BELGIUM AND THE PAPACY.

Evening Star, Issue 16195, 17 August 1916, Page 9

BELGIUM AND THE PAPACY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—l thought at first that the Rev. Mr Jenkin's complaint was over ihe Pope's refusal to sit in judgment on the rights and wrongs of the war, but I found that was not so. Then it seemed that the trouble was over the Pope's failure to champion the can kg of his Catholic subjects in Belgium, and so I explained that there, was no failure. Cardinal Meroior still looks up to Benedict XV. as the warmest and best friend of his country, the Belgian people send an official message of gratitude, and a Minister of the Belgian Government declares that the Pope " could go no further." Seeing that all these—the'best informed of tho facts and the most closely concerned—are satisfied with the Pope's championship of their cause, it seems to me that thero is some great sense of proportion lacking in ono who at this end of the world voices a complaint. But it is now urged that the Pope's power is ineffective. I quite admit that the achievements of the Pope so far have not been very great; but is that surprising? Tho atmosphere of war does not lend itself to the exerciso of moral influence—it is a question of munitions and men almost every time —and yet the pope wields no other power. A preacher of the Gospel doesn't get much of a hearing in. the turmoil of a political election, and when men are busy pounding one another to death they do not pay much attention to the preacher of the moral law, even though he be one whom they would at once obey in their Calm senses. But that surely is no fault of the Pope's. I may add that, though the Sovereign Pontiff so far has not succeeded in achieving anything very remarkable, no other Power has protested as he has done against tho violation of Belgium's neutrality or the barbarous" features of German submarine warfare; no other Power has achieved or even attempted anything. " The Pope's successes," a well-infornwd writer said last year, "have been obtained in face of enormous difficulties; and even where he has failed he has retained the confidence of all parties. Hitherto the Vatican has been the only audience chamber where negotiations between the belligerents could be conducted fruitfully, just because the impartiality of the Vatican was above suspicion, and its motives conspicuously disinterested and sincere." ,

Again, it is urged that the Pope's actions should be guided by this principle: " The duty of a religious leader must be discharged irrespective of consequences." I cannot for a moment subscribe to that dog-untie statement, put in that bald way. If I may speak of myself, I may mention that in the religious .instruction it is my duty to give to others I feel strictly bound to consider the consequences botli of what I Lav© to say (in certain delicate matters) and of how I say it. Does not every teacher act in the same way, and did not the greatest Teacher of all, even when proclaiming the greatest truth that ever came to the world, take good heed of the consequences? He did nob at onco tell the world openly of His divinity, for that would have entailed disastrous consequences—the utter refusal of/ any Jew to listen to Him at all. So, I take it, the supreme moral power in the world of .to-day must act. The Popo must and will do justice, but it must be justice to' all, even to the Germans; and if his action is to have weight, it must have all the appearance of justice, even in their eyes. The plain man in the street thinks that the convicted criminal doesn't deserve much mercy, but even to him a Judge in our country is just, and tries to appear just. If, tben, the Pope's verdict is to. be taken by mankind as impartial, it must be formed only after proper judicial investigation of the facts. Is that possible as a general rule in wartime? The German papers have been full during the past two years of the atrocities committed by our soldiers in Europe and our prison authorities in England. What would we think if Benedict XV. wero to pronounce against us without hearing our side? Yet that is what some critics apparently want him to do for the benefit of the Allies and against our enemies.

May I point out, in conclusion, that Benedict XV., from his very position, commands as wide a view of the general situation as it is perhaps possible for mortal man to have. Personally, I don't profess to be impartial—how caii any lover of his country be?—and I feel like one want-only and 'brutally attacked; but I am glad there is one impartial judge in the world who knows when to speak and when to be silent: who, if he at all resembles even the least of his 258 predecessors, will know how to speak with no uncertain voice if occasion demands, and who in due season will heal, as far as may be, the wounds of a sorrowfal world. — I am, etc., James M. Listok. August 16.