The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-02-10


Justice of her resort to arms the State
herself must determine. The Churcl
VIII not be tempted. 1t was the
| enemies of Christ who asked: "Shal
we pay tribute to aesar?'--temptins
| Him. Just so does the enemy question
the Church today. And the same
| answer is given that her Divine
Founder gave nearly twenty centuries
| ago: Render to Caesar the things
that are Caesars, and to God the
things that are Gods" Then, one
thing that belongs TO Caesar is obedi-
| ence to the call of the State, for loyal.
ty to our own colors is not alone a
civil claim upon us, it is the law OF
the Church.
II is the irony of fate that though
| the enemy processes 10 see in the man
who gives allegiance to the Pope of
Rome traitor to his country, the
| Catholic Church teaches the highest
possible order of patriotism. While
| the self-styled Guardians OF Liberty
| froth at the mouth when manufactur-
| ing facts that are not So the real facts
tell the tale that Catholics are to be
found amongst the bravest of the
OF Christendom.
Besides, 1t is most interesting TO
note that those who have cried the
loudest that man cannot be a loyal
Englishman, Frenchman, German or
mt al .,.ih tN l,
because Rome interferes with matters
OF State, are now insistently asking
why the Pope does not interfere with
matters of State and stop the war.
The strict neutrality OF the Holy
Father throws back the insult that
the Church is political machine.
And the patriotism of Catholics
should for all time silence their ira
ducers, for while they are obedient to
the Pope, in matters of faith and NOR
ais, Catholics are Loyalty and heroi-
cally giving up their lives at the hest
of the several countries at war. But,
to expect the enemy to cease quest
ioning our patriotism is too much for
so long as men follow the counsels of
ill-will, so long must Catholics expect
to be maligned. In answer to those
who questioned his patriotism, upon
his elevation to the exalted position
OF Prince of the Church, our own
great Cardinal O'Connell said:
Since when was man not permitted
to love both his Father and his
Mother? Since when. was man not
permitted to obey his God and his
Country
The Catholic Church holds the key
: to a World Peace todayl Just as she
brings peace to the soul OF the repen-
tent sinner, just as she reconciles the
has she settled disputes between King
and King, nation and nation. 1t was
Boniface VIII who established peace
between France and England. 1t was
Alexander VI who adjusted the differ
ences between Spain and Portugal
over their new-found Western lands.
II was Clement VII who settled the
differences between Russia and Po-
land over Lithuania. 1t was Gregory
XIII who ended the war between
Bathory of Poland and Ivan the Ter
rible. It was our own Great Leo XIII
who adjusted the quarrel between
Hayti and San Domingo. While as
late as 1885, when Bismark submitted
the German controversy with Spain
over the Caroline Islands to the Vati-
can an agreement was formulated
which established peace and prevent
ed war Aye, but yesterday, our Holy
Father Pope Benedict XIV. was select
ed as arbitrator OF the difficulty exist
ing between Peru and Bolivia.
1t is most significant that those
powers, who have SO long ignored
Rome, are sending ENJOYS to her
Court, and who shall say that if Eng,
land, Russia. France, Turkey, Ger
many and all the other nations now
engaged in war, had, before the war,
the great European slaughter now go
ing on might not have been averted?
Even though Rene by the rebellion of
once loyal nations is limited in the
exercise of her Divine power, yet she
has done more>than all the other pow.
ers put together to bring relief to
those thousands of wounded soldiers
of all creeds and no creed, who were
laneuishing in foreign lands Ii is
the good Offices OF our Holy Father
that are bringing back the wounded
soldiers to the firesides in their ma
tive lands which they love and long
for. Let us hope and pray that the
day is not far distant when Rome
shall again be recognized as the great
Papal Court of Arbitration and so
avert in the future the awful slaught-
er that the world is a witness of to-
day Aye! it is Rome alone that will
ever bring about the understanding
necessary to an enduring peace of ma
tions. For the Brotherhood Of Man
divorced from the Fatherhood of God
is a mere mock.
What a rebuke this war of many
nations is to the pride and conceit
which set up the Hague as a surveyor
of international peace. 1t is Hamlet
with Hamlet left out There it stands,
n