The Daily Telegraph. TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3763, 7 August 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1883.

When , the report reached this colony that the Pope had written an encyclical letter to the Catholic Bishops in Ireland in_ which they were forbidden to assist in raising the Parnell Fund, it was considered for the time to have been an interference with politics. An almost angry feeling-, indeed, was created at the idea that His Holiness had overstepped the limits of his sacred calling, but those who harbored such an impression must have drawn a very lively picture from the wording of a short and meagre cablegram. The true story appears to have been conveyed to the New York Herald by that paper's correspondent at Rome, and whoso letter is as follows:—I had a private audience with Cardinal Simeoni, Prefect of the Propaganda, •at his residence in the Propaganda Palace. The Cardinal, who during the day, as he himself informed mo, had an interview with the Pope, received me with even more than wonted affability, and favored me with a long interview, m ?he course of which the Irish question was considered from every possible Catholic point of view. In answer to my categorical questions, which I need not quote, the Cardinal, who had first obtained the approval of the Pope for so doing, made the following frank, full, and important statement: —" To begin with, the Letter to the Irish Bishops had no political aim or purpose. Into political questions the Holy Father has himself said, and the Osscrvatore Eomano has since repeated, that ho cannot and does not enter. The Letter was disciplinary, and written in the interests of morality and discipline only. It could matter nothing , , or very little, to tho Holy

Father whether Mr Parnell received a testimonial of ten thousand, a hundred thousand, or a million lire. Mr Parnell was personally not in the mind of the Holy Father of the Propaganda when the Letter was issued. But behind Mr Parnoll, sheltered under the prestige of his name, are many agitators, Irish and American, whoso conduct is immoral and revolutionary, tending - to sow dissension between nations and create a breach between priests and people. This very morning."—continued Cardinal Simeoni—"the Holy Father said tome, 'The Irish have always been led by the priests, and it is to be hoped the priests and people will always bo united in Ireland.'" The Cardinal continued: "The Holy Father also said to me, and seemed gratified by the fact, 'The agitation in Ireland seems subsiding. The Letter of the Propaganda is being implicitly obeyed both by the Bishops and the people. I should willingly see the cessation of angry discussions with all who suffer as the Irish suffer.' The Holy Father warmly expressed his best wishes for Ireland, and said to mo: ' I feel now, and shall ever continue to feel, the deepest sympathy for the Irish people, and especially for the Irish tenants.' [Cai-diual Simeoni, speaking to the correspondent in French, used the word form ir r.v.] ' So long as the Irish or any nationality took moral means, such as the law permitted, of advancing the patriotic cause, I should never for a moment think it necessary to interfere.'" Cardinal Simeoni continued; —"The Propaganda Letter was not even intended as a rebuke or reproach to the Bishops. It wa.s simply issued ns a fatherly warning, showing them into what pitfalls they might be led by some who under cover of a testimonial subscription seemed to be fostering possibly a murderous, certainly an unlawful agitation, and interfering with individual liberty. Yes, interfering with liberty: for, as I lately pointed out in conversation with Archbishop Croke—whom we have not rebuked in the Letter of the Propaganda, remember, any more than the rest of the Bishops — 'You said, Monsignorc, in a recent ad-

dress, something to this effect: " Give to this fund, and by measure of your liberality shall your patriotism be judged." ' By acting this way, undue pressure is brought to bear upon individuals and dissension created. The Letter of the Propaganda did not forbid agitation or public meetings. It did not forbid priests attending (hose meetings. So long as they make no violent speeches and use their influence to "calm angry passions which rage at such gatherings, they arc not forbidden by the Propaganda, nor does tho Holy Father forbid them from attending the meetings. Tho question is far broader, higher, and simpler than has been asserted. With persons and politics the Holy Father has nothing to do. But his duty is to show tho way of true morality to those who are in danger of forsaking it. Tho Letter of the Propaganda applies to all Catholics, irrespective of nationalities, and may be meditated by Americans, Australians, or Irish with equal profit. I may add that the Holy Father said to me, ' In the matter of the Letter of tho Propaganda it would be woll to make it clear to all Catholics that the Holy Sec neither has acted nor will act under the pressure of any foreign Government whatever.' "