Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-26
continued Prom Third page.l


Gasparri himself has always loiked
upon the years spent in Paris as "provi-
DENTAL" During that time he perfected
himself in the law of the church and
prepared himself to head UP the COM
mission which was later to codify the
canon laws. Early IN his career at Paris
he came under the notice of Leo XIII,
who appointed him a member of the
Commission on Anglican Orders, about
which subject he later was to publish
what is recognized as a standard mono
graph. He was then appointed apos-
tolic delegate to Peru, Bolivia and
Ecuador, where he remained three
years, to return to Rome as the secre-
tary of the Congregation of Extraor-
binary Ecclesiastical Affairs under the
headship of Cardinal Rampolla, for
whom he has always. professed the high
est possible admiration and the greatest
personal esteem.
1t was at this time, too, that he was
appointed by Pope PilSs x to the work
of codifying the CANON law, position
the difficulties of width can best be
appreciated when we know that a GER
tain professor of canon law in a Ia
nous university used up three lecture
periods to prove the codlflcation was
possible. Commissions weUe appointed
to study the laws of the church, and
came forth, under the direction OF
Gasparri, the "Codex Iuris Canonici,"
a work which of itself wou1d be <uf-
flcient to bring fame to the man re-
sponsible for it. In 1907 Gas oarri was
made a cardinal and assigned to the
title of San Bernardo. In 1914 on the
death of Cardinal Ferrata, he was
named secretary of state to his holi-
ness Benedict XIV, which position he
held continuously, serving und er two
pontiffs, to the time of his resig nation.
1t was during the Is years of his tenure
of the position of cardinal secret airy Of
state that he laid the foundations for
the worldwide fame which has come
to him. Thrown into this position in
the darkest days of the war, he tim
mediately set to work to formulate the
policies which were to guide the nEw
Pope in his relations with the warring
nations. That his position was besat
with almost insurmountable difficulties
is well known. The allies were vicious
in their attacks upon the Holy See;
the German groups scarcely less so.
Every scheme possible to human in
genuity was called into play in order
to force the Vatican to relinquish its
attitude of strict neutrality.
Pope and Gasparri Impartial.
Through all the struggle the Pope
and Gasparri remained impartial. They
could not be dragooned into Judgment
on the guilt of either party for starting
the war. They refused to address the
world on the question Of war guilt with
the glib nonchalance of a Journalist,
for their first duty was to protect the
interests Of the church, mother to mil
lions of warning children on each side.
We today clearly see that it would have
&c xNya1I IN he VA
come out for either side, but it was not
quite so plain in 1915 and 1916.
Partisanship had no place in the
policies of the Holy See. The Pope
however, was not blind to the injustices
being committed by both sides in the
name of civilization and justice. With
great vigor and unanswerable logic he
fiayed the attractions of international
and national law by the belligerents
Thus the breach Of Belgian neutrality
was condemned by Cardinal Gasparri in
unmeasured terms. In a letter to the
Belgian Minister to the Holy See he
wrote:
while, then, in the present conflict
as a general rule one side accuses and
the other denies, and the Holy See, con-
sequently, being unable to conduct an
inquiry to find out the truth. cannot
make any announcement. In this case
nized that in the invasion of Belgium a
violation Of neutrality was committed
contrary to international law. justifying
1t simply on the grounds of military
necessity. 1t follows that the invasion
4 of Belgium is directly included in the
words used by the Holy Father in the
\ conSistorial allocution of January %
slast. when he condemned openly every
injustice by whatever side and for
whatever motive committed
Cardinal Mercier, whose patriotism is
beyond suspicion, again and again tes-
titled to the loving interest taken In
Belgium by Benedict XIV and to the
protection accorded by the Pope to her
lsnational rights.
Organized War Relief Societies.
During the years of the war Gasparri
organized a large number of relief So
cietfGs for the suffering populations of
the different countries. He set up, too,
several agencies for the exchange of
prisoners of war. During those days
the Vatican literally pauperized itself
in or der to bring assistance and conSo-
lation \to the affiicted peoples of Europe.
of possible Misunderstanding sent out
to the powers letters urging them to
end the war and to conclude just and
honora bleA1 peace. The words of the Holy
See did mob fall on deaf ears. The OBJ
jectives laicl\ down for peace founded
on the Chrk tan principles of justice"
were afterwaAd incorporated into q doc
ment by q faA1ous American statesman
and became "a e starting point for the
discussions which ended in the treaty
Of Versailles.
with the corning OF peace the vati-
can had to facek Aituations no less seri-
Gus than thosel 1t hid just passed
through. The new nations which had
been carved out ot5AuStria and Western
Russia presentedN difficulties before
which any statesman might reasonably
quail. Gasparri entered into the aSpi-
rations of each Of the new nations, and
with Poland, LithuallAa, Latvia, Estho-
mia, Rumania and CAiechoslovakia in
which the rights and corresponding du-
ties of both state and church are set
down.
AS direct result of these agreements
peace and stability have become the
portion Of these new naN1ns. their in
put on firm foundations iuld contri-
button has thus been made No European
understanding and good VIII Of meal
culable worth and value. Ehe broad
mindedneSs and fine Sympatl " with ma
tional aspirations shown by Gasparri
in all these negotiations, eSpe Hally With
the Slav nations, who are di Bcult for
even the best-intentioned ives terner to
understand, strike the observer as quail
tiles of mind and heart whic. mark
him as one of the greatest Statesmen
of the twentieth century.
GaSparri on assuming ofice inhA rited
from a preceding administration a&seri-
Gus problem with reference to the 1ela-
tons of church and state in FRI ulce.
In the early days of the twentieth am
fury anti-clericalism had run rife in