THE POPE AND THE PEACE CONFERENCE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 19, 11 May 1899, Page 27

THE POPE AND THE PEACE CONFERENCE.

In tlKwui -ont number of The lieview of lieruin Mr. Stead writes an ari& r f> entitled • The Peace Conference and Church Bickerings,' in which he advocates in characteristic manner that the Pope should be represented at the Peace Conference. He says :—: — The very meeting of the Conference has been jeopardised in the last month by the sudden and unexpected objection taken by the Italian Government to the presence of the Papal delegates at the Hagur> The pxnrt position of the question is involved in some obscurity, but the following appear to be the salient outlines of the controversy which hn« b< on very widely di-cu-^ed during the last month. Originally the Rescript was only handed to Powers who had diplomatic representative* at St Petersburg, but one ix. -option was made to this rule. The negotiations which had been going on for some time between Russia and the Vatican for the appointment of a Papal Nuncio at St. Petersburg were not yet completed. Rus&ia is diplomatically represented at the Vatican, but the Vatican ib not diplomatically represented at St. Petersburg. I'ader those circumstances, it was decided by the Emperor that the Rescript should be despatched to the Pope ; and it wa-> accordingly delivered by M. Toba lkoff, the diplomatic representative of the Ru-sian Government ftt the Papal Court. The Pope replied at once, assuring the Emperor in the most cordial terms ot his determination to do everything that he possibly could in order to promote the success of the great undertaking to which llussia had invited the Powers. The Italian Government, although well aware that the Pope had received a copy of the Rescript, and had made such response, took no exception to a summons which seemed in one way to confirm the justice of their contention that the Italian occupation of Rome had in no way impaired the savereignty of the Pope.

THE QUKMION 01' THE TEMPORAL POWER

At that time the only thought of the Italian Government was to safeguard themselves against the danger that the Papal delegates might raise the question of the restoration of the temporal power : in which case the Italian delegates were instruced to put on their hats and walk out of the Conference. Both at the Quirinal and at the Vatican I found the most confident expectation that in one way or another the Papal delegates would succeed in raising the question of the temporal power. The Italians frankly admitted that they judgedj udged the Pope by themselves. They remembered well how at the Congress of Parie. although the consideration of the Sardinian question had been absolutely forbidden, Count Cavour did succeed in raising the question in the Conference, and what Count Cavour did Leo XIII. would certainly be able to accomplish. The protest might be ruled out at once, but it would have been made, and in the pages of history the record would stand.

VIEWS AT THE VATICAN.

At the Vatican, or rather among those eccle-iastics who were cognisant of tlie aspirations of the Roman Curia, without being checked by the weighty responsibilities which tie the tongues ot Secretaries of Sta'e, the expectation was not less emphatically expressed that the Peace Conference would give the Pope a chance. ' Remember,' said one of them to me, ' that the po-ition of the Pope as to his temporal sovereignty is perfectly clear, consistent, ami logical, lie can point to the faoc that when the Holy See was despoiled of the patrimony of St. Peter, Rome solemnly arraigned the sacrilegious act, and predicted that, as the consequence ot this vio ation of international law, the nations wtuld bo plagued by ever-increasing armaments and by ever- deepening revolutionary discontent. To-day Rome sees with a certain grim satisfaction the fulfilment of her prophecies. The cau\a oau*anx of all the troubles of the modern world is, in the opinion of the Vatican, the destruction of the temporal power . that broke up the very loundations ol peace, and established lawless licence in place of international law as the rule of life in Europe. You low sue the consequences. What can we do but call upon you to retrace your steps, to restore your steps, to restore order and peace in Europe under the a-gis of the temporal sov<.n igniy oi his llolimss the Pope.'

PROTEST OF THE ITALIAN UOVERNUENT

Of cour* 1 , it is impossible for such intense convictions, to passionately expressed, not to make thetnselve-jaudible in the public Pre-s. The Ox* feature llom-ino, th- Papal organ, at last throwing discretion to the wind-*, ventured plainly to express somewhat of the sentiment -i which -.\ere undoubtedly telt in high places in the Vatican. This gave the sign il for alarm to the supporters of the Italian Kingdom. If the Pope were going to the Peace Conference bolely in order to deliver a protest against the consummation of

Italian unity, then it became a matter for Italy to consider whether or not sheshouldnipthePapalonspiracyinthebud by flatly refusing to attend the Conference if the Papal delegates were invited. After a certain period of dubitation, this course was finally adopted. After the receipt of the second Russian circular, which, equally with the first, was despatched to the Vatican, the Italian Government made up its mind to put its foot down, and the Russian Government was informed that if the Pope was invited to the Conference the Italian Government would be unable to send representatives This of oours-, was equivalent to burking the Conference altogether. 'No Peace Conference could meet from which one of the great Powers obteuutluualy .stayed a ,vay. especially when the abstaining Power was in clos st alliance with two other of the great Powers of Euiopo.

PRECEDENTS AS TO PAPAL REPRESENTATION.

There are several precedents relating to this right of the Pope to b; represented at International Conferences, but two will suttVe as th -y arc in opposition to each other. The first was the Brim^ls Conferen 'c upon the Slave Trade. This Conference was really held at the initiative of Cardinal Lavigerie, who, acting in accord with the Pope, had made a veritable propaganda among the nations in favour of international action for the suppression of the slave trade Nevertheless, when the Conference nißt, Cardinal Livigerie was not invited, neither was the Pope represented, and much was the heartburning and not a little the chagrin felt in trie Roman Church. So far, however, from damaging the Pope, his exclusion tended to confirm the justice of his contention that some small modicum of temporal power is indispensable in order to secure for him the entree into those assemblies in which he is undoubtedly, from his influence and authority, well qualified to render service to humanity and civilisation. These considerations probably weighed with the Geiman Emperor, who, although an ally of the Italian Kingdom nevertheless did not hesitate to summon the representative of the Pope to the Labour Congress that was held in Berlin. The Bishop of Brussels, who was nominated as the Papal representative, attended the sittings of the Congress, and by universal consent did his work very well.

THE WESLEYAN PRESIDENT.

It is, therefore, not surprising that the Russian Government should desire to have the Pope represented at the Conference of Peace The Pope is a great spiritual sovereign, even although his territorial sovereignty has gone by the board. The head of no other religious body can for a moment compare with his claims to exercise moral and spiritual influence through the nations The question is asked sometimes, If the Pope were summoned why should not the President of the Wesleyan Conference also be invited ? The ansv\er to that question is simple. On the day in which the President of the AVesleyan Conference is recognised by every Government in Europe as the Power who holes in his hands the ability to restrain revolutionary forces within the nations and to exorci-e a great and sometimes deciding influence in disputes which invohe the question of peace or war between the nations, then the President ot the Wesleyan Conference may well he invited t j an International Peace Conference, but not till then. The Archbishop of Canteibury and the President of the Methodist Conference are the only two Protestant notables who could even clam to be represented unler any pretext, and the moment their claim is contrasted with that of the Pope, it is seen that there is no international analogy. T ue Pope i'm a grt at political power ia nearly every country in the world , arid as such it would be useful to rope him in to the chariot ofpeice. . . We live under the empire of opinion, and all those who can i' fluence opinion must be taken into account, nor can any sectarian piejudiee*. be allowed to stand in the way of our utilising suuh material m is available for the purpose of achieving the desired end

'1 HE I MPOhSIBILITY Or IGNOKINU THE POPI

We -j uy object, of course, very much to the fact that the Pope bh .uld e\Ht. We may deplore extremely the existence of the Pap icy. ami \< c n.ay consider that, it wo had been consulted in the management ox the affairs of men, we should have made them much too wi-e, too rational t > follow the leidin/ and guidance of what Carl) le c;ill» d • the throe-haded chimera of the Vatican.' But as we « ( le not consulted on the making c,i the world, and have merely to do the best v\ c cati in endeavouring to govern it decently, without tv,o in eh thro.t-.utung. we haw to take things as they are, and tv reeo/uise that as a matter of fact, however monstrous and' anomalous it m >y be, there is one sovt ruigu in Europe, a spiritual sovereign, whose voice is more potent tor p< ace or war than that ot almost any other territorial sovereign. Tint being the case as his position ia exceptional and unique, and there is no other that

oan be compared to it, the Russians surely did not act unwisely in endeavouring to secure the presence and support of the Pope's representative at the forthcoming Conference. The Tsar, 1 see, has just telegraphed to the Pope congratulating him upon his recovery from the painful operation through which he has passed, in that telegram the Tsar expressed the hope that many more years of life may await the Pontiff who, with his authority and moral influence, is one of the most powerful workers for the triumph of peace among the peoples.

THE EXA.MPLB OF ORTHODOX BUbfelA.

In this surely Russia gets us a very fair example. The Russians are certainly more anti-Papal than any body of men in Europe. I think, with the exception of an Orangeman of Belfast, or the editor of The Methodist Times, you could seldom meet with a more fanatical anti-Papal person than a thorough-going Greek Orthodox Slavophile. Nevertheless the Emperor, finding that he ha 3to deal with a question in which the Pope can help him, does not hesitate to appeal to the Pope for his- help ; and the Pope, setting thereby a great example to many political and social saints, made no stipulations or reservations, but frankly and loyally offered the Thar his co-operation in the work in hand. What will come of it of course it is at present impossible to say. The chances seem to be very heavy against the appearance of the Pope's representative at the Conference. If this result could be arrived at it would occasion considerable chagria at the Vatican, where hopes have been raised only to be disappointed, and would not tend to increase the popularity of the Peace Rescript among the ministers and diplomatists in Russia- For Russia has her own Catholic population to consider in Poland just as we have our Catholics to consider in Ireland, and it will not conduce to the pacification and content and smooth working of the affairs of Russia if an ugly raw should be established between St. Petersburg and the Vatican.