RELIGIOUS TOLERATION IN ITALY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IX, Issue 478, 23 May 1867, Page 3

RELIGIOUS TOLERATION IN ITALY.

fFrom the English Independent^ Italy is showing us how to do it. j Baron Ricasoli’s remarkable letter, pointing priests and people to America as the model in ecclesiastical matters, is already converted into solid fact. He has a Bill into the Italian Parliament for the complete separation of Church and State, which is not only hailed with shouts of welcome by the representatives uf the pso-j pie, but wonderful to say, the priests themselves do not seem prepared to offer an y very resolute opposition to the measure, though it confiscates and secularises nearly half their property. Italy is the last country in the world in which when the Liberation Society was formed anyone would have supposed its principles would have found their application. But, then, who could have foreseeen the wonderful renovation of Italy itself? The old tyrannies under which she groaned were formidable from their very anti* quity, but as soon as they were mau-j fully assailed they crumbled into dust, j The monster ecclesiastical tyranny by j which ,it has been bound is equally! rotten. The assumptions and exactions) of Rome were so flagrant that the truth was forced upon the minds of men who; might otherwise have missed it. There; was need for the Italians to combat| Rome as well as Austria; and in the| endeavor to solve the problem pre-j sented to them, the great idea of sepa-j rating Church and State was stumbled] upon, and embodied in a formula which; is before very long destined to become! the maxim of every Christian nation —| ‘ A free Church iu a free State.” If; the Italians have not yet worded it ! exactly asEnglish Independents say iti should be worded, it is because they] have as yet no practical experience of] what “Free Churches ” are; they only) know the Romish Church, to which 1 the whole population of the country,! with quite insignificant exceptions, ostensibly belongs. Englishmen have' not yet had time thoroughly to com-' j prebend what it is that the Italians are about to do. The Times describes is as “an experiment for which the history of the world offers no prece-| dent.” The Italians “are taking the! I initiative in the treatment of social) and moral questions, by which less! (gifted nations have been harrassed and bewildered for ages.” When this bold step is consummated quietly, easily, and succssfully, as we have little doubt it will be the English people will no longer regard the separation of Church and State as an awful affair only to be discussed in the most theoretical jlashion and expected in the Millenium. Our statesmen and thinkers will he ashamed to lag behind the youngest olj the European States ; the example of) Italy must give an immense impulse] to the good cause of religious equality! in this country. The necessities of I the Italian Government have quick-! ened their pace. The property of the Church in Italy is roughly estimated) at sixty millions sterling. The Italians! want money badly, and see no reason) why they should not follow the exam-j pie set them by such good Catholic! countries as France and Spain. They) therefore invite the heads of the Church! to exchange their lauds for Govern-) ment stock, and, having done that, to) pay over to the State four millions ofi pounds yearly for six years to come.) In a word, the State will take) .£24,000,000, or two-fifths of the whole] (Church estate. leaving the other three- 1 fifths absolutely at the disposal of the! Church, on condition only of paying) out of it the pensions which the'Government now pays to the members of the suppressed ecclesiastical corporations. The Department of Public Worship will be abolished, —there will be henceforth no business for it to transact; and the first article of thcGonstitution, which declares Roman Catholicism to be the religion of the State will practically be annulled. The! iChurch will have no claim upon the! j provinces or communes for any tithes! )or taxes; her priests must depend,! and her worship must be maintained,! on the contributions of the faithful or! the revenue she j? permitted to retain,' The Church will be placed on the j footing of a voluntary society; the! State gives up all right to nominate bishops or to interfere in any way with the regulation of the Churce. She will os released entirely from Government control, —and in the face of the great power which the Papal priesthood are

able to wield, some persons think this dangerous; but the event will show it is safe, because it is right. If the priests are troublesome, is not the rest of their property in the Italian Rentes?