The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1914. THE POPE'S ENCYCLICAL

New Zealand Tablet, 4 February 1915, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1914. THE POPE'S ENCYCLICAL

NEW Pope’s first Encyclical is always a matter of profound interest partly because of its intrinsic importance as the official utterance of a Sovereign who rules over a world-wide and devotedly loyal Empire, and partly because of the revelation which it furnishes of the personality and literary and intellectual calibre of the new Pontiff,

as well as of the indication which it gives

of the guiding spirit and general lines of action which are likely to mark his Pontificate. The literary and intellectual aspects of such an utterance are, of course, of very secondary importance ; nevertheless it is matter for gratification when, as in the present instance, the Catholic world finds in the utterance of its head high thought and sublime truths worthily and nobly clothed.

Without the original before us, it is impossible for us to say whether the document has, gained or lost in the translation, but as it stands the Encyclical is a very fine production, stamping its author as a thinker and writer of a very high order. A feature of the. Letter —which our virulent anti-papalist friends may be specially invited to note- the aptness and frequency of the Scriptural quotations with which it is enriched. The Holy Father literally revels in the Sacred Writings —as might, indeed, be expected from one who was the first President of the Society of St. Jerome for the spreading of the Holy Gospels, and who since his elevation has written to the present President, expressing his earnest desire ‘ that the faithful may accustom themselves to read the Holy Gospels and commentaries every day, leading thus to holy lives in every way in conformity with the Divine Will.’

That the subject of the war should bulk largely in the Encyclical was inevitable, and that, as the earthly representative of the Prince of Peace, the Holy Father should make an earnest appeal to the belligerents to find some more rational and Christian method of composing their differences than by the arbitrament of violence and brute force was equally to be anticipated. For the present the appeal falls upon deaf ears; and while every lover of his kind must deprecate anything in the nature of a patched-up and merely make-shift peace, it is conceivable that a time may come when there will be room for the good offices of a disinterested and tactful arbitrator whose decision on minor but troublesome points might be acceptable to all. When that day arrives, the contestants will, we believe, with one consent turn to the occupant of the Holy See. For the rest, the Encyclical gives a comprehensive and masterly analysis of the causes of the serious unrest now pervading the whole of human society. These causes are thus summarised; Want of mutual love amongst men; contempt for authority injustice in the relations between the different classes of society ; and the striving for transient and perishable things, which is now so keen that men have lost sight of the other and much more desirable blessings to bo gained. The remedy is a return to the ideals set forth in the Sermon on the Mount, and to that spirit of all-embracing charity which is the foundation principle of the Christian faith.

Turning from his survey of civil society to the special interests and domain of the Church, Benedict XV. makes two pronouncements of outstanding importance. The first is a renewed condemnation of Modernism and all its works. In some quarters, at least, this will come as a surprise. In an article in the Contemporary Review for October, an Italian Modernist, Dr. Giovanni Pioli, who claims to have enjoyed a long and intimate acquaintance with Mgr. Della Chiesa, professes to have discovered in the present Pope advanced and liberal tendencies of a marked and unmistakable kind. I He represents Mgr. Chiesa as being, latterly at least, entirely out of ■ sympathy with the attitude of Pius X. towards Modernism, and declares that he was ‘ promoted ’ to the See of Bologna merely that he might be got out of the way —promoveatur vt a/noveatnr. Without actually claiming him as a Modernist, the writer—who announces that he had himself, under Pius X., to resign his ecclesiastical position and to cease to exercise priestly functions —expresses the confident view that the new Pope, while not officially sanctioning Modernism, would at least refrain, in word and deed, from condemning Modernist tendencies and activities. Benedict XV. lias lost no time in brushing away all such absurd and ill-founded notions. ‘ There are to be found to-day,’ he writes, ‘and in no small numbers, men who, . .

*/ J * > 7 confident in their own judgment, and contemptuous of the authority of the Church, have reached such a degree of rashness as not to hesitate to measure by the standard of their own mind even the hidden things of God and all that God has revealed to men. Hence

arose the monstrous errors of “Modernism/’ which Our Predecessor rightly declared to be “the synthesis of all heresies,” and solemnly condemned. We hereby renew that condemnation in all its fulness, Venerable Brethren, and as the plague is not yet entirely stamped out, but lurks here and there in hidden places, We exhort all to be .carefully on their guard against any contagion of the evil, to which we may apply the words Job used in other circumstances: “It is a fire that devoureth even to destruction, and rooteth up all things that spring” (Job xxxi. 12). Nor do We merely desire that Catholics should shrink from the errors of Modernism, but also from the tendencies of what is called the spirit of Modernism.’ That is explicit and decisive enough, and is, of course, what the Catholic world confidently anticipated. The other important pronouncement of the Holy Father is in regard to the independence of the Holy See. The Contemporary writer already referred to repeatedly stressed the new Pope’s friendliness to the Italian Government, and contrasted it with the attitude of his predecessors. If he merely meant to convey that Benedict XV. would be prepared to treat all questions at issue in a courteous and conciliatory spirit no exception can be taken to his statement. But if he meant to suggest that under the new Pontificate there might be some derogation from the fundamental and essential principles laid down by previous Popes, he was again wofully mistaken. ‘ All, from far and near, who profess themselves sons of the Roman Pontiff,’ says the Holy Father, ‘ rightly demand a guarantee that the common Father of all should be, and should be seen to be, perfectly free from all human power in the administration of his apostolic office. And so while earnestly desiring that peace should soon be concluded amongst the nations, it is also Our desire that there should be an end to the abnormal position of the Head of the Church, a position in many ways very harmful to the very peace of nations. We hereby renew, and for the same reasons, the many protests Our Predecessors have made against such a state of things, moved thereto not by human interest, but by the sacredness of our office, in order to defend the rights and dignity of the Apostolic See.’

The Holy Father announces that the one aim and object and guiding spirit of his Pontificate will be ‘ to strive in every possible way that the charity of Jesus Christ should once more rule supreme amongst men.’ Truly, a noble ideal, worthy of the Father of Christendom. Assuredly, the spirit of love—the love of Jesus Christ is the supreme need of the time; and the Pontificate charged with this as its main motive and mainspring will be large in enterprise for the alleviation and redemption of the world. The personality of the Pontiff as revealed in this his first Encyclical suggests a combination of gentleness and strength—a strength arising from a clear view of his high mission and from an assured confidence in the Divine support necessary for the discharge of his sublime office. Like the Master Whom he represents, he speaks ‘as one having authority’ ; and this note of clearness and firmness which runs through the Encyclical is a happy augury that in Benedict XV. we have a truly great Pope, one who will not be helplesss and do-nothing amid the difficulties and perplexities of our time, who will impress himself deeply upon his generation, and who will prove himself in every way worthy to succeed the great and good Pontiff into whose place Providence has raised him.