St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-28
LETTER FROM LEO
CHICAGO MINISTER'S ANSWERED
THROUGH THE PAPAL sECRE-
TARY.
RIGHTS OF PRoTEsTANTs.
1T is SAID THEY ARE NOT VIOLA
TED IN SOUTH AMERICAN
COUNTRIES.
COMMITTEE CHARGES NEGLECT.
Alleges That Communications to ire
land, SatoIli, Gibbons, and Even
the Pope, Were Ignored.

CHICAGO, April 27.-On April g. 1894, the
Methodist ministers of Chicago appointed a
committee to call the attention of Pope Leo
XIII. to the fact that Protestants in South
American Catholic countries were deprived
of proper liberties, and especially were de-
barred from contracting legal marriages
without adopting the Catholic faith. The re-
port of the committee was presented today.
The essential part Of it is letter from Car
dianl Rampolla giving the substances of an
swers received at Rome from the papal rep
resentatives in the countries complained Of,
after an investigation of the facts alleged.
In presenting the report the committee
charges Archbishop Ireland, Mgr. Satolli and
Cardinal Gibbons with neglecting or ignor
ing communications sent to them on the sub
letters sent to Cardinal Rampolla and to the
pope himself were left unanswered. 1t is
also stated that the letter from the papal
secretary, though sent from Rome on March
80, 1895, was not received in Chicago until
February, 1896. The letter from Cardinal
Rampolla, as transmitted and translated by
aldinal Gibbons, is as follows.
I'm consequence of previous interviews
held with your eminence, wrote, of which
fact you were informed on June II, 1895, to
the apostolic delegate for the republics OF
Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador to obtain precise
information as to the legal status of Protes-
tants there, regarding the free exercise Of re-
ligious worship and the celebration of mar
riages. The pontifcal representative of the
holy see promptly complied with my re-
Qn6 in q n
that the Protestants in Peru, far from being
restricted in the free exercise of their wor-
ship, are rather accorded larger degree OF
liberation than is compatible with strict
construction of the political constitution of
these countries. This is evidenced by the
fact that in Peru, especially in the cities of
Lima and Callao, there are several Anglican
and Methodist chapels, where weekly confer
ences are held.
LAS to the solemnization of marriages, the
delegate informs me that while the constitu-
tion of Peru recognizes no other form as
valid than that prescribed by the council of
Trent, Protestants do, matter of fact,
wed with religious ceremony in presence of
their ministers and ciyilly before the consuls
and ambassadors of their respective countries.
The same condition of things relative to mar
riage exists in Bolivia and Ecuador, where
the exercise Of religious worship is regulated
By special constitutional enactments, with
which, however, the holy see cannot inter-
fere. Having in due time received from your
eminence the representations Of Rev. John
Lee, deem it opportune to communicate to
you the results of my inquiries, so that you
may, according to your Judgment, transmit
them to the reverend gentleman
In conclusion, the committee says: ''It is
indeed sad spectacle in this enlightened age
that any institution claiming to be moral
and religious power in the world should re-
fuse to lift a finger towards sweeping away
what a Roman Catholic editor in this city
terms 'odious religious RESTRICTIONS and to
which an aged English statesman applies the
language horrible and revolving 1t is sad
der still that an effort should be made to
cover up, explain away or justify the 'odious
and HORRIBLE -