THE POPE AND FREEDOM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20760, 31 December 1930, Page 14

THE POPE AND FREEDOM.

Sir, —" Justitia "is anxious that justice should be done to his Church in the matter of the name it prefers. Ho betrays no anxiety that justice should be done by his Pope in Italy, by his archbishop in Mexico, and by his clergy (toward Jews) in Spain. He strains at a gnat. He swallows a camel. " Holy Roman Church " is a name that constantly appears in decrees from the Vatican. But what's in a name? Handsome is as handsome does. The Pope, holy or not, the Church, Catholic or not, gives the world three new year tastes of its intentions. From Italy the Pope protests that Protestants are tolerated. From Mexico an archbishop in the name of patriotism and religion calls on the faithful to fight Protestants. From Spain comes the last clerical protest against allowing the Jews a Synagogue and a place in which to lay their dead. It is a pertinent question, is this the same Church which being here a small minority claims and receives full toleration ? If it became a majority Church here, would the futile cries from Rome, Mexico and Madrid be echoed from the archdiocese of Wellington ? J. J. North. Sir, —I see from your correspondence column that there is one in Auckland at least to whom the Christmas has meant nothing. Filled with "religious simplicity " he selects a truncated cable message as sufficient warrant to launch an appeal to sectarian bias. One would have thought he would have waited (as a responsible person) for more and fuller information. It is clear he has not read, or if read, conveniently forgotten, the fact that the exponents of "religious simplicity" have been hardly kind, to the Roman Church—as he misnames it—of late, the most recent piece of iheir propaganda being to close all the doors of one Mexican church during service and burn it and some eighty worshippers in it. I am not relying for cable news for this item, but to duly authentic information by correspondents of reputable British newspapers, which confirm the shorter account published in the Herald. I do not remember hearing Dr. North's voice then. If he really wants to find out the extent and beauty of Protestant toleration since 1558, I strongly recommend a short course of history (especially Froude) and a little contemplation on the necessity for such acts as the Catholic Emancipation Act of our own time. I am not so persuaded of that equal toleration which he alleges is accorded to a Catholic minority here, but as this letter is not intended as anything more than an attempt to show that there may be some reason for archiepiscopal anger in Mexico and righteous wrath is always permissible to even a "complicated" religion. H. L. E. Richards.