The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-04-26
THE CHURCH AND THE ORIENT

tortures of hunger and even slaugh-
tered en- masse.
And, therefore, on behalf of the
Armenians in general and in particular
those condemned to death or in any
| need of Our help, personally and re-
peatedly We appealed to the Emperor
- N'thesOttomans, or urgently put their
fore those SOvereigns who
20 Us to have most influence
Il. We succeeded thus, by Di-
, I'll, in preventing massacres in
r. al places and in saving many
l8tFes Moved by compassion for the
many orphans Of Armenia, We opened
a refuge for them in COnstantinOple
| AS regards Syria and the Lebanon, in
order to prevent horrors which were
feared and to provide food for the in
habitants there, We appealed for the
intervention and help of various gov
ernments. All sufferers in the Orient,
in fact, We endeaVored to help with
the material and moral means in Our
power. assisted in Our task by the zeal
of Our representatives.
After the Armistice.
And even now that the armistice has
come and the clash of war has ceased,
Our anxiety is still keen on behalf of
the Christians of the Orient. For seri-
GUS political upheavals and rekindled
struggles of nationalities are hindering
there the normal development of civil
inin 70 0tc11 hn
subject peoples of the Russian Empire,
where the proclamation OF religious
| liberty had aroused such hopes Of
better future. In the other parts of
| the Orient, too, there appears before
! Our eyes the sad spectacle of missions
dispersed. Christian communities rob-
| bed Of churches and pastors, peoples
| in prey Of political commissions, fight
ing among themselves for the first
necessaries Of life.
The Holy Places.
But there is one matter on which
We are most specially anxious, and
that is the fate of the Holy Places, on
account of the special dignity and i'm
pOrtance for which they are so vener-
ated by every Christian. Who can
ever tell the full story of all the efforts
Of Our Predecessors to free them from
the dominion of infidels; the heroic
deeds and the blood shed by the Chris
tians of the West through the cen
| turtles? And now that, amid the re-
| joicing of all good men, they have
| finally returned into the hands of the
| Christians, Our anxiety is most keen
as to the decisions which the Peace
| Congress at Paris will soon take con-
cerning them. For surely it would be
a terrible grief for Us. for all the Chris
| tian faithful, if infidels came to find
themselves in a privileged and SUI
perior position; much more, if those
most holy sanctuaries of the Christian
religion were given into the charge of
none Christians
ProseIytizers.
We learn, too, that nom Catholic for
eigners, furnished with abundant
means and property, profiting by the
great misery and ruin that the war
has brought on Palestine, are there,
spreading their errors. Truly harrow
ing, indeed, is the thought that souls
| should be losing their faith and
Fastening to damnation on that
very spot, where Jesus Christ, Our
Lord, gained for them life eternal
at the cost of His blood. Help
less, deprived Of all they have, those
poor souls are stretching out to Us
suppliant arms, imploring not only.
food and clothing but the rebuilding
of their churches, the reopening of
their schools, the restoration of their
missions. TO this end We have for
Our part already set aside a certain
sum, and most willingly would We
give more, if the present poverty Of
the Holy See allowed. But it is Our
intention to excite the interest of the
Bishops of the whole Catholic world,
that they take to heart such a noble
and holy cause, arousing among all
the faithful that sense of active char
ity, which their ancestors always
showed towards their brethren of the
Orient.
And with the supreme trust, which
is all-important, that in this the help
of the Lord will not fail Us, we turn
to the nomination of the Bishops.