The Holy Father and the Hierarchy

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 22, 4 June 1908, Page 31

The Holy Father and the Hierarchy

Again and again is it said by certain people (says the ' Catholic Weekly '), who are ' wise in their own conceit ', that the Holy Father is quite ignorant of the situation in France, and that it is to his ignorance that the - present wof ul state of the Church in France is mainly due. The following statement made by Cardinal Lecot, after two audiences with his Holiness, and published in ' Rome,' ought to shame and silence these wiseacres : — ' The Pope,' said his Eminence, 'is perfectly informed about the situation in France. He follows closely everything that happens in our poor country, and whenever he speaks to us, he will T)e listened to with confidence and submission. There is perfect unity among the Bishops of France, and there is no sign whatever that this union among ourselves and with the- Holy Father, which has been our great strength during the painful days we have gone through will ever be broken. The conversations I hav<? had with his Holiness during my present sojourn in Rome have brought home to me more clearly than ever how minutely the Holy Father wishes to be informed about everything.' Our readers will, we are .sure, derive a special pleasure from this statement, not only because it is calculated to silence and shame the enemy, but also because they -will gather from it that the Holy Father has, thanks to the splendid loyalty^ of the Bishops of France, much to console him in the midst of the sorrows which have come upon him. from Modernist disloyalty.