The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1918-09-14
Vatican Position IN
Relation to The War
tContinued from Page ~


{Continued from Page ~
retically this: Every Catholic is first
and foremost Christian, a soldier of
Christ, irrespective of nationality. The
object and first duty of the head of
the Church is peace; to bring to the
realization of all peoples that we are
brothers and that to kill each other is
against every principle of the Christian
religion. Next, the Church wishes the
union of all peoples, the happy, peace
full union and concord of the great hui
man family.
Does President Wilson wish any
thing else? During my residence in
Rome l have repeatedly come in con-
tact with high ecclesiastic dignitaries,
and have invariably found that the
greater they were the more unnational
they were; that is, they only had in
view the future and Welfare of the
Church and it's flock, irrespective of
nationality. This is as it should be
with Christian whose only business
it is to care for the soul welfare of
his brethren.
But now let us get to the actual
facts of the case. The Vatican is in
Italy, the majority of it's high ecclesi-
astics are Italians, whose brothers,
cousins and nephews are fighting for
their country. Would it not be un-
natural from a purely human stand
point that they should hold opinions
directly opposed to those who are Civ.
country? Would it not be unnatural,
humanity speaking, that they should
not be impregnated with the~spirit of
the people around them and feel
strongly in sympathy with the highest
ambitions of their kith and kin?
From purely abstract standpoint it
ought to be condemned that the Vati-
can is pro-ally, since the Church is the
only institution in the world whose
sacred duty it is to be absolutely neu-
trail in war which involves it's flocks
on both sides. But Benedict XIV has
his nephews and relatives fighting at
the front like every other Italian. Be-
fore they left he gave them his bless
ing. He comes from an old Genoese
noble family which for centuries has
fought and upheld its freedom and in
dependence. What more natural than
that his sympathies should be with
the traditional love of liberty of his
people?
"Ah, but the Church has so much to
gain by being friendly with the CEN
trail empires" some have told me.
Even were the Vatican so unworthy
as to reckon in this manner, not look
ing upon the war and the warning peo-
pies from the broad standpoint which
is imposed upon it by it's traditions
and duties as head of the Church,
that happens not to be the case. The
majority of Catholics today are to be
found in the allied countries. Ger
many (the largest states in Germany
are Protestant) and Austria form only
small percentage of the Catholic
world, so that the interests of the
Church, if it were so unfair as to have
base material motives, or even if it
took higher standpoint and claimed
that the interest of the majority of
its peoples compelled the sacrifice of !
the minority, are not with the central |
empires.
Probably in no European country
RACES fiercer political-religious war |
than in Germany, where the centrist |
party is continually in strife with the
government in an effort to protect the
rights of Catholics. Glance at the
pages of history since the advent of
Bismarck and the establishment of the
German empire in 1870. What has hap