The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-28
FRANcE AND THE coNcoRDAT.


 The very word ''concordat," has a state ly and resonant sound. and 1t carries with it associations that call up some of the most famous scenes and actors in Flu ropean history. A concordat is nothing but a contract. however, 1t is not amiss to say. It Is contract between the Pope and the head of the Roman Catholic Church and some particular state and defines the rights of members of the com munion in this State. Concordats govern the relations of Roman Catholics in France, Spain and Austria and some lesser states where those religionists are in such force that there is an expediency in agreeing upon the terms on which the State and the church shall live together. These agreements are not known to in- ternational law. Either party can de- nounce a concordat whenever denuncia- tion appears to be wise and the responsi- bility is to public opinion. That other resort to arms, the customary arbitra- ment of disputes between temporal pow CTS would of course be unseemly and wholly impracticable in the case of the Papacy. The Pope wars with spiritual weapons and he must be encountered, IF at all, in a region of idea. Such war is more than imminent in France at the present moment. There is a strong pres sure being put upon the French Govern ment to seize an opportunity placed by the Vatican in its hands to denounce the concordat, in this case, the contract gov erning the position of Catholics as Cath olics in France.
 To the foreigner 1t will seem the new Pope chose a hazardous course when he treated as deliberate affront to St. Pe- ter. a formal visit by Loubet to Rome Loubet may have meant to hurt some- body's feelings. but why show him he had been successful unless there was a power in hand to teach him manners and make him regret his temerity?
 A storm Of politics has blown about the French Concordat since the time of Ma poleon l. The great breakup of the Rev. olution loosed so many new ideas in France that 1t has been extremely difi- cult for any form of government or any highly organized church to maintain themselves. Since the foundation of the third Republic the church has been used whenever possible by contending factions and parties and at the time of Boulanger's tinsel attempt upon the State, by a union of all the Catholic forces, though under differing banners. the Republic barely escaped destruction. The danger so mar rowly averted served to sober everybody to a degree, and In 1890 the Papacy, un- der the lead in France of Cardinal La- vigerie, begun to speak of and to treat the Republic as an assured if not well come fact The Pope himself. in 1892, is- sued an encyclical letter in which he ex- pressed friendliness for the Republic and he publicly renewed his protestations of interest in the trying days of the Panama scandal.
 If 1t be true that Plus x. is determined upon a reassertion in some form of his temporal dignity and makes his begin ming ip a conflict with France. there can be no doubt we shall have a command ing spectacle, The Frepch beat the world for getting excited|- The concordat re- veais one fact that looked at closely shows what immense possibility there are of interesting things coming to pass at Paris. That fact is thi: The French clergy are now paid by the French Gov ernment.