ROME LETTER

New Zealand Tablet, 9 December 1915, Page 53

ROME LETTER

(From our own correspondent.)

September 20,

TO PRESIDE, BUT EOT TO VOTE?

Slowly and surely among Italy’s statesmen the. question of the Pope’s status at the World Congress is gaining ground. Is the Vicar of Christ to have a seat at the meeting which the Powers of the glob© must hold as soon as the Temple of Janus is closed? - If so, on what footing is Benedict XV. to occupy it ? . Within the last few days it has been stated in- the columns of* one of the most influential dailies in Italy, the Giornale ft alia, of which the Minister of Foreign Affairs is the proprietor, that it was not on the initiative of Italy that Leo XIII. had been excluded from the Hague Conference in 1898. J Russia first, and England immediately afterwards,’ says Sonnino’s journal, ‘ made it clearly understood that the presence of a representative of the Pontiff as Head of the Catholic Church would place in a difficult position the representatives of their respective sovereigns, and that, in any case, it would be necessary to make very clear the reason and the nature of his presence. The Pope could not be considered as the equal of the other Powers, precisely because he had no armaments to x'educe, no confines to guarantee, no conventional usages in case of war to stipulate. And, above all, because the nonCatholic Powers would not tolerate it. Then, and not until then,’ proceeds the Giornale, ‘ did Italy make the question her own for reasons easily understood, and she cut short a discussion that might go beyond certain limits. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Admiral Canevaro, sent a note in which he simply declared that, if the Pope were invited to the Conference, Italy would abstain from taking any part in it.’ Will Italy act likewise at the next shuffle of the cards? Who knows? But this we know: Much of the ancient prestige of the Papacy has been restored to it, because it could not be withheld. And will those Powers that were so anxious to have their ambassadors by the Papal throne while the war lasted offer opposition if an invitation to the congress is sent to its occupant, who was ‘ the Peacemaker of Europe ’ a thousand years before peace conferences were dreamt of? It would be far from complimentary to them to hint so much. MORE EASY FOR ITALY.

Probably on Italy’s side no opposition will be offered. What solution might be acceptable to the Italian Government ? Writing a few weeks ago on this subject in a Democratic paper, a prominent Italian recalled how the heir of Don Rodrigo, having to give hospitality to the peasants of Tramaglino, got over his little difficulty about equality. He could not sit at the same board as his guests, but he would do something else. He would serve them. In like manner, pursued the writer, the Pope could preside at* the World Congress, without taking part in the debate or without casting his vote. In this way, he adds, it would be made easier for Italy to agree to his being present. All this is very interesting, but the mind of Benedict XV. is not yet known on the matter, and the Italian Government is anxious to know it. THE IRISH PRISONERS IN GERMANY. News current in Roman circles tells how the Irish prisoners of war in Germany are now here and there over the harvest fields of the country, living with the farmers, and, no doubt, turning an honest penny by the swe?it of their brow. The arrangement suits both sides. The Hibernians must have been growing weary of their otium cum dignitate (or, .sine dignitate, if you will) ; and the farmers badly needed hands. So, we may;conclude, all parties are satisfied. The only drawback is that Father Crotty is left temporarily without his flock of 2000. For, among the Germans, the Irish soldiers got the name of being great prayers.’ To the last the men gathered in ten divisions to recite the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin and the Litany every

evening ; and, it goes without - saying, the grand old Irish custom will be resumed as soon as the Wild Geese meet again. ' ' " Space cannot be given her© this week to the development of a question raised by a Scotch ecclesiastic some time ago in the columns of the Irish Times, as to the fact that Dr. O’Gorman, 0.5. A., and Father Grotty, 0.P., went from Rome as chaplains to their fellow-countrymen, prisoners in Germany. But it will bear holding over until next week.

THE CLERGY IN THE ITALIAN ARMY. It must hold anyhow, for the efforts that are being made to make the project of conscription.in Ireland and Great Britain a fait accompli call for a very precise explanation of the presence in the Italian army of 17,000 or 18,000 ecclesiastics, secular and regular. Conscription binds all ecclesiastics up to a certain age, but the Catholic spirit and logical mind of Italians do not ask priests, deacons, or subdeacons to do any fighting. If priests volunteer to fight, well and good; that is their own affair. So when the Generalissimo of the Italian foices marshalled his troops, the portion of his army that was in major Orders was at once told off to . Red Cross departments, to duty in barracks, hospitals—a word wherever deftness and headwork were needed. The seven hundred odd chaplains with the army must, I need not say, remain constantly with the men, in the trenches, on the march——in fact, wherever a man is likely "to run risks. They do brave things with the same kind of bravery which is exhibited by the priest in big cities all over the world every week in the year at fires, railway accidents, etc.viz., the bravery which the Church requires of the minister of the Gospel where souls are at stake. notes: Contrary to the expectation of some, no sign of holding the General Chapter of the (Calced) Order of Carmelites is in evidence. The Holy Father has received in private audience Father Joseph Haegy, C.S.P., Father Tavani, VicarGeneral of the Conventual Franciscans; Father Rodriguez, General of the Order of St. Augustine; Father Murray, General of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer; Father Petroni, General of the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood, the Procurator General of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary. An Irish admirer in Rome of the Right Rev. Dr. O’Dwyer, Bishop of Limerick, has had translated into Italian his Lordship’s letter to Mr. John Redmond, M.P., in favor of peace, and distributed copies to the Cardinals and prominent people of the Eternal City. The same admirer singled out tlxe Bishop’s recent pastoral from all the pastorals of the Irish Bishops for translation and distribution as above. And the Bishop’s controversial letter to Mr. Wilfrid Ward, of which so much was heard some time ago, came in for similar attention from the same source.