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Show j FRANCE AND THE VATICAN. France, on, Saturday last, recalled M. X'isard.. her ambassador to the Vatican. This is the sequel, to the Pope's public expression of displeasure over President Loubct's visit to Rome. The Frenchman ignored the precedent established by rulers of Catholic nations. His visit to Rome, his conduct while guest of the royal sovereign, his disinclination disinclina-tion to appear on the Leonine side of the Tiber, all conspired to represent the position of the French, government in its war upon the Church. It was tantamount to declaring the King of Italy lawful j heir to the property and territory of the States of the Church, seized by force of arms. Xo other Catholic nation has formally recognized such claim. Correspondents of American newspapers residing resid-ing at Paris put all manner of construction upon the Pope's protest and its effect upon the relations of France and the Church. This wa expected. Neither does it surprise us to he2r of "stormy in- terviews" between the French ambassador and Cardinal Car-dinal Merry del Val; the conclusion of the latter's associates in the College of Cardinals that his position po-sition is untenable; and grave misgivings among many of the prominent members and friends of the Church throughout Europe that the Pope is without balance iii matters of diplomacy. Such dreams furnish good "space copy" for the cable. 1 he one statement in the whole mess to which credit may be given is this: "The Pope is said to be fearless fear-less of the consequences that may follow upon his issue of the protest, as his act was dictated by a sense of duty." That has the right ring to it. The Church has never rnrnnvnniisofl i,i o,-. -it l i , iiver compromised in any matter where truth and its recognition did not transcend all else; never yielded the sense of duty to the clamor of temporal advantage. The final dissolution of diplomatic relations re-lations between the Vatican and France had to come sooner or later.' That it came so soon is surprising, surpris-ing, but the onus rests upon the government of France. Loubet and Combes invited the protest which Pius X gave to the world. Will the severance of relations result in the abolition of the Concordat i Heaven grant it may, despite the prayers offered up for its preservation.' Without complete separation from the State, the Church can lay no claim to independence; and without independence it is a body without bowels, blood or vitality. ' And, speaking of this Concordat, our neighbor, the Dcscret Xews, gives out a wrong interpretation interpreta-tion of its scope. It is not the link which binds the Church and State as-State and Church were bound prior to ths French Revolution. Its conditions condi-tions place the Church in a dependent position, the State agreeing to pay the salaries of curates and bishops in return for Church property confiscated and loss of revenue consequent upon such sequestration seques-tration by the State. Therefore it could never be a. real; union , of Church, eij State, Simply-a coerpive measure forced upon the Vatican by Xa-poleoii Xa-poleoii Bonaparte. To Americans who believe in complete separation separa-tion of Church and State and the wisdom of making mak-ing every creed and im stand upon its own bottom, bot-tom, the Concordat is an incongruity in ecclcsias-ticism. ecclcsias-ticism. j There may be some Catholics, and perhaps a great many, pious souls whose prayers will go out in pity. for the French priests deprived of their State stipend. They say that the French peasant., so long accustomed to seeing the priest's butcher and baker paid by a French notary, will be slow to respond to new conditions" resulting from a repeal of the Concordat. There is truth in these pessimistic pessi-mistic predictions. The Frenchman in France, if he works for a living, is a thrifty person. He lays more store to a copper sou than his countryman here places in a silver dime. It is the result of environment rather than nature, and this Concordat has contributed to bring about such indifference to the welfare of the Church. Pity for the Frein-h clergy? It. is pity wasted. 1 he Frenchman is not to blame for his negligence. Rather blame those placed over him as spiritual advisers for their negligence of spiritual administration; admin-istration; for their illy-concealed sympathy for royalty, and for their hostility to the patriotic sentiment sen-timent of France. But most of all the neglect of souls-has brought about this awful indifference to religion and made it possible for an inrklel minority mi-nority to control the destiny of a once Catholic country. 'With the Concordat repealed, and these French priests going with a hungry belly to visit their people, peo-ple, the apostolic spirit of France will revive. What a lessor! old Father Do Smct could give these French curates were ho alive. When wo reflect, it appears these French priests arc not worth their salt until they arc sent out on foreign missions. Then they become the greatest arm of the Church for the spread of faith, willing and ready to lay down their lives for it. |