15 FEBRUARY 1913, Page 17

CHRISTIAN REUNION AND THE PAPAL CLAIMS.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPICTLT011."1

SIR,—It is understood to be the duty of all good Roman Catholics to defend the Pope, and one can only admire the courage with which your correspondents have done so on this. occasion. The value of the quotation from "La Croix" has not been diminished by any arguments used in their letters. It is still true that the claim of Rome to be the centre of a reunited Church merges into an extravagant personal claim. for the Pope, which tends to grow greater rather than less. It is still true that all who turn in that direction should be warned that the claims of the Pope are at variance with the universal standard of New Testament Christianity, and that until the papal claims are modified they must remain the permanent obstacle to every kind of organic reunion.-1 am,.