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Show J POPE TO BRITISH CATHOLICS. Says Charges of Pro-Boer Sympathies Cruelly Wrong Him. Rome, March 7 The influential memorial me-morial from British Catholics to the Pope, promoted by the Duke of Norfolk, Nor-folk, in which the signatories protested protest-ed against the rampant Anglophobism of the clerical preas in Italy, caused real concern in the Vatican, and by the order of the Pope a thorough investigation investiga-tion was instituted. The official reply sent to the Duke by 'Cardinal Rampolla was not altogether satisfactory to the memorialists, but they will probably be soothed by another letter, written in the Pope's own hand, to Cardinal ! Vaughan. The Pope declares that those who attribute at-tribute to him pro-Boer sympathies in the lamentable fratricidal struggle now-pending now-pending in South Africa, cruelly wrong him personally and the Church of which he is the divinely-appointed guardian. He is well aware that the British army contains many thousands of Catholic soldiers, who, from the beginning be-ginning of the war, have distinguished , themselves by their heroism, and his heart has bled for them in their sufferings. suffer-ings. He loves England too well not to wish her a happy issue out of the present pres-ent trials, and he knows, moreover, that it is in the interests of the Church that the British arms should prevail. It is impossible for him to approve of the war, but how could it be supposed that he desires the triumph of the Boers? As for the Osservatore Romano, the so-called organ of the Vatican, the Pope reminds Cardinal Vaughan that the paper has never published an official offi-cial note referring to the war. If it has published articles commenting on tne war, it is only just to point out that they were not in any way inspired by the Vatican. Furthermore, the articles complained of never expressed a desire de-sire for Boer a triumph. Before writing this last letter, the. Pope had all the articles read to him, and he. also made a review of the records of the Vatican press department. The result of the latter action will probably be that several sev-eral newspapers will be dropped from the list of journals authorized to receive re-ceive information from the Vatican. The list certainly required some such examination, for, according to all reports, re-ports, it contained some queer entries. en-tries. There is some reason to believe that the Pope contemplates making a public pub-lic declaration of his attitude toward the war. This will probably take the form of an authorized statement in the Osservatore Romano. It is noteworthy, by the way, that the Vatican organa recently ceased all reference to the war. The Osservatore Romano, with touching self-denial, has not made one appeal recently to the powers of Europe to intervene, not has it published a word about the relief of Kimberley and Ladysmith or the surrender sur-render of Cronje. |