OUR ROMAN LETTER

New Zealand Tablet, 29 May 1919, Page 34

OUR ROMAN LETTER

(By “Scottus,”)

The Italian Parliament, which has already far, exceeded its usual five years’ duration,, and has . outlived its usefulness, if it ever had any, is now drawing near the end of its days, and the general elections are likely to take place some time in June. It is not easy to form a forecast of the state of parties in the future Parliament; but careful observers are convinced that the Socialist Party will add to its numbers and will return with at least 100 members—that is, a fifth of the whole House; while it is taken for granted that the Radical sections will be more or less , strongly reinforced. . . ; . v

Political activity is already at work in the constituencies and throughout the country generally in., preparation for the struggle. The most interesting, if not the most important, event of the kind in recent weeks was the formation of a new political party, called the People’s Party ( Partita Popolare) , with an extensive programme of social and economic reform pervaded by a sound Catholic and democratic leaven. It is not a Catholic party, so much as a party composed of Catholics and supporting... Catholic principles; but it. has had nothing in . the shape of official recognition. On the whole, it is not very unlike the old Land League in programme and aim. ~ What effect it-may. have on the coming elections is not quite easy ' to determine. It will probably run candidates of its ownin selected places; but in the main its activities; on. that occasion will more probably be directed towards the exclusion of undesirables and the . return of moderates of other parties, though the chances are that if it meets with solid support, it will , eventually aim . at the formation of something like the German Centre.: For the moment ; curiosity is fixed on . its attitude towards the other political parties. The Constitutional Party, represented by the : present ; Government, may be expected to biff for the support of the new organisation, on the, ground that it is ; the interest / and - duty of Catholics.; to \ support .existing,. institutions-.- of k the country against the forces of revolution and upheaval; and, on the other hand, ,it is just within ; the bounds I of possibility that the Socialists , may try , and captivate it on the plea, that its . programme has many points of contact with , theirs. , An alliance ; of ‘ the kind - would: be one of the ironies .of history ; but ' strange ! things happen in politics. Possibly the . great,,obstacle to co-: operation lies not so- much 1 in the social projects-.’of * both ; parties as in the extravagance > and i- obstinacy {of; Socialist ‘spokesmen.Naturally,., all these ; suppositions and possibilities go on; the assumption .i that v nothing untoward, is * going to happen in 'the Inf.Awoi am A

especially that Russian models do not come to take up a 1 position on ; the steps of the Piazza di : Spagna. J [ Only a'- very bold ' prophet 5 would b venture to assert 7 that •-•i-i■•?■■■■■•> viiivn o^*4sh -vjxzv u Kinwrav OiVS uviaw nothing of the kind can happen. . ..... s, f , . 1 ’ln this connection the words recently addressed by r the * Pope to the delegates of the Catholic societies in convention assembled ‘at Rome are ,of more than passing significance. Heretofore - these societies had been' accustomed to dabbling in politics in a more or less 1 desultory ’ fashion, and not always with conspicuous success. 0 ' On the ; formation 'of the People’s Party it was decided that"’ Catholic societies should for the future leave politics alone and confine their activities to the religious and social sphere. A few weeks ago they laid their new programme at the feet of the Holy Father, who ' gave it his warmest approval. In the course o of a* 'very interesting address, his Holiness pointedly ' laid stress on the particular importance of two fields in which* Catholic societies should exercise their ? activitiesnamely, that of the school and that of the toiler.

i ; “The child',’’ said the Holy Father, “represents the future of society; the society of to-morrow, being composed of the children of to-day, will have just as much or as little worth as is represented by the education and training which the children of to-day will have had. Hlt is therefore of the utmost importance to train the childhood, and youth of our epoch in religious principles as well as in those of genuine honesty. What we need, then, is the generosity of the rich, the patience of the teacher, the solicitude of all and sundry, so that the youth of our day may have the opportunity of an education at. once religiously complete and on that account productive of a better future.

As regards the toiler, the Holy Father pointed out that he, too, formed a most important part of society, and therefore deserved the closest attention on the part of all who desired to promote the welfare of mankind. The toiler, he said, merited such attention, not only because of what he represented, but also because of the snares set for him by false friends. Leo XIII. had done much in this direction, and the Church was always ready to support the principles laid down by that great social reformer and that great friend of the toiler. Wherefore, the Holy Father called upon the Catholic societies and on those interested in social work to devote special care and attention to the laborer. No commentary is necessary to accentuate the importance of these words. For half a century the 20th of September has been observed all over Italy as a sort of thanksgiving day, devoted to festive celebrations in honor and commemoration of that day in 1870 when the Italian troops entered through a -hole in the walls of ancient Rome, despoiled the Pope of the last shred of territory, and annexed the Eternal City to the kingdom of Italy. Needless to say, the yearly celebration of this event assumed a very pronounced anti-Papal flavor, particularly in the days of Nathan of glorious memory, and more particularly still in the year 1911, when a world-wide programme was organised for the purpose. During all these years Catholics who loved not the new order of things remained quietly at home on those days, and, as readers will remember, pronounced the year 1911 to be one of mourning because of the act of . oppression and spoliation it was intended to commemorate. ' ■ - v The war has brought about many changes in outlook all over the world ; but of all ' such changes none is more significant than that revealed by an , incident that happened lately at a meeting of the Corporation of this , city, i when a -proposal ’ was brought forward to observe next year, 1 -the-fiftieth anniversary of the taking of ;;Rome, as a u year of rejoicing. . From the beginning it was clear that the supporters of the motion intended the celebrationto . assume a distinctly antiPapal ; form, that of' celebrating 1 the downfall of the temporal power of the ; Popes, : and it was equally clear that the i motion even l ' in that 7 fprin was bound to ‘ be carried, whenia: bombshell 1 was" thrown, into the meet-

ing by Councillor Martire, one of the most militant of the Catholic Party in Rome, who, evidently speaking for more than ,-himself, gave his support I to, the ’■ »• ’’ ij'A’ 'IiVi 1 ’ V i ••• .V *.»j, «!*?:?«. * ? * lrr*, b. , ** motion, on. the condition, however, that it \ had no other significance. than that of a -celebration in honor of the union of Rome to Italy and -of Italy to Rome. In ’ support of 1 his ! view, 'he urged that the past r year or : two had sealed in blood a unity such as had never been seen for centuries,’ for “never before had ! Italy been found so united only in' unity of political. .and geographical expression, but also. in the august, sanctity ■ of suffering, /sacrifice/ and conquest.” ; Viewed ‘in . this light, he said, in the light of the unity of the .Italian people, the meaning of the conjunction of Italy to Rome and of Rome to Italy goes ’ far beyond , the national boundaries, is of world-wide interest, and “in the sight of all, Italy is at last united, strong,. and free in spirit.” As for those who wished to introduce sectarian and similar considerations into the , celebration, Councillor Martire pointed out that he, too. Catholic and Italian as he was, could easily. find a. consideration of his —namely, “how vain and, miserable was the dream of those who thought they" could drive out religion through the little hole they • had made in a poor old wallthey themselves can see to their astonishment that to-day more, than half a century ago religion is deeper and more powerful than ever, the Papacy stronger and more victorious.’A In an evidently inspired note, the Osservatore Romano referred to the proposed celebration,, which it regarded as inopportune at a moment when unity .was so necessary for the country and when all controversial questions should be excluded as far as possible. As regards Councillor Martire’s words to the effect that the designs of those who hoped to banish religion have been deluded and that both religion and Papacy are stronger and more powerful than ever before, the Osservatoie notes that, even admitting, all this, “it is none the less true that the situation forced on the Holy See by the- events of 1870 is not what it should be, that is to say, is not such as to guarantee to its divine and universal mission liberty and independence at once real and evident to all the peoples. of the earth. Whoever is proud of being a Catholic., should never forget this.” - V