Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-01-04
/. open Forum 4.
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And Sill -@The Hun
And His Allies !"

To The Editor:
We have hoped and have worked for
the defeat of the Hun, and would have
him deprived of power ever to make
further disturbance in the world. Wei
have seen that the system headed by
/ the pope has been an ally of the Hun
in this war ON World Democracy. lnI
our first writing. attention was con
fined to the political aspect of theI
papal position. Then we were treated
to homilies specializing on the temporal
power of the pope. Unintentionally of
course-our critics have greatly Sim
plified our work.
In the demand for the dismember
ment of Italy and the separation Of
Rome therefrom-they confess them
selves the implacable enemies Of Italy. |
The crippling of Italy would have SER
iously troubled the work of the other
Allied Powers. 1t might have defeated
1T would surely have hindered us in
our fight for World Democracy. Of
course the pope and his party sought
to keep under cover and to appear
if possible as friendly to the cause
of the Allies. But any one can see that
an attempt to ruin one of the Allied
Powers would have been a blow at |
the cause of all of them. To the thought |
ful-all this fight for the restoration
of the temporal power to the pope
aligns these contestants with cur en-
emies. The papal power so understands
it, but we had not expected our critics
to make so full and frank confession.
In speaking of the papal attitude IN
the war, we then made no reference
to the crimes of the popes. But when a
critic claimed that the popes are Gun
married "-and claimed special sane
tity for them-we rightly pointed to
the infamous corruption that has pre- !
vailed in papal circles, showing by
authority that no Romanist dares dis |
pute--that during the last thousand
years, little more than one in four
of all the popes has been openly and
notoriously a murderer or adulterer-
or both This corruption of the popes
and their court is so much the worse,
because the men involved make claim
to special sanctity, and special nearness
to God. AS to the immoralities of re-
cent popes-Gregory Plus TX and Leo
these were so openly and shameless
ly before the public that thousands Of
people yet living are witnesses. Thous-
ands of our people visited Rome during
these pontificates-the accounts have
been freely ublished-and, as in like
cases nearer home, the parties involved
have not dared prosecute anybody for
slander.
It is idle to say that the native
Romans who tell these things are Gin
fidels 49, 'enemies of the pope', etc.
for moment ago it was asserted that
these Romans were SO attached to the
pope that but for italian bayonets,
they would never have voted, hund.
red to one, to turn the pope out of the
temporal power. And yet, in spite Of
the know villainy Of some of the
popes, Romanists declare that these
men, each and every one of them, was
an infallible teacher of Christian truth
the supreme representative of the
Almighty God-and that every one who
turned away from him, went straight
to hell, without chance to escape
through purgator.
Then it is said that Mr.. Lisle has
thrown "dirt" (the usual weapon
against the Catholies). 1 am genuinely
grateful to the critic for this remark
1t is full confession of the truth OF
our statements. If we threw dirt, every
one sees that we manufactured none of
it. Pastor had gone digging among the
papal records in the vatican, and found
the awful, horrible, stenching mess. Re
porting his find to Pope Leo, the pope
in spasm of some sort, told Pastor |
to go ahead and tell the world what
scurvy set Of fellows had occupied the
popal chair No one, friend or foe, can
give truthful account of the popes
without shovelling in the filth in which
some of them wallowed. Some Rom
anists are ashamed of the papal history,
but others when mention is made Of
papal crimes, go yelling ''bigotry, :