The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-09-10
DEPLORE THE
POPE'S POLICY
Some Say it Will Drive Many Into
Open Revolt Against the
Church.
THE HISTORY or THE SCH|SM
Professor Merkle of WurZburg Fol
lowing in The Footsteps of
ScheII.

ROME, Sept. 9.-"Quamdieu vani-
tas tuus nos abutet, Wallis! Quem ad
finem sese effraenata jactabit auda-
cia!' Thus, in slight paraphrase of
Cicero, did Cardinal Agliardi indi-
cate to a friend his opinion of the
papal secretary of state, who at that
moment happened to be passing.
The members of the sacred college,
who are in touch with the world 9th
er than the religious, have seen with
dismay the policy of Pope Plus X
pursue medieval course, which has
not only brought forth intellectual
criticism as well as practical re-
Dukes from Protestants, but has Sc
yerely tried the intelligence and pa
thence of the elite and literati in the
church itself. For this policy Car
dinal Merry del Val, Cardinal Wives
Tute, and Cardinal Steinhuber are
held responsible.
Although the prelates who are OPP
posed to Merry del Val and his IA
miliars regard the schism with
France as res judicata,' they fear
lest the policy which brought that
about may, in non-Catholic coun-
tries, ALLEVIATE a measurable body of
intelligent Catholics from the tenn
poral control of the church and cause
them even to question the authority
of it's spiritual jurisdiction. Instead
of making any attempt to answer or
to reconcile the criticisms of intel
ligent Catholics concerning the po-
litical policy of the vatican, the CEN
sors of Merry dey Val ct al. point to
the fact that the pope has ignored
their petitions, has severely rebuked
their request for more liberal ap-
plication of the index, and has dis
couraged all research and scholar
ship by various letters to archbishops
and especially by the recent issued
Syllabus. - The Syllabus, they
declare, was personally directed
against those theologians who had
devoted their lives to a study of the
scriptures that the church, by TAX
ing advantage of their researches,
might reconstruct some of its dogmas
more in accordance with the thought
and belief of the present day.
large number of these theolog-
ians are Germans. They have not
taken kindly to the severe rebuke
their scholarship has received from
the vatican. The 'furor teutonicus'
has been aroused, and, although they
are not unmindful of the fate of Bo-
linger and his colleagues in their
struggle against the dogma of papal
infallibility, they feel themselves
strong enough to pursue their cam
paign, trusting to Roman prelates
like Cardinal Agliardi gradually to
undermine the baleful influence of
Merry del Val, Wives Tuto, and
Steinhuber with the holy father
The movement for a more enlight-
ened application of Catholic dogma
had it's inception three years ago
with Prof. Herman Schell of the Uni
versity of Wurzburg, who believed
that new era was dawning for Ca
tholicism, and that religious men in
Germany, tired of the fatness of
Professionalism and unsatisfied by the
negations of free-thinking philosophy
would gradually turn toward Cathol-
icsm when they found that the
church of Rome offered them full
satisfaction for their religious aspira-
tions without cramping their intel
ligence or demanding literal accep-
tance of incredible dogmas. His in
huence both as a writer and a teach
er, had become immense, when a
blow was struck him by the holy Of
flee, or inquisition, by which his
books, "Christus," "Dogmatik, and
Got und Geist," etc, were placed on
the Index Expurgatorius. Prof.
Schell felt the blow terribly, for it
meant the blighting of his hopes and
the destruction of his life work to
prove the compatibility of Catholi-
cism with religious broadmindedness.
lie died, broken down and disheart-
ened, sixteen months ago.
But the seeds sown by the WurZ-
burg professor took root and a petit
ton was formulated, signed by many
prominent prelates and theologians,
asking for a reconstruction of the
index" or, at least, that the au-
thors whose works were placed upon
it might be allowed to defend them
selves before the inquisition. Al
though the inspiration of the petition
ly and formidably supported in
IdHCts, lld1s uC
mediate reply to this petition was
the new papal Syllabus Then be-
gan a campaign against the memory
of Porf Schell, led by Mgr. Com
mer, who, little over month ago,
was praised by the pope for his at
titude. Plus X expressed his aston
ishment that Catholics should mot
scruple to recommend Schell's doc
trine, to cover him with praise as
though he had been a defender of
the faith, and to declare his memory
worthy of perpetuation by monu-
ment." Such Catholics, added the
holy father, are either ignorant of
the Catholic faith or refractory to
the authority of the holy see.
1t may be said on unquestioned au-
thority that the reception of the
Syllabus" has not been all that
could be desired by the vatican. On
the contrary, it has solidified the
movement of progressive Catholi-
cism, the most outspoken advocate