Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-22
POpe's Encyclical Produces
New Discussion of Family

Attention has been again turned to
the status of the family by the encyclical
of Pope Plus, in which he reafirms the
position of the Catholic Church toward
divorce and allied subjects. Many de-
clare that society as whole must take
to heart the opinion as expressed by the
Vatican, while others point out in
evitable conflicts with modernism.
Nobody who reads the encyclical on
the subject of Christian marriage" de-
clares the Detroit Free Press, can re-
tain any doubt about the fundamental
attitude of the church Of which he is
head toward the institution of matri-
mony, and toward the general question
of sex and family relationships. Many
people will consider the letter from
Rome final and binding, many others
will disagree with parts of it more or
less violently. A few will reject it in
toto. But nobody can reasonably fail
to admit that his holiness has met one
of the most active and vexed questions
of the time in a direct and aggressive
way, and without concession to the
enemy. The positive, assured tone of
the encyclical, the uniformity with
which a spade is called spade, the
declination to compromise with or
speak in softened phrase regarding
things the writer considers evil, give the
document a character that should pro-
woke attention even from those least
likely to accept it as a rule of life. It's
content makes it an historic declaration
whose significance may be more APP
parent decade hence than it is now"
1T may easily become one of the
great Vatican papers of all time" thinks
the Scranton Times, as it offers the
judgment: With divorce increasing in
this country until it is looked upon with
alarm, and the ease with which some
other countries like France, Mexico and
Russia permit the marriage ties to be
dissolved, there is, 1t must be conceded,
need for some one or soma institution
with authority to raise its hand and cry
halt. Pope Plus encyclical is intended
to protect the family, the home and
society"
aside from the issues themselves,
in the opinion of the Oklahoma City
Oklahoman, there stands out the
eternal. the inhexible character of 3the
Catholic Church. In the matter of
fundamental principle it is entitled to
whatever credit accrues from being the
same yesterday, today and forever. If
there Is any virtue in remaining true to
the traditions, in remaining imperVious
to chance and changing conditions, in
thinking and acting in terms of CEN
turtles, then the Church of Rome pos
sesseS the virtue in a degree possessed
perhaps by no other order in all time"
las a high and noble restatement of
the sanctity of the home, the encyclical
should be taken to heart. AS a solution
for difficult problems. it too largely
ignores the needs of this age" asserts
the Milwaukee Journal. The Hamilton
Ontario Spectator advises that the fact
that the condemned practices are, to
such great extent, already accepted as
eXpedient if not necessary, by large
sections of the people, cannot be
ignored" That paper concludes that
'the overwhelming majority of Protes-
tants will be absolutely at one with the
Vatican in its LEGISLATION of such
abominable experiments as companion
ate marriage" The GAINESVILLE Gazette
says: In world gone mad over sex
relationships, something powerful, as
is this encyclical, was surely needed 1t
is like hating signal by some leader
at time when a mob is in motion and
attention fixed on the man who has