FRANCE AND THE VATICAN.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 October 1919, Page 6

FRANCE AND THE VATICAN.

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS NOT TO BE RENEWED. « (Morning Post Correspondent). Paris, July 3. The- more or less private efforts which have been in progress for many months past with the view of bringing about a i renewal of the official relations between 'France and the Vatican have apparently i been brought to an abrupt end by a flat | refusal on the part of France. So far j as the Vatican is concerned the situaj tion is summed up in a statement made ;by Cardinal Gasparri in the course of an •interview in Rome, a report of which is 'published this morning in "Le Journal.'' | "It is for France to judge," the Papa! Secretary of State is reported as saying, ■ 'lf the re-establishment of diplomatic ! relations would be useful or necessary, | and it will be for her to take the initiaitivc. We shofild, of course, respond with j pleasure, but on condition that the negotiations did not take place through the intermediary of the Consnlta. France is great enough to handle her own affairs." The. whole question was unexpectedly brought before the Chamber yesterday by MM. .lean Bon an.l rV. Monzie. two deputies with entirely opposed views, who have been seeking an opportunity for several months of having the matter thrashed out, and particularly since the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France brought up the question of how France would decide to deal.with the question of the appointment of bishops in these newly liberated provinces. The bishops under German occupation were naturally pro-German, and the substitution of others in their stead would, of course, become necessary even had not the late incumbents themselves solved the difficulty by taking flight.

THE ALSACE-LORRAINE BlSHOfi M. Jean Bon, who is a Socialist and a ferocious anti-Clerical, brought the question to an issue by asking point-blank if the Government intended to re-estjblish the Concordat. At the end of April, he reminded the Chamber, the President of the Republic, and M. Clcmenceau, by a simple decree, had nominated two new bishops for Strasbourg and Metz, but so far papal bulls confirming the appointments had not been promulgated. He asked if these were being held back until France consented to resume diplomatic relations witu the Vatican.

M. de Monzie, who is a strong partisan of the renewal of diplomatic relations with the Papacy, but opposed to the revival of the Concordat, posed the same question as his Socialist colleague. So far back as 1914, he reminded the Chamber, the Viviani Cabinet had sent M- Charles Loiseau to Rome to keep the Vatican in touch with France, and since then a whole series of missions had followed with the view of letting the Papacy know the tendencies of the French Government. He emphasised particularly that since the day of the armistice Cardinal Amette, Archbishop of Paris, had paid a visit to Rome armed with papers signed by M. Clemenceau to open negotiations in reference to the Alsace-Lor-raine Bishops. At the same time, however, as these semi-official negotiations official negotiations had been going on through the medium of Sir Henry Howard. He therefore accused the Government of carrying on oblique negotiations through the British Minister at the Vatican at the same time as the semiofficial negotiations through Cardinal Amette.

M. PICHON'S REPLY. M. Pichon, in reply, asserted tliat Cardinal Amette had acted spontaneously and without solicitation from the French Government in the steps he had taken at Rome. Alsace and .Lorraine, he reminded the Chamber, were under the regime of the ConcorJat. Carflinal Amette on his return to Paris, he explained, informed the Government that the Pope had iii his hands the resignations of both the German Bishops, and brought with him a list of names which had been approved by the Vatican with a view to the appointment of their successors. M. Clcmenceau subsequently indicated to Cardinal Amette two of these names, and on June 13 the Cardinal informed the French Government that the Pope was willing to agree to the appointment of the prelates in question. "There have been neithei negotiations nor bargainings," added M. Pichon. 'The Concordat which exists in Alsace is still in force. In France the Separation Law exists, and is in force. We shall have no diplomatic relation; with the Vatican, either official or semi-official."