The menace. [volume] (Aurora, Mo.) 1911-1920, 1919-08-02
pAPAL INTRIGUE IN PEACE CONFERENCE
By
81 Bliss Building. Washington D, Q.

tOrial in the "Osservatore Romano" explains
fully the reason behind the journey OF Msgr.
Cerretti, papal under-secretary for foreign
affairs to Paris, which has been undertaken
entirely in connection with the missions in the
colonies, until recently under German control.
The 'Osservatore" quotes the contents Of
clauses 122 and 43S of the Versailles treaty;
the former giving power to the local govern
ments Of the colonies to expel all Germans or
to lay down the conditions of their residence;
the latter putting the administration Of the
missions in the hands of council, which must
be Christian, and must devote the property Of
the missions to Christian uses.
The editorial then points out that the re-
suit may be that either the good work of the
missions may be brought entirely to an end
by the expulsion of the German missionaries
and the lack of others to replace them, or the
schools, churches and other property OF the
missions, being administered by a council,
called Christian, but possibly composed Of
PrOtestants, FreemasOns or any other persons
whatever, may be devoted to other than Cath
.Olic purposes.
The "OsservatOre" calls attention to the
fact that the pope has divine right to send
apostles to infdeIs; that clause 122 infringes
this right; and that the missions are Catholic
property, many of them being legally vested
in the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda
Of the Faith. 1t declares also that, in case
missionaries 60 outside their priestly Office
and mix in politics, this congregation will i'm
mediately recall them to their duty.
The papal organ, having thus lucidly
shown the injustice Of the clauses as worded
it is felt that with the expert aid of Msgr.
Cerretti at hand in Paris, there should be no
t,, ,osno tha f,vf,V NJ ft,ocn
missions.
1t is easy to read between the lines in that
statement from the see of the most clever and
elusive Roman prelate in the New World the
truth which has been so carefully modified and
misstated. The papal autocrat sent his under
secretary Of state to Versailles to write pro
visions in the peace treaty making these papa
guarantees:
/. Divine right Of the pope TO hang his po
iitical and financial yoke upon peoples regardless
of their consent or that of their governments.
2. Right of German Jesuits to continue
their peculiar papal and German propaganda II
lands no longer willing to tolerate them.
3. Exclusion of Pr0testants, especially
Masons, from all mission fields, leaving none bu
Roman Catholic priests, chiefly Jesuits, to ex
plot those fields
A. PerpetuatiOn of title in one of the Close
corporate branches of the alien papal govern
Inent to the vast properties and wealth tha
bishops and priests have extOrted from starving
and destitute poems and peasantry in every cline
5. Continuation Of control of schools by Ro
man bishops in the many lands now almost total
ly iliterate because of centuries of such control
The statement concludes with the confiden
prediction that the skill and cunning of Cerrett
will enable him to write the foregoing guarantee
in the treaty. AS the final text of the treaty i
yet unknown as these lines are written, tn
measure of his success remains to be seen. Blu
his favor at the vatican is established. Past DO
litical stunts entltle him to the red hat of car
dinal. If the league survives action of tn
United States senate, he will likely sit besid
Drummond and the black pope as legate q
latere" from the vatican to Geneva and so com
plete the papal triumvirate to rule and debaucl
the world.