OUR ROMAN LETTER

New Zealand Tablet, 7 November 1918, Page 34

OUR ROMAN LETTER

(By "Scottus.")

Ever since the outbreak of the war an active propaganda has been carried on in this city for the purpose of attracting or maintaining sympathy and support for one or other of the belligerent Powers. For the most part it took the shape of war literature of all kinds distributed widely by hand or post., As might be expected, the competition was keenest here during the first nine months of the wax-that is to say, before the intervention of Italy, which each side was anxious to win over ; and naturally the propaganda was of a more interesting nature at that period than at any subsequent stage ; for we received the books and papers and pamphlets of all sides with the utmost impartiality, and were thus able to compare the merits or otherwise of the various contending parties as revealed by themselves, as well as to estimate each one's capacity for drawing the long bow—and a very, very long bow it usually was. Since the intervention of Italy this comparison was no longer possible—wo could not, and of course would not even if we could, soil our fingers with German or Austrian trash and treason. Yet the Allied countries continued the work of propaganda as zealously as before, opening up special offices for the purpose, and distributing panegyrics of themselves and the other thing of their friend the enemy. Among the rest an office of English propaganda was established here for the production and distribution of sound and wholesome war literature, devoted to showing the superiority of all things English to all things German. At first it was more or less of a private enterprise, conducted by volunteers, but doubtless supplied with Government funds. Whether they were very competent I do not know; but 1 have an idea that they were not fortunate in the sort of literature they printed and circulated, for as a rule it consisted in pamphlets translated from other languages into bad Italian ; and equally as a rule the stuff thus trans'ated was not always calculated to make one enthuse --indeed, not infrequently it was such as to move the pity of well-wishers and make the censorious smile. Translations of the Westminster Monthly Letters formed the best sample of the lot, and that is not saying very much for the lot. At all events, a change was found desirable, and that change was introduced some months ago when a Government Department of Foreign Propaganda was set up in London under the expert guidance of a wellknown peer whose name is notoriously familiar in the annals of contemporary journalism. It was only recently, however, that the said peer would seem to have set about organising the work in this city, when the first visible and outward sign of coming activities appeared in the form of a reception given for the purpose of extending a fitting welcome to a new propagandist who had been selected by the noble peer and sent out of the city, doubtless because regarded as peculiarly fitted for the job. Some of those who went to the reception were not prepared for the pleasant surprise in store for them, and it must be admitted that the treat was one not available every day ; for to each new arrival something like the following was eagerly whispered: "Such an interesting man, my dear ; The very man we want! Just imagine, he is an ex-Popish priest, and an Irish one at that. lie is really quite .awfully remarkable. - Some years ago he abandoned the errors of the Romish Church, took to the writing of books against the Papists, especially the Irish Papists, and is now selected as the fittest and properest person to come to Rome and carry on the propaganda in favor of truth and justice, democracy and small nations, with the help of the charming partner whom he took for better or worse since his defection from the Pope." If the no-Popery howl recently raised failed to move the Pope to do bis duty against the Irish bishops and priests, the next best thing the. noble peer could try was clearly that of planting and tending and

nurturing- just outside the walls of the Vatican the latest weed thrown out of the Pope's garden! It must not be imagined that the propaganda is always carried out by regular agents, or that the offensive is always directed against the Germanic front. Of this we have had a remarkable example recently. The Revista Internationale was founded by Leo XIII. a quarter of a century ago for the study of social sciences, and is said ( to exist on subsidies derived from that Pontiff. That it has done good work is undeniable ; and on the whole it has been fair and even welldisposed towards us. Recently, however, some of those intimately connected with the management of it have been showing unmistakable signs of war fever, as a result of which they became prone to reflect on certain alleged Irish failures to do a sufficiently large bit in the cause of that great Empire of which they form so conspicuous a part. It was doubtless this frame of mind that led to editorial acceptance of an article on the religious status of Italians in the United States, from the pen of the Rev. Aurelius Palmieri, appearing in the current issue of the review. Father Palmieri is an Italian Augustinian, peripatetic in action and eccentric in view. He spent some years in Russia, where he came to love not the Poles; he has been for some time, and is still, in the United States, where apparently he has found equally strong reasons for disliking the Irish: he is a voluminous writer who is ready to tackle any subject under the sun, though his pronouncements are not always accepted as articles of faith because of certain doctrinal tendencies which critics think they have discovered in them. Though the article in question pretends to be a study of the status of the Italians in the United States it would be more accurately described as a fierce attack on the Irish in that country, if not in their own ; and the attack is none the less bitter because delivered by way of hint and innuendo. One hardly gets beyond the first paragraph before being reminded of Giraldus Cambrensis. Not a single Irish or German name (both names seem equally vile in Father Palmieri's eves) is to be found on the list of a hundred and more American martyrs compiled for the Catholic Encyclopedia; and, in fact, he says, the golden age of American Catholicism had passed away before the Irish and Teutonic elements entered the field and proceeded to organise the Church on a financial basis. That organisation had grown strong and vigorous before the Italian immigrants made their appearance and drew down on their heads the biting sarcasm of the Irish-American clergy who fulminated against them in season and out of season, for their failure to support the financial basis, for their neglect of Mass on Sundays, for their ignorance of Christian doctrine, for their practical apostacy, and for their hostility to the Pope. The Irish-American clergy, he insinuates, are "systematic detractors, rabid nationalists who would turn to their own political advantage the growing numerical importance of the Italian element, or are jealous of certain qualities which Catholic atavism has profoundly rooted in the Italian character." Many of the charges are true, he admits ; but what of that? The Italian may not go very regularly to Mass in America: whereas the Irish regard as solid that faith only which consists in manifesting itself at Mass or Communion every Sunday of the year. Father Palmieri is not satisfied with this view ; according to him, the Irish have little to boast of in going regularly to Mass, if their men spend the whole of the week in scrupulously getting drunk,- or their women follow up the Sunday Communion by a week's practice on race suicide. The Italians, he admits, do not contribute to the support of the Church but why, he asks, should they be expected to contribute part of their hard earnings to the upkeep of Irish-American schools or to the splendid cathedrals dedicated to such saints as Patrick, Columbkille, Laurence O'Toole, Coleman, Fintan, and Malacliy 1

"More than any other race,' he "states, "the Irish yield to the deleterious influences of. Protestant naturalism." And in proof of this »he triumphantly appeals to the mystical diatribes of the Oblate Father Shinnors some ago in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record. Hence, he concludes, the Irish-American clergy had better set their own house in order before lecturing other people; and that they have quite enough to do, he says, is clear from the words of Father Shinnors, as well as from the fact, known to all and sundry, that for alcoholism the Irish beat all, and that -race suicide is rampant among them. Even .when the Italian does go to Mass he has to listen to invectives against Italians and their nationality, and Father Palmieri says he will give samples of these invectives in a book which he is preparing on the whole subject, which will show that the Celtic pastors of the United States would be much better employed in attending to the spiritual needs of their own countrymen in Alaska and the Philippines. American Catholics themselves are aware of this, and attribute much of the Italian apostasy to the antipathy of the Irish-American clergy. Not only were they not encouraged, but they were not welcomed, and were even turned away from the church doors on the accusation of being excommunicated for imprisoning the Pope : and at the present day the hostility is more keen than ever, because the Italian emigrant is reluctant to contribute to the support of a clergy that holds out generous support to the cause of Irish nationality against England, a country with which Italy for good and solid reasons desires to stand united by bonds of friendship and alliance. Perhaps the latter remark affords the key to the appearance of the article at the present moment. Father Palmieri has been living in Washington for some time, and doubtless has been honored by the acquaintance of English propagandists in that city, who in turn may easily have supplied him with solid motives for an anti-Irish offensive in Rome. I am not disposed to find a whole lot of fault with him—doubtless he will receive his reward. But that a Catholic review appearing in the city of Rome, and existing on Papal funds, should extend hospitality to a bitter attack on a people so well deserving of the Catholic Church in many a land, was not to be expected, and is not so readily pardoned. The least to be said is that the action of its editors is not very courageous, and certainly anything at all but generous, in publishing such a bitter attack in this city at a time when they cannot but be aware that anything in the shape of an adequate reply would be forbidden by the censor.