THE DUKE OF NORFOLK AND HIS CRITICS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 11, 14 March 1901, Page 29

THE DUKE OF NORFOLK AND HIS CRITICS.

His Grace the Duke of Norfolk has addressed a letter to the Pre«s in reply to the criticisms passed upon the recent address presented by him on behalf of the Catholio Union of Great Britain to the Holy Father. Many of these strictures were founded ou false information or on reports from the so-called ' Liberal ' journals of Italy, whilst others were based on a misapprehension of the position whioh the Holy Father occupies with regard to the Italian Government. The allegation, whioh was made by som» newspapers in this Colony, that the Duke of Norfolk was guilty of a breach of the laws of hocpitality against the Italian Government in presenting such an address, whilst on Italian soil, was founded on the mistaken notion that Leo XIII. is a subject of the King of Italy. The Vatican is beyond the jurisdiction of the Government, and iB in reality a kingdom in itself, therefore the charge that the laws of hospitality were broken need not be considered. After explaining that he was prevented through illness from implying sooner to his oritics his Grace goes on to say :—: — The following statements are absolute fabrications : That papers publishing our address had been seized ; that our hotels were guarded ; that the pilgrims met with hostile demonstrations in the streets ; and that a British flag hoisted over one of cur hotels had been lowered by us upon the birthday of the Queen of Italy aa a mark of disrespect. That statements in the Press that these things had taken place should have excited no hostility towards us tends to show how artificial was the paper agitation raised. Not one of our pilgrims hai to encounter the smallest sign of disapprobation or ill v, ill. Indeed, to our English minds, it in humbling to have to contrast the calm dignity and personal friendliness of the Roman people with the distressing hysteria of so many of our friends at home. Would it be easy to bear stronger testimony to the impossible position of the Pope and of his spiritual ohildren than to assert, as in now asserted, that we Catholics may not go before the Head of the Church, and in his own palace of the Vatican speak to him as we spoke 1 'We pray and we trnnt that this new century may witness the restoiation of the Roman Pontiff to that position of temporal independence which your Holiness has declared necessary for the effective fulfilment of the duties of his world- wide charge.' Does anyone believe that there is any statesman in the world who, if he is favorable to the cause of United Italy, does not, in his heart, echo our prayer ? Is there anyone who gives any candid consideration to this great Bubject who does not know that the principal cause whioh makes for disunion in Italy arises from the present position of the Holy See ; that it is a perpetnal source of weakness, and that it is tending to take from the Italian nation the health and strength which only religion oan bestow ? PROMISES WHICH WEBB NOT KEPT. When in 1860 the late King Victor Emmanuel, in time of peace, ikvaded Umbria and the Marshes with an army of 60,000 men, he £raed a proclamation, in which he states : ' 1 intend to respect the t^sAt of the Chief of the Churoh, to whom I am willing to give, together with the all tried and friendly Powers, all tht guarantees of independence and security.' That promise was not kept. The seat of the Chief of the Church was not in the event respected. International guarantees of independence and security were not given to the Pope.

In 1864, in the Italian Parliament Signor Crispi said: 'The Roman Pontiff cannot be the citizen of a great State, descending from the throne on which the Catholic world pays him homage. He must be Prince and Master in his own domain, second to no one.' It is to my purpose to quote these still unfulfilled pledge made by those who have had so great a share in the unfication of Italy, because it appears to be supposed in some quarters that a demand for Papal independence means a desire for the disruption of the Italian Kingdom. This is a delusion. I am convinced that the Popo is a. true lover of Italy. I do not believe he desires iU disruption. No such thought is suggested by our address. For myself, I have not the remotest desire for buck a oulaulropW But I share the aspiration of those who believe that the true policy for the unity of the Italian Kingdom would be for the rulers to emancipate themselves from their subjection to anti-Christian sects, and to come to terms with the Pope. For Papal independence ia a claim which no Catholic throughout the world can afford to let go. In the House of Lords, in 1849, Lord Lansdowne, confirming a dispatch of Lord Palmerston's spoke to the following effect : — ' There was no country with Catholic subjects and Catholic possessions which had not a deep interest in the Pope being so placed as to be able to exeroise his authority unfettered and unshackled by any temporal influence which might affect hie spiritual authority.' MISSING THE POINT. It is we, the Catholica of England and of the world, who are struck at by such statements as have appeared during th 9 last 10 days. Writers on these subjects too frequently appear to regard the Church aB a merely clerical institution, in which the laity are reluotantly yielding to the commands and beguilements of clerical influence. They appear to forget that the vast majority of the Church is composed of laymen, of men who glory in their faith, who know what their religion means to them, and who would deplore any signs of weakness on the part of the clergy in upholding the dignity of their eacred office, in safeguarding the integrity of the Truth, or in carrying out the duties of their trust. It is the failure to appreciate this on the part of non-Catholic writers about the Church, it is this perpetual ' missing the point,' which make* bo much of what they write and say appear so inept to Catholic readers. And this bears upon the question of the temporal position of the Pope. The interests of every Catholic are affected profoundly by all that concerns the central government of the Church. It ii not for us to Bay what arrangement with the Italian Government would be satisfactory to the Pope. It is a question which he alone can determine, to accept the Italian law of guarantee would be impossible They guarantee nothing, and would reduce the head of the Church to the position of a stipendiary of the Italian Government. If we glance backward into history we see that the autonomy of the Pope has been accepted as a first principle of politics by the groan so btat wuen of every nation, and we look forward wiih the certuiuty tbat time will justify the principle whioh we assert. OUR DUTY. We know that the interests of the Churoh are safe in the hands of the Pope, and that we can look to him with the words of Newman in our hearts : ' Our duty is not, indeed, to mix up Christ's Vicar with this or that party of men, because he in his high station is above all parties, but to look at his formal deeds, and to follow him whither he goeth, and never to desert him, however we may be, tried, but to defend him at all hazards, and against all comers, as a son would a father, and as a wife a husband, knowing that his cause is the cause of God.' To those who take a loftier and wider view than is permitted to minds cramped by sectarian animosities, or harassed by traditionary prejudices, it must ba a matter of deep concern that the Papacy, which is so great a force for order and stability throughout the world, should be made a cause of strife in questions round which are centred the deepest interests of mankind. If the impossible position of the Pope has been again brought back more clearly to men's minds by the outburst which has taken place, we may well rejoice at the incident, and trust it will not fade from the publio mind. We may be very thankful if it is our pilgrimage which has brought about this fresh awakening, and I most warmly thank my fellow-pilgrims for having allowed me to be the spokesman before the Holy Father of their hope and prayer.