The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-10-16 00:00:00

THREATENED HOSTILITIES BETWEEN
ITALY AND THE VATICAN.

The correspondent of the Ti vies at Rome, writes
under date Oct 10: There is every symptom of an
early outbreak of active hostilities between the
Church and Italy. As was to be expected, the pro-
vocation contained in the last two measures of the
Vatican against the kingdom of Italy is responded
to by a more energetic enforcement of the laws con-
cerning the monastic establishments. The laxity
with which these laws have been applied of late has
led to violent attacks on the Government for its
alleged collusion with the monastic violations of the
law, and straining of the letter of the law on eccle-
siastical real estate. In spite of the enactments,
new conventual houses are continually being estab-
lished in Rome, each building being held in the
name of individuals, instead of orders. This
has been a cause of great animosity in certain
quarters, but, being capable of a construction within
the law, the authorities were, able to overlook it.
But the provision of the law which forbade the
old convents from receiving any new recruits and
provided for their final evacuation and secularization
when the number of inmates fell to six has been, it is
alleged, persistently disregarded. Some weeks ago
several Jesuit priests took up their quarters in an
ecclesiastical establishment in Florence in contraven-
tion of the law. They were expelled by what may
technically be called force. Now we have a list of
seved convents to which the law will be applied, from
one of which 21 young girls who have recently been
received will be expelled. Without attempting to
express any opinion on the merits of the question,
the justice of the law, or its relations to public
morality, it is clear that the ecclesiastical authorities
have come to the conclusion that the time has come
for the Italian Colturkampf (they are, perhaps,
emboldened by the result of the struggle in
Germany), and that they have decided to
deliberately defy the Italian Government and
take the consequences. It is brave; but the event
only will show if it is judicious. The German religi-
ous war is no criterion of the success of a similar
policy in Italy, in that the question was what Prince
Bismarck was disposed to accord in consideration of
certain objects to be gained. It was a question of do
ut des, and there was a strong Parliamentary party
behind the ecclesiastical claims. In Italy it is not a
question of Chancellors but of public opinion and of
the views of the Liberal party, the wing of which
most favourably disposed to conciliation with the
Vatican only goes so far as to desire the Church to
accept the guarantees, and to live at peace with the
State, subventioned, with the Pope as the Head of
the Italian Church. Other Liberal sections are more
probably the enemies of all compromise, indisposed
to make any concession whatever to the Church and,
if the conflict is provoked, to inaugurate measures of
definite confiscation and the withdrawal of all sub-
ventions to the parish priests, of all toleration of the
orders. The edict" Neither electors nor elected"
leaves the Church without a party in the Parliament
which could negotiate a compromise. Nor, if there
were a Church party in the Chamber, could it in the
present state of public opinion in Italy be large
enough to push a Government like the Italian to an
%rrangement based on the idea of the withdrawal of
the nation behind its present position. If the Vatican
to-morrow withdraw the edict against participation in
the elections, there is not a party in the country strong
enough to maintain a Parliamentary struggle. The
enormous majority of the valid political combatants
are indifferentists, or at best formulists, on whom the
burden of the Church authority or the Church cen-
sures lies very light. Perhaps the Vatican goes into
the fight with David's faith; but the State is not
Goliath.