the Document.
Rome, Dec. 13.--The pontifical encyclical upon Bible studies, some details of which have already been cabled, is attracting considerable attention in ecclesiastical circles from the fact that it is a document of the most capital importance. The Latin text is very extended and does not occupy less than 20 columns of a large sized newspaper. Even from a literary point of view, the encyclical has great value, for it is written in choice Latin of the most elevated tone.

Cause of the Controversy.
In order to appreciate the scope of this encyclical, it is necessary to revert to the causes which have rendered it necessary. This recalls the controversy caused by a pamphlet written by Mgr. d'Hulst, rector of the Catholic institute of Paris, in which it was sustained that the points of the creed book which should be considered as inspired are only those which concern the dogma and the articles of faith. This pamphlet was written in defense of the doctrines which had already been propounded in the same sense by M. Loisy, concerning the teachings of sacred books in the same institute. M. Loisy claimed, in brief, that the object of a church is to teach moral ideas, to turn men towards that which is good, and to conduct him to salvation. In consequence, one can accept as parables, able to contribute to spread of religious truths and of morality, the portions of the Bible which, from the chronological point of view do not agree absolutely with historical truth or scientific truths. What would it matter, for example, for us to state that the deluge could not have happened scientifically under the conditions described in the Bible, so long as the Biblical description had as a result the improvement of man and the spread of morality? It seems useless to give more development to the explanation of this controversy.

Necessary to Say Something.
It is certain that after the noise which it made it was indispensable that the pope should pronounce himself ex cathedra. Doubt had arisen on the points of the Genesis and on more than one of the parts of the Biblical cosmogony, which are no longer in accord with physical truth or with scientific facts recently acquired. The professors of theology experienced the need of hearing an authorized voice which would indicate to them the path to follow. Mgr. d'Hulst was almost accused of heresy, and judged it advisable to go to Rome in order to plead before the pope the cause which he sustained in his pamphlet.

True in Whole and in Detail,
The pope resolved to end the debate by an encyclical; the substance of which has already been cabled. He has dissipated all doubts expressed by the rector of the Catholic Institute of Paris, Mgr. d'Hulst, and by the professor of that institute, M. Loisy, in declaring that the sacred books are inspired in the whole and in the detail, and that if, in certain points, they seem to be out of accord with science, this is either the result that these points themselves have been badly interpreted or that science is mistaken.
It would not be impossible that this encyclical will reopen the controversy instead of closing it.