THE FRENCH PERSECUTION

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 6, 7 February 1907, Page 23

THE FRENCH PERSECUTION

THE DECEMBER ONSET - The French Government (says . the ' Weekly >reeman' of December 22) has begun its. cWaten « J??L "F, ° Utrage that - ww * jl be thSghfy anpreciated by the whole civilised world. The violtiS, M & J1 & ? M Ny^urq-atfd the forcible expulsion of Mgr.- Mdnja^ini , s one. of those offences agSX ised usafe N that is an affront against intoriiifmil " gfiirWsy and lay/.- The spirit of^ act, S -The* Pans 'ectt^qfldejt. of "the. 'Morning Po^Ltray^ ht/tfe coteciousiicsfc of strength,, but merely the" desire rwiV^VJ?* aPP l *"** °* the extreme and * H tiaffront that- will impress the world. No 'such «r«cffr, would be offered ftf atty Power"" that," had" the means to : resent « -it; but a* the .Concordat was broken wHhout even the courtesy of aa -intimation to the other " contracting' authority, the. -Nuneia.ture, which has not yet lost its of extra-territon'al;ty is raided by French police like afi Anarchist's den. The world -w-iJI ask where has - French" ccttirtes-y fled. Undoufttedlv the • clviKsed • Governments, will sympathise with Uic Papal protest against ~this. breach of the law of natrons. Its object was anparently as mean .as its method The Papa,l Archives have been' seized in order that the French Government might begin ~ '

A : Campaign of Misrepresentation- : against the -Bishops, of France', The lie is already circulated that the papers jshow the "Bishops 'to? 'have Been m favor of • the Law of Separation. We have no •doubt that .the Government, that was capable -of thus act of violence and plunder" is 1 also capable of adding to the Archives any documents that may be needed to support its campaign. The hope entertained that- it ..would be found possible to avaii of the ordinary law .in order to secure liberty of Public Worship has been dissipated by M. Briands. circulars. Some of the Bishops, including '_ Cardinal Lecot, Archbishop of .Bo - deaux, "thought the., law, of 1881 -as to public meetings might be availed of. But when- M* Briand made it clear that it depended' .upon the Minister for the time being whether all the technical formalities'- of that law would or- would not be insisted upon,* the Pope realised that the" . liberty of Public Worship depended, upon a mere Ministerial toleration" to be withdrawn at any moment. Now, through -the whole of France, ' every act -.of • Catholic Worship performed in public will be prosecuted as an offence against N • the law. The priest who , says Mass in public, „ the priest who. baptises,* the priest/ who witnessps and blesses a marriage, without- giving;' notice to* the police, .will be liable, to* prosecution and fine. There arc about forty thousand churches and chapels- in France, in each of which Mass .is said every ,day. There, will be at least A Hundred Thousand Prosecutions.

and a hundred thousand fines entailed before Sunday 'next, and then ! The ooljce^ have their -instructions to prosecute; 'but it is.» easier to say,' observes the ' Debats,' 'than lo do, and if .-it is attempted, tbose who attcmm> ( it will be saved from becoming odious only fey bc*lng made ridiculous.^, -, ■

The new proposals of the French Cabinet are a fresh advance on the --road of persecution. They constitute a measure- to complete the sacrilegious spolia r tion and reduce even the temples of worship to," the •rank of municipal music-halls. It is an extraordinary illustration of- the extent to which the British Press has been prostituted to the use of the. French _ Atheists in their war upon religion that the Paris correspondent of the ' Times ' states, for the delusion of its readers,' that ' both the ".Temps " and the x " Debats" aoprove this Bill and augur favorably as to its adop-~ tion-'by the Vatican.' The "Debats," however ,♦ ad-^' mits that Rome is inscrutable, and that* the result is ■„ uncertain.' The 'Debats ' of Monday's date .lies before us, and it contains an article explaining ' the serious reserves ' with which French Liberals view the measure. ' The object of ihe Government,' 'it says, <is to put_ an end to the difficulties in regard to " the Associations of Worship, and to recognise the actual appropriation of Ihe churches to public worship. It is^ perhaus, possible that they will succeed in the first aim, but they have not been as fortunate in^ the second, that is to say, in that -which interests, them the most: M. Clemenceau is-.- not alone , in holding the omiifion that Mass should continue to be "said in the churches ; the great maiority "of the members of Parliament' aro of Ihe sam;". opinion ; they . 'know well that the day on which " the churches were abandoned by the- nriests and the ' faithful would' be a day' of trouble for the public conscionop. Yet it anijears to us to be imnossible Ihat the Pone, the Bishops, and thi* clergy could accept the use of the churches on the m-p carious conditions on which it is allowed them.' Th n prory-rty of Ihe Church i^ handed over to the r'omrrninfs. The 'Debars,' recalls a former saying of M. Rriand Iha< the iakina: over of the property wooiH Ik> fatal, ami -that ihe Communes would find their newly-adquired treasure l A Viper's Nest.' It will be a Ions; time before' the Communes derive' any profit from the enjoyment ' of its treasure. But Uiere remain- the churches.. The Separation Law professed to reserve them for the use of the regularly appointed' clergy only. The guarantee was insufficient, and the law was accordingly rejected by Catholic France. Yet on this capital point the Liberal organ finds the new Bill far worse than the old.

The Catholic Church of France is about, to— lose all its property. Is that not enough ? Is it not too much ? The Government pretends to leave it~ at least the use of the" sacred edifices. But if .the Churchi preferred to abandon its goodfj rather than ; hold them from a hand suspect, does anyone think that it will not prefer to abawdon .the use of . the churches rather than owe it to a municipal administration that is bound by no other rule than its own pood pleasure ? The Liberal organ declares- that an end must be put to these agitations, *and ' that it is necessary to take the proper means. 'Is it $o be heliVved that the churches can be taken away from the <* clergy, or is it desired ? If so, let it be ' done openly freely, V>rutallv. B "t' if is not desired > and il no one believes it to be possible, let the

Use of These Churches

be secured to the clergy under such conditions of security and of dignity as will permit it to be accepted.' This is what the ' Times ' correspondent calls ' approving the Bill ' and ' auguring favorably as to its adoption by the Vatican.' The truth is that the Gov-. ernment desire to embarrass religious worship and'" religious practices as much as they dare^ They wonclose the ~ churches to-morrow if they diti not know* that the act would bring home the truth to the people of France, who could no longer be hoodwinked' by professions of liberty. The , churches are to be loft open, but the use of them is to be allowed under such humiliating conditions as . will render it. impossible. Catholic France will sooner or later have to face the inevitable. It will have to abandon its historic temnles to their profaners' "and begin- a"new its reorganisation in freedom. "When • the abandonment comes.4 n c people of France will at last realise the true aims of the gentlemen who have set - out ■ to ' banish Christ.'