CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE POPE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 18 June 1931, Page 3

CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE POPE

REMARKABLE ARTICLE BY SIGNOR MUSSOLINI

LATERAN TREATY A BLESSING TO

THE WORLD

Con temporary with the signing of the Lateraii Treaty, the following remarkable article by the Prime Minister of Italy, Signor Benito Mussolini, appeared in the “Sunday Express," London. In view of the disquieting cablegrams reporting alleged Fascist affronts to the Church, Signor Mussolini’s article lias a special topical interest: —

Italy is a spiritual nation. From Rome went out the missioners to carry Christianity to the end of the earth. Religious spirit permeates our whole people, from the humblest peasant to the king upon his throne. From Rome, the capital which draws thousands from all parts of the world to worship at the tomb of the Apostles, in the basilica of St. Peter’s, to the most modest Italian village, you will find the shrines of Christianity giving the light which attracts the people to a spiritual realm above the material routine of daily life.

A people without a spiritual stimulus is a doomed people. The essence of life is the spirit, and where there is no spirit perdition and death prevail. The spiritual conquers the material and gives life more abundantly.

I have never, during my government done one single act which would in the slightest degree deter the spiritual impetus of the people. With a squad of blackshirts, or a detail of carabineers, I have closed without scruple a Communist meeting, a Socialist trade union, a Radical club, or any organisation of disruptive aim. I have disbanded groups who put into play some baneful material interest or mischief-making theories.

Against these we can use force, but I have never used, nor will I ever use, force to close a church, a temple, a mosque, or a synagogue, because it would seem to me an attempt to extinguish the light of the spirit and of the ideal.

The Roman Catholic Church is as much a part of Italian life as is patriotism, for while on the one side the Church is the instrumentality of an Italian’s devotion to God, love of king and country is the expression of his loyalty to the land which gave him birth and heritage.

“THE ALTAR THE FOUNTAIN OF THE SPIRIT” The altar is the fountain of the spirit; the flag the token of patriotic adoration. Here, on the holy and consecrated ground of Rome, the Apostles trod and began the building of the great structure of Christianity. It was here that the Christian martyrs suffered, and here to-day are the remnants of the catacombs, jnute witness to the great sacrifices for the faith.

And the holy saints through the long centuries continued to consecrate the soil of Italy with their blood. And Italy gave St. Ambrose, St. Benedict. St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Francis of Assisi! Their shrines, where they worked and administered, are the goals of pilgrims from all over the world. They are the Italian patrimony of consecration to the faith.

The Roman Catholic religion is recognised in the Italian Constitution as the official State religion of Italy, and throughout the length and breadth of the country the people adhere devoutly to this religion, even though there has existed during these past sixty years a supposed quarrel, commonly known as Hie ‘‘Roman question,” between the Italian Government and the Church.

The reality is that since IN7O, since the so-called loss of the temporal power, tin* Church has increased in spiritual dominion and prestige throughout the whole of the civilised world.

Never in the history of modern times was ilie ( Imreli in such a strong spiritual position as it is to-day. r l'he Clmrch has gained immensely since the events which followed 1870, while, on the other hand, Italy has been formed into a nation and become a world Power, so that it lias been well for both.

The Church has taken on in vastly superior measure a greater spiritual entitv.

WILL NOT INTERFERE IN KCCLESLASTICAL DOMAIN

To-oay. in the spiritual realm, the Ron till is supreme. More than ever in that which regards the administration of the Church liis work is final, and no power on earth can question. He possesses every prerogative and attribute of the most sovereign person oil earth. The Italian Government before him oeetipies the same position as the French Government, or the Polish Government, or the Argentine Government. ■He cannot, anil will not, interfere with the internal affairs of the nations.

In like manner no political Government can interfere with those affairs which are strictly within the ecclesiastical domain.

Italy, far from wishing to use the Church for political purposes, has cleared the ground so that all foreign representatives and dignitaries belonging to the Holy Roman Church will enjoy the most absolute, liberty in the exercise of their offices. .Previously the influence of Kalian infernal affairs necessarily had a direct and strong repercussion on that small but vital piece <rf territory, the Vatican, which, though kept apart still belonged to,ltaly. Now it is an inviolable island of purely religious and spiritual domain, against which surge the tides of wordlv political conflicts, hut which leave it untouched and undisturbed in its eternal aims.

Has not the whole world profited and enriched itself by the civilisation that was Rome’s, and the religion that was Rome's.

And yet, all through these ages, though Rome’s spiritual gain was great, politically and materially it was small indeed. Other empires grew and flourished—that of Germany, of Spain, of France, and of England—while Rome and Ifalv remained a civilising and spiritual fount. Even the genius of Columbus, burning with a faith to discover a new sea route', was lost to Italy, for while the discovery enriched both England and Spain, il wrecked for ever the maritime power of Venice end Genoa, and left us bereft of sea trade. I am of the firm convict ion that religion is necessary for a people. If it were only for its great moral Youth O-Form Capsules not only reduce weight, bill- make you feel wonderfully fit. 6/6. —Nees, Chemist, Ilardy-st.

influence, it would be worth while. But it is even more precious to a people because it draws them to the ideal and to a higher spiritual plane. It is a steadying and tempering force, holding them within religious and virtuous principles.

THE MORAL POWER OF RELIGION The moral and spiritual power of religion in binding a people to the same concept of right and to the ideal makes il an indispensable, part of national life. It cheeks and restrains whenever in a wild moment of national life there comes an impulse to commit excesses. Wherever there is religious discipline there is also civil discipline, and even the most puritanical discipline has its stillViiing [lowers for the backbone of a n:il ion.

• One reason why the great American civilisations are to-day such dynamic forces in the world is because the pioneers, sustained throughout their hardy rigours and privations by a strong religious faith, navigated the seas and penetrated the wilderness, leaving lo their progeny a priceless heritage of latent power.

Their faith' was the co-ordinator of God and man, the steadying and strengthening force and the power which lifted the vision in a renewed and ever-widening hope in a fixed ideal.

The complete elniination of the artificial situation existing between Italy and the Holy See until the signing of the recent agreement is not alone a blessing for Italy but for the whole world as well as Italy. 'The recognition and independence and sovereignty of the Supreme Pontiil abolishes for ever many fears and apprehensions of Catholics all over the world as to what the Pope’s “voluntary imprisonment” meant. The person of the Pontiff in Italy will he sacred and inviolable, and he will he accorded all tin- honours due to his supreme aut hori! v.

Paly benefits in a greater spiritual awakening. The force of religion in a Slate is a strengthening and steadying force.

Woe to the nation which turns its hack on spiritnnlity and shuts out ivliqioM. lor on I liese (lie vital impetus of 1 la* nation depends.