Evening star., 1941-08-23
" Religious News Service.

The Roman Catholic Church In
France faces thorny problem. The
problem is to get along with the
Vichy government and at the same
time prevent Petain from using
Catholic groups as the social prop
for his regime
Dispatches from Rome this week
said that the French cardinals and
archbishopS have sent declaration
to the Pope in which they state that
the French Catholic Action organ
ization should stay out of politics
According to the Osservatore Ro-
mano, Vatican City newspaper, the
declaration was drawn up at meet
ing held in Paris on July "a with
the object of inviting Catholics to
collaborate with the Catholic Action
movement. But, says the declara-
ton, I'VE insist that this movement
limit its activities to expressly re-
ligious, apostolic and social aims
outside of party politics"
It is significant that the news of
this declaration was issued by the
Osservatore Romano. that is,
through Vatican sources, and not
through official French or NaZi
sources. This indicates that the de-
velopment is not receiving official
government approval.
What observers are wondering
about is the relationship between
the hierarchy's present declaration
and similar message sent to the
Pope by the cardinals and arch
bishops of German-occupied France
early in February. The February
declaration. it should be noted, was
made public in Berlin by the off,
cial DNB. news agency, which
said the message had informed the
Pope that the hierarchy 6 occupied
France would keep away from poll
tics" and work solely for "the well
fare of souls and support of the
unhappy"
The preoccupation of the D.N.B
agency with the February declara-
tion appears to indicate that pres
sure may have been put upon the
hierarchy in occupied France to dis
avow any intention of concerning
themselves with political develop
ments. Now that the relationship
between Vichy and Berlin has been
somewhat stabilized, Petain and the
Nazis may be anxious to have the
hierarchy and Catholic groups gen.
orally enter the political picture
by giving their blessing and support
to the new order. But the cardinals
and archbishops are not falling into
the Vichy net, as evidenced by
their current declaration warning
Catholic groups to keep away from
politics.
Church Leaders Wary.
They have good reasons for being
wary. While Vichy has ended the
rift between the church and state
by repeating discriminatory meas
ures restricting the influence of the
church in education, and while
Petain has proclaimed that France
will be reconstructed on the basis
of a program of moral principles,
the church has reason to fear the
increasingly totalitarian nature of
the government.
The French Catholic Church has
been one of the most democratic
of all the branches of the Roman
Catholic Church. Just before the
war it was making real comeback
in French life. 1t had won over
large segments of French labor by
its social -mindedness and was
generally favorable i'm
preston upon the French popula-
ton.
In lire with this growing in
fluence great church. building and
social service program was under
taken by church leaders. In the
Paris region alone 81 new churches
had been built at the end of 1898
and seven more churches, six
and four dispensaries were
under construction. Ten more
churches were scheduled to be built
in 1899.
Just before the outbreak of the
war bill was ready for presentation
to Parliament, backed by more than
ZOO Deputies, to repeal the law
against religious orders. If the
republic had continued the position
OF the church would probably have
become Of increasing Importance.
Churches in Russia.
An official announcement from
Moscow states that Soviet Russia
had 1888 churches, mosques and
synagogues on June /, 1941. Press
did not carry any rea-