The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-06-01
THE CITY AND THE WORLD

European Statecraft.
But the picture l have tried to paint
would not be complete if | did not
tell the startling sequel. That sub
lime spectacle was only ceremony,
only SYMBOL only the outward mani
festation of the great principle of the
brotherhood of man and the Father
hood of God" without which the great
family of nations which inhabit the
world today can never live in peace
and harmony together. For, printing,
steam, electricity, wireless telegraphy,
aerial navigation, and a thousand
other inventions and discoveries have
annihilated time and space and made
the whole world one family, again.
But, mark what, happened when the
nations repudiated the Brotherhood of
God,' as visualized in the person of
His Vicar on earth, and thus suspend
ed indefinitely the significant cere-
mony of the Blessing of the City and
the World
That very year-the memorable
year 1S70-the five great powers of
dependence of the Papacy just as they
had guaranteed the independence of
Belgium, namely, Germany, Austria,
England France and Italy, betrayed
their trust, betrayed the Papacy, and
allowed Italy to seize Rome, the
'Patrimony of St. Peter" the "City of
the Popes" which they had embellish-
ed and guarded and governed for
more than a thousand years with a
stronger title than that of any other
| government of Europe. The Pontiff-
King was driven from his time-honor-
ed home and confined to the Vatican
where he has been shut up ever since,
practically "a prisoner in his palace"
| That was the first ''scrap of paper"
| torn up; it was then that the octopus
| of militarism which is stretching it's
| tentacles around the earth, was born.
| For, as soon as they realized what
| they had done and recognized the full
measure of their perfidy, those five
| great powers lost all faith and conf
| dence in each other and began arm
| ing to the teeth in the vain endeavor
to preserve the new balance" of mill
tary power in Europe, thus substitute
| ing the law of might for the law of
| right. Then began the exciting inter
national race for military supremacy
N the upbuilding and maintenance of
| immense standing armies and navies
in time of peace, piling up combusti-
| n1nC and Of OF In
someone dropped a match and the
whole gigantic structure based on
| the brotherhood of man" without
the Fatherhod of God" blew up with
| a terrible roar, leaving the whole
world at the mercy of all the unchain-
! ed demons of hell, the unrestrained
passions of hatred, suspicion, blood
! lust and revenge, and the scourges of
war, famine and pestilence. That is
why at the outbreak of the present
world-War no two persons. could agree
| as to who started it. President Will.
son himself felt obliged to call on the
| belligerents to state their aims and
explain to a puzzled world what the
| quarrel was all about. A new genera
ton had come into being and knew
| not the significance of that fateful
| twentieth of September" 1870, when
the greatest moral power on earth was
| dethroned Barrabas preferred to
| Christ, and his Vicar on earth ceased
| to bestow his annual benediction ON
the inhabitants of the city and the
| world.
No Peace Without God.
That is why you and I are witness
| ing today the most awful catastrophe
the world has ever known, in which
rivers of blood and billions of treas
ure are being poured out like water,
yet the cataclysmic confagration goes
steadily on with ever-increasing fury
while the Father of .Christendom, ,"
looking out from the windows of his
prison palace, Weeps, and mourns, and
cries out in the anguish of his pater-
nal heart: "My children are murder
ing each other!" For, there can be
no "just and lasting peace" till the
blood-stained nations of the earth
recognize the fact that there can be
no true democracy, no real brother
hood of men without the fatherhood
| of God as manifested in the august
lperson of his Vicar on earth, for, in
the words of the late beloved Pope
| Plus x: ITO want peace without God
is an absurdity, seeing that where
God is absent thence, too, Justice fees,
and when justice is taken away it is
vain to cherish the hope of peace
| And, again: 1--WE hold on earth the
| place of Him Who is the Author of
peace and Lover of charity, embrac-
/ ing as we do, in fulf1llment of our
| Apostolic charge, all countries, and
| peoples, and nationalities in one I'M
divided sentiment of fatherly love-"
/ (Pius X. This was the meaning of
| the superb spectacle and symbolic
ceremony of the "Benedictio Urbi ct
Orbi'' performed in Rome for the last
time in 1870. Peace without God and
his Christ is impossible, for we mem
bers of the Holy Name Society know
and believe that There is no other
name under heaven given to men
whereby we must be saved" (Acts
/ IV-12).