THE POPE AND PEACE
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—To judge from your comment and Dr. Berry's " trenchant words " on the Pope. you and Dr. Berry would have been equally annoyed with the Pope's Divine Master on the famous occasion when He failed to pronounce between God and Caesar. You would, perhaps, have argued that Christ did not " enhance the world's regard " for himself. Not only then but always, He seems to have resisted the natural hope that He would champion a people better than the Abyssinians against a conqueror more cruel than Mussolini. Nor did He ever denounce war as such. And it must be admitted that He did forfeit the regard of many who had been willing to follow him.
The Anglican Archbishops have protested handsomely. The difficulty is to understand why. What is their protest expected to achieve ? Whom do they hope to convert ? Englishmen unanimously and even angrily agree with them. Italians, if they are affected at all, will be irritated. It looks almost as if the Archbishops had intended to " enhance the world's regard "—for whom ? Righteous indignation is the favourite vice of the British people. It does not make for peace. Most of us can remember the protests uttered in many pulpits twenty years ago. They were made in all good faith and afterwards sincerely regretted. If in the present crisis the Pope had said what various would-be peacemakers have asked him to say the effect could only have been to embitter the enmity. He did, however, warn us not to allow reason to be obscured even by the noblest passions.
But, apart from anything the Pope may or may not have
said, he is the head of the only international that offers even a remote prospect of world peace. Yet most Englishmen still regard him with emotions similar to those with which the more extreme Fascists regard the League. They vigor- ously deny his authority until they want to exploit it.— 32 Lyttelton Court, N.2.
[As we stated in our note last week, His Holiness was
not being asked to make any specific reference to the present war. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York made none in the statement they drew up for use in Church of England pulpits. That a Catholic prelate can speak clearly and courageously on the iniquity of offensive war is demonstrated by the outspoken declaration broadcast by the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris last Saturday.—En. The Spectator.]
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