Cardinal Vaughan has published an official synopsis of the Encyclical
just issued by Leo XIII. We have said enough of this document elsewhere, but its main drift is to restate the old teaching of Rome, that Christ gave the headship of his Church to St. Peter, that the Bishops of Rome are the successors of St. Peter, and that, consequently, the Popes have "jurisdiction" over all true Christians. In fact, the first test of a true Christianity is submissiveness to the Popes.. Lord Halifax thinks that this side of the Encyclical has been made unduly prominent in Cardinal Vaughan's synopsis, and in a satirical letter suggests that this was his Eminence's inten- tion, which is probably true. Cardinal Vaughan was not a con- vert, he rather disbelieves in the conversion of England, except,. of course, by divine grace, and he greatly likes pointing out that the doctrines which to Englishmen are most difficult are precisely those upon which the Papacy lays most stress. That is frank, and may even win some admiration for Rome from those who have always thought of the Papacy as a rather tricky power. Nobody can say that the pretensions of the Vatican are concealed in the Encyclical.
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