ROME LETTER

New Zealand Tablet, 8 April 1915, Page 53

ROME LETTER

- (From, our own correspondent.) s"•■' January 31. J THE POPE AND THE POWERS. | ~ For two months Rome has had cause for amusement, thanks to those specimens of humanity known' ia Latin countries as 'priest-eaters.' If any degree of success could be hoped for, a>_ anti-clerical campaign on a small scale might relieve the feelings of chagrin of these people. They see nations and diplomatists clustering around the Papal throne much as they were wont to do in the halcyon days of the Papacy : they see the respect and deference with which the warringcountries receive the proposals of Benedict XV.; in a word, they find the Pope acting as Pope, hence their little wrath. And hence the amusement they occasion for the Catholics of Italy. But it is not alone against anti-clericals that the Pope has to contend in these days of turmoil: his Holiness sees even the semi-official organ of the Vatican compelled to rebut a charge of partisanship as regards the belligerents, and this coming from a. source which of all others has least reason to formulate such an accusation. SOME HEROES IN DyTY. In these days when we are accustomed to read each morning of heroic deeds done before the mouth of the cannon or at the point of the bayonet, we are apt to forget other deeds not less heroic because they are far from the noise of battle. 1. refer to the selfsacrifice with which the Bishops of the Philippines toil for their people under circumstances that mark true heroes. All, or nearly all the Bishops in the Philippines are American or Irish, men never accustomed to the trying climate of that region. Hence the mortality in their ranks has been very high both in the number of Vicars-Apostolic and of Bishops. And therefore it has often been asked whether the Holy See is likely to recall Philippine Bishops after a certain number of years' service and place them in charge of dioceses in their native America, and this not only to reward the prelates but to prolong very valuable lives. To this question no satisfactory response can, needless to say, be given at this stage, though we have always to bear in mind the Church is a kind and benignant mother.