The menace. [volume] (Aurora, Mo.) 1911-1920, 1919-06-28
ROME WOULD REFORM TO Save.
THE POPES WANING AUTHORITY
Like Mohammed Who Could Not Make the Mountain
Come to Him, Benedict is Daring Enough to Advocate
Changes in Dogma to Preserve His Power
eIal Correspondence 70 New York World of June IL.

Special Correspondence New York World of June l5
ROME, May 16-Never since the wars of
the middle ages has the Holy See been SO nerv-
GUS about tomorrow as now, on the eve of peace
The war and its results have shaken its very
foundations. Austria, the greatest Catholic
power for many centuries, has crumbIed into
dust. The house of Hapsburg, ever the Holy
Sees stanchest friend and protector, is de-
thrOned and in exile; and the countries which
have risen in its place are in rebellion against the
authority and teaching of the Holy See.
Belgium, once the most generous contributor
of Peters Pence, is so poor and devastated that
it now ranks last among the givers of tribute.
The Greek Catholics are demanding autonomy;
Mgr. Xalfre di BOnzo, Papal NunciO at Vienna,
has just sent an alarming report about the atti-
tude of Catholics in Bohemia, Hungary and JugO-
Slavia to Holy See discipline The Bohemian
government demands the right to nominate
bishops and archbishOps, thus threatening one
of the pOpe's most ancient authorities. The
Catholics of Hungary demand not only exprO-
pratiOn of church lands, but marriage of priests,
and such divorce facilities for the laity as to
make the vatican shudder.
A Papal AdmonitiOn
The Pope has sent severe letter to the
'rebels" through his NunciO, but the Bohemian
press declares it cares nothing for such admOni-
ton.
In Turkey and Palestine the attitude of the
British government toward Arab and Jewish
claims has filled the pope with such alarm that
he has appealed to a French prelate, Mgr.
Baudrillart, for help and protection of Holy See
interests in these countries.
i In fact, events all round threaten the papal
authority and teachings as they have not been
threatened for many centuries
Not the least alarming is the progress made
by the American movement for the union of
] Christian churches. In the past few weeks the
, Holy Sees attitude toward it has undergone a
great change. Since Mgr. Cerretti arrived from
New York with report of the committees plans
to send emissaries all over Christend0m, news of
rebellion in the Catholic communities just men,
toned causes the pope to fear that these "reb-
els" will join with the Americans and break
away from ROme'S authority altogether.
The American committees delegation to the
G vatican will soon arrive, and one of its tasks is
to invite the pope to send representatives to the
Pan Christian congress. This again puts the
Holy See in dilemma for if it refuses it will be
: isolated from what looks like one of the biggest
+ church movements of history; if it accepts, the
E pope compromises his prestige by cOnsenting to
l merely send representatives where, as head of
I the Catholic church, he should initiate and pre-
Y side, giving orders and not following them. This
: is the vaticans viewpoint of the American move
ment.
Might Give Up Some DOgmas
! Some daring spirits there-and the pope is
L said to be of theln-have put forward a scheme
whereby leadership would revert to Rome, as in
l. the middle ages. Its most salient featrre is the
cOnvOcatiOn by the pope of vatican council, in
: viting representatives from all Christian
: churches. And as this would not be successful
unless the Holy See saw fit to renOunce certain
oe aIoy
revision so as to make it possible for Protestant
churches to join the union.
: A few personalities at the vatican have such
d modern ideas; Cardinal Gasparri is credited with
g being one of them. With a view to keeping pace
4 with the times, which, he says, is the only way
: to preserve the Holy Sees authority and teach.
d ing, he has sent experts into all Christian cOun
e tries to study and report on present conditions
S His experts are priests with wide views and fully
alive to the enormous changes war has brought
about. They report that the Catholic bishops
and archbishOps in the various countries are faI
{ more conservative and timd than anybody al
& the vatican itself. And Mgr. Gasparri's task is
4 now being further enlarged by the need of con
! verting bishops and archbishOps to the Holy Sees
d latest viewpoint. Both Pope Benedict and Mgr
y Gasparri are working hard to prevent the ruiz
e which threatens the Holy See, and there is M
doubt there that they will soon proclaim to tn,
world the plans they are now forming.
u THIS is unquestionably the most mo
/ mentous Of all messages from thu
k seat of Roman Catholic power since
r war swept the world into disorganized con
r fusion. The papal system is shaken to it,
u foundations because everything else hal
suffered a like upheaval. Fate plays nj
IS favorites under the conditions that have de
} veloped since those fateful days in the sum
d iner of 1914.
o Prussian kaiserism has been tested anC
repudiated; and the mightiest of war lord