The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-21
DOWNFALL OF THE CATHOLICS
POLITICAL FAILURES IN THE
LATIN COUNTRIES.
suspicion Of Pope's Motives Neutraizcs
Pius Ms Concessions In ltaly-No Hope
There or I'm France Until Church APP
peaIs to People Instead of Classes.

peaIs to People Instead of Classes.
ROME. July s.-The recent elections
IN Rome following after those at Bergamo
an Florence, have aroused general interest.
TIE adversaries Of Plus X. and the Papacy
have hailed them as another disaster for
the Pope's personal policy. Defeated in
France. defeated in Germany, defeated
ir Italy, defeated everywhere, because he
u under the control Of the Jesuits. according
70 them Plus X. brings humiliations on
tie Papacy and on the Church through a
policy that is opposed to the socialistio.
democratic and republican views of Leo
Mi. This mistaken point Of view should
he corrected and the real facts shown
IL the clear light of history.
Il cannot be forgotten that Leo XIII,
having lost his hopes regarding the Quirinal
and he Roman question, had by successive
stages distinctly pronounced himself for
Christian democracy. Formed under the
t,mbol Of mathematica unity. independent
I'diy constituted into a nation could
make no room for he free action Of the
supreme passionate. Municipal in spirit
and blood. provincial. federalist in her
history and thoughts, Italy Is sitting in the
arraitjacket Of unity borrowed from the
French model.
How can the hundred cities, the hundred
civilizations, the hundred different histories,
yariegated and checkered like a coat of
many %colors. how can they exist in the
long run in n state Of exasperatnig uni
formity? Is 1t not necessary to go back
70 local feeling. to effective and healthful
tradition? Would not this new federalist
provincialism leave a strip Of territory.
the free city Of Rome. to the Pope7 1t was
on this historical foundation that Leo XIII.
organized the Christian democracy. and
the day came when. at the suggestion Of
the Correspondence Verde. articles appeared
in the Ciuiltd Cattoiicd and other great
Catholic organs. describing the parallel
advance Of the Catholic and the popular
parties. They made the ,Quirinal shiver;
the Milan revolt ended In the Imprisonment
at hard labor; the assassination Of King
Humbert l. increased the terror. and when
Pius X. was i~naugurated a great relief
came TO the dynastic party.
Plus X. the Patriarch OF Venice. was
sthe fortunate man" in Cardinal Mazarin's
phrase. Through the junction of mod
crates and Catholics he had been master
in the Venetian diocese. That good fort
une. like all successes. called for an in
crease. As Pope Plus X. at once thought
u NChhk W NAAO VAHOAC NNohNhI ma
perience at Venice. To strengthen the
union whether Quirinalist or moderate or
liberal or Catholic; to make all the group
ings of electors converge toward the re-
establishment of order. was his simple
idea. Was it too simple?
The Quirinal accepted the advantage
and security was again felt On the heights
of the Capitol. But from the very be-
ginning suspicion entered into the heart
of the dynastic party. What was Plus Y.
scheming for at bottom2 Was there some
afterthought in his assistance? Was he
embracing the King in order to stiie him
more easily? The reformers Of the Left
became alarmed; but of their fear arose
the parliamentary combination. the bloc.
Crushed 80 far as its influence is concerned
between these suspicious and fears the
papal group win be crushed also some day
at the polls. and the vote at Rome has given
the keynote of these feelings.
One International element made its weight
felt. The bloc in Paris cast it's charm from
the very beginning over the whole world.
The Dreyfus affair meant more than a
revolution; it marked an epoch. Almost
everywhere the anti-clerical parties sought
10 initiate. At Rome the papal question
will give the bloc it's footing.
Such are the causes. Leo XIII. Plus x,
any Pope would have been publicly insulted
by this great historical event. At what
point In IL will any one dare to put the blame
for the disaster which is becoming general
on the present Pope? A single fact in my
opinion must be noted; 1t is that in Latin
countries a policy based on Catho lie polit-
ical parties will prove sterile. IL not mis-
chievous. We know how matters stand.
So long as Catholics are not listened to by
the people socially they will not be listened
to politically. whether at the polls or in the
Legislatures.
At the moment when universal suffrage
became the law Of nations the Latin Catho-
hes. by some incomprehensible alteration
Of mind. proved the idea of a holy alliance
OF the bourgeois. the aristocrats and the
conservatives. A handful in numbers they
aimed at becoming a mere pinch. In
France the Fallou law CAV them illusions
and the great religious orders prepared
on the intellectual side the policy Of the
people OF good intentions" a policy adj
dressed to only fifty persons in a thousand.
The death OF Leo XIII. CAV a n oppor-
iunity for this extraordinary conception
Of the meaning OF the apostolate and OF
religious activity. The more they got away
from tIo poOpio duu IHo hiui1ituuo eho Ahoio
the defeats that were the results Of this
policy set them apart and will continue
to do 80. A t present the old parties faunt
triumphantly these rags Of their political
poverty.
Does it not seem hat on the contrary
oil experience and every interest should
urge Catholics to one form OF activity.
popular. social and religious' How can
pnaf,rttiaa Ia o. . > ynt fttrn Uplr Ia OH
on the big battalions2 The idea OF the
evangelical apostolate must be substituted
for the thought. the snare. OF good society
The problem Is there. n there only will
be found the instrument Of regeneration.
INNoMINATo.