Evening star., 1924-08-28
What Europe Is Saying
About America
The Vatican
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE

. (Frederic William Vile took occa.
sion while in Rome to ascertain a
first hand the attitude of the Pope
and the Vatican regarding Roman
Catholic affairs in the United States
The religious issue which has lat.
terly become so prominent in Ameri-
can public life is. Of course. vigilantlS
Watched at the Holy See. The in
terestS of 100000 Americans who
Awn religious allegiance to the Pope
naturally command he Jealous at
tention Of the Church of Rome. To
ignore the issues raised by the ku
kluX klan, Mr.. Vile finds. is the
official attitude of Iius NJ and his
adviSers.)
- Roman Catholic affairs in the
United States. involving the religious
allegiance of 2G000,o00 American
citizens. never commanded more ear
nest attention at the Vatican than
they do today. The accession o.
Pope Plus NJ early in 1922 coincided
with the rise of the ku klux klan a.
political factor. and since he
ascended the papal throne the issue
of religious fr.edon as recent
events at Madison Square Garden tu-
multuously indicated, has vaulted int O
the forefront of our public discus
SionS The interest with which it is
observed at st. Peters IS commensu
rately eager. There is II" visible evi-
GenCe that the intere t is tinged with
anXietr. The official attitude of tbs
Vatican toward the Khan is ostensibl,
one of Cnmriete Indifference. The eN-
pressed belief is hat Iiianism will
wear itself out-that ii represents Il
passing phase like Know Moth . ism
70 years ago and the A r. a. move
ment of later era.
Viewed As Domestic Issue.
While the Vatican thus seems de-
termined to adopt no actively bellig-
erent policy toward the ku kluX cru
6ade, it is not blind to the fact that
American Roman Catholics have been
put on the defensive. Rome is con-
strained to permit them to carry on
their own defense and is confident
they will do 50 effectively. The Nati-
can regards the problem thus raised
as an essentially American domestic
affair in which the Pope. for the pres
ent at least, S not called upon to in
terfere. The general program of the
Vatican. as far the interests of
Roman Catholicism are concerned, is
defined to be one of uon-intervention
In all cases wherein purely doctrinal
questions are not in olved. The Khan
hostility to Americans of the Roman
creed is in no respect, the Vatican
feels an ecclesiastical matter. 1t is
something purely, the holy see
thinks, to be thra shed out among
Americans themselves. Indeed. from
the Pope's standpoint. it is so quin-
Essentially local American situa-
tion that the church'S hope of a Solu-
ton friendly to the Catholic COM
munity rests mainly on that fact
that is to say. the Vatican holds that
when any group or element or or
ganization in the United States as
sails the principle of religious lib
erty, it strikes so directly a the fun
damentals of American constitutional
life that the American people them
Selves may be trusted TO repel and
crush such movements. That view is
encountered in responsible Catholic
quarters in Rome. Immediately the
papal reaction" to klanism is in
vestigated.
Held No Real Menace.
Still another view is ref1ected-that t
is that the ancient Church of Rome
has survived so many storms and
shocks throughout its tempestuouS
history that the ku Klux klan cam
not impress itself upon the papal
imagination as anything more dam
gerous than a passing squall The
Vatican survived Bismarck and the
"kultur- ur-kampf" in Germany a gen.
eration ago 1t appears to be serene
ly hopeful that it will eventually sur
mount Evans and this American chal
lenge to Rome, indicated by whim-