OUR ROMAN LETTER

New Zealand Tablet, 18 September 1919, Page 39

OUR ROMAN LETTER

(By “Scottus.”)

■ Writing a couple of months ago I think I mentioned something about the Holy See being gravely preoccupied concerning the effects produced or tlikely to be produced in, the East by changes or contemplated changes in government. Since then many charges have been made and many apologies offered on the subject; and of course there were people simple enough to think the; world was gullible enough to be satisfied with the assertion that all must be well because of the nobility of tho French nation, or the traditional fair play with which “the authorities of the British Empire” meet every right and proper representation-. But the fact remains that in the Peace Treaty offered to the Hermans to sign, and thus make the world safe for democracy and self-determination, there are two articles that strike at the very roots of Catholic liberty. In article 122 it is laid down that the governing body in a country like Africa can expel from''the regions under its rule all residents of German origin and determine the conditions of their residence there; while it is laid down in article 438 that the property belonging to missions shall be administered by a council nominated by the said body provided it is composed of Christians. As regards the latter article, it is to be assumed that those who drafted the Treaty would take their own view of the meaning of the word Christian, that they would include in that title not only Protestants, Schismatics, Freemasons, and indifferent Catholics, but would not be unwilling to consider a man to be a. good enough Christian if only In' were sufficiently anti-German. No Catholic need he told that Catholic missions depend on the Holy See, and are administered by the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, both in work and property; and if there were any doubt, it is removed by Canon 1350 of the new Code of Canon Law. The rights of the Holy See, then, are invaded by the two articles in question, which, moreover, would seem to aim at the suppression of numerous missions hitherto carried out by German missionaries, and at replacing them by Protestant missions and missionaries. This is sufficiently clear from the wording of article 122, which empowers the governing authority in a particular country to expel all German missionaries. For in general it will be found impossible to find enough missionaries of other races to replace the German missionaries, so that their churches, schools, charitable institutions, and all that constitutes a Catholic mission, will remain without a rector or head, and in such case will be at the disposal of the contemplated council, which lias the power to hand it over to Protestant missionaries if it so pleases. AA’orse still, there would be no appeal, for all appeal is forbidden by article 438. Count Brockdorff was not slow to seize on the obvious injustice of these two articles; and in a Note of May 17 addressed to the Allies ho. pointed out the wrong that would be done were they to retain their present terms; while the Osserratore Humana, in an obviously inspired note, remarked that “the conquerors evidently desire to destroy all German influence outside Germany, and by the two articles in question they seek to deprive Germany of whatever influence she might derive from her German missions—such clearly is the political move at the back of the articles. But with regard to Catholic missions it should bo remembered that if a German missioner, forgetting his spiritual mission, should happen to make himself a political agent or agitator, there is always a remedy, which is that of having recourse to the Holy See, and the Holy See through the Congregation of Propaganda may bo relied on to recall him to a sense of his duty.” But it takes more than a strongly-worded note in the Osservatore to move the Big Four from the principles high and low which they profess and practise; and accordingly the brilliant, experienced, and - energetic Under-Secretary of State for Ecclesiastical Affairs Extraordinary (Mgr. Cerretti) set out some weeks ago for Paris, where he still remains, endeavoring with all his might to see if any good can come out of Nazareth.

The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, to whom “Irish Nuns Home From Texas” belong, have recently secured a Cardinal Protector in the person of the English Cardinal in Curia. ’*