The Archive · 1939

Rulers of the Church

If you believe the wild exaggera-lions of hate-inspired historians, you will have to believe the popes a historical collection of humanity's leading gangsters, with the present incumbent Public Enemy No. 262. Those whose delight is to browse through the eans of history smelling per out the scandals of every Tartuffe—jand Elmer Gantry—know all about the four or at most six unworthy successors of Peter. But how many call attention to the fact that of his 261 Successors, eighty-three or almost a third, have been raised to the altars of the Church because of their heroic sanctity? What other regime, what other church, can claim so/absolutely -'brilliant a record of sanctity in its

Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.

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