The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-11-03
Vatican News" Should
Be Carefully Sifted

I ~ OV0uW
Be Carefully Sifted
Many False Rumors, Reports and In
terviews Sent Out From Rome by
Inscriptions Correspondence
| Pontiff Speaks in Allocutions, Let
tiers and Notes and Not to News
papers-lnstances of Mischievous
| Misrepresentation.
Rome. September 11.-(Delayed by
Censor.)-It becomes necessary once
again to remind Catholics to beware
of taking as literally true all the in
terviews and conversations reported
from Rome. The occasion for the re-
issue of the warning-with all apollo
gies to those to whom the warning
is unnecessary-is an amazing So
called interview with the Holy Father
published in the London Daily News
of the eth inst. No one here is able
to guess who the multicolored individ-
ual is who claims to be a diplomat
and a member of a nation which is
dispersed over the face of the earth
like the Jews, but the matter he put
forward as issuing from the lips of
the Holy Father is so unlike anything
His Holiness could have said that
there was hardly need for the Osserya-
tore Romanos: THE Daily News pub
fishes a pretended interview repro
duced by several evening papers in
Italy claimed to have been had with
the Holy Father by an Allied diplo-
mat long resident in Rome, who says
that he has known His Holiness for
many years and has seen him frequent
| ly both before and after his election
to the throne. We are authorized to
say in the most formal and absolute
manner that the pretended interview
never took place and that it is moth
surprising that the Journalists should
not have seen that by just reading
| it,"
Not Roman Correspondents at All.
That is a very formal denial made
necessary by the political sentiments
attributed to His Holiness. Personal
| attacks, howeve: vulgar he does not
! trouble about. but when considerations
about international politics arc attrib-
uted to him in a way to do harm. il
not contradicted, to his great work in
these important and difficult times,
comes necessary. WicGand I.atapie.
and now this unknown "diplomat'' =
there is one satisfactory point about
it-thcse are not Roman correspond
cnts Indeed, il the files of these lat
ter's, cables were looked up some very
fine 'truth-tellin@" work would be
found to their credit. After the pub
LEGATION of the Papal note, for instance,
and for only just one instance, it is
to the credit OF the United Press to-
have dissipated III an interview grant
cd by Cardinal Gasrarri and, Of course,
faithfully transmitted, much Of the
doubt that had arisen and was eX-
pressed in certain papers, about the
origin Of the note and His Holiness
intentions in issuing it. American
Catholics hardly need reminding that
the Holy Father speaks in encyclicals
verbal announcements as in Consis
try and to the Sacred College, letters,
epistlcs and other official ways which
are all officially reproduced III the
"Acta Apostolicae Scdis." Beyond this
nothing is absolutely official. But also
the Cardinal Secretary of State will
often issue a statement, the Osscrva-
tore Romano will publish a notice,
which the world knows is authorize
tive and as reliable as if official. But
beyond that, nothing. Accounts given
of private conversations with Ills Holt
ness can never be taken as authOrita
lively representing the views of the
Holy See. In the first place even the
most honest person and with the best
memory in the world cannot be sure
of reproducing exactly what His Holt
ness said, and, secondly, even grant
ing faithful! reproduction, what the
Pope may have said would depend on
what had been said to him and on
the whole character and atmosphere
| of the conversation. and, moreover,
even then the hearer will very pos
sibly not have gained from the Holy
| Fathers words the exact impression
that they were intended to convey. All
this, too, presupposes good will in
the publisher Of the infornation-an
item that is not always found in the
newspaper paragraphs about the Pope
today.
Italian InfideIs Attack the Church.
| It was inevitable that His Holiness
peace move should give Italian "anti-
clericals' their opportunity for attack