A Mythical Boycott

New Zealand Tablet, 2 August 1906, Page 9

A Mythical Boycott

The London ' Daily Chronicle ' has long been notorious for its anti-Catholic bias. Its latest ' break ' is the publication of a story to the effect that Pope Pius X. is ' profoundly afflicted by the systematic boycott to which he is actually subjected by the very great macority of the Cardinals resident in Rome.' The story has been co{ icd into several secular papers in New Zealand. To use an expression of Oliver "Wendell Holmes's, it lies, however, far beyond the twilight of veracity. It is denounced as a fabrication by the British and American Catholic papers, whose Rome correspondents are in the best position to speak authoritatively on the matter. 'We need not stop to discuss the alleged " boycott," ' says the ' Glasgow Observer' of June 15, 'for there is none; it is a pure myth.' The 5 Observer ' then proceeds to furnish its readers with a key to the bogus ' news ' which the ' Chronicle ' prints from Rome. The ' Qhronicle ' has recently secured a s its Rome correspondent a man ' who will more than fulfil its requirements.' He is (or rather was) a convert. He was one of those wh o call themselves * liberal Catholics.' Those who profess to know him describe him as a ' liberal, without the " Catholic." ' He once took a passing fancy for the religious life. <He was ' (says the very well-in-formed Rome correspondent of the ' Observer ') 'for some time with the Dominicans, but was found so unsuitable a subject that he had to leave.' Later on, he succeeded^ in gaining admission to a college in the Eternal City, but his ' withdrawal ' (' again a mild word,' says the ' Observer ') speedily followed. ' These are the fa.cts,' says the ' Observer's ' correspondent, 1 stated as gently and reservedly as is consistent with clearness. . . Ever since the time of his rejection, this gentleman has done his best to malign the Catholic Church in Italy and in Rome ; to depreciate and defame the Vatican and the Curia arid the Pope through the plausible medium of Rome " correspondence." All the most mean ami spiteful things he can say, he says. He puts the most sinister construc-

tion on any event that Can tell against tlio Church, lie picks up bits of scandal ancl dresses them up as coming from "well-known dignitaries." . . I-Ie is jaundiced, bitter, sour. His correspondence betrays him. It is saturated witn \enotn. . . The " Times " Roman correspondent never writes this sort of stuff, but is always fair and impartial to the Church, though he is a Protestant.'