The Purpose of the Papacy (Paperback)

John S Vaughan was a British Roman Catholic bishop. Vaughan spent three years lecturing and performing missionary work in Australia, then began parochial work in London, and in 1898 became canon of Westminster. The Purpose of the Papacy was published in 1910. From Peter to Pius X the Papacy has never been in the situation it finds itself today. Mass communication makes it possible for the Holy See to communicate with almost all of the clergy in a matter of hours. An excerpt from the book reads, We can trace its course, from its earliest inception in apostolic times, and then in its development age after age, down to our own day: from Peter to Gregory, from Gregory to Leo, and from Leo to Pius X., now gloriously reigning. We refer to the mystical (and one might almost say the miraculous) path trodden by the Popes, each Pontiff carrying in turn, and then handing on to his successor, the glorious torch of divine truth. Though clouds may gather and thunders may roll, and tempests may rage, and though the surrounding darkness may grow deeper and deeper, that supernatural light has never failed, nor grown dim, nor refused to shed its beams and to illuminate the way.