18 OCTOBER 1935, Page 6

What the general feeling is among Roman Catholics regarding the

Archbishop of Westminster's. references to the Pope and the war I have not discovered. With much of what he said about the Pope's difficulties there will be general sympathy. But is the Holy Father really only a helpless old man " in Archbishop Hinsley's eyes ? Is he not to the Roman Catholic Church the Vice-gerent of God on earth, the successor of the Pontiff who called an Emperor to Canossa ? I see, moreover, that Dr. Hinsley himself has just announced that the Pope has granted an indulgence of a hundred days to all married couples in the Archdiocese of Westminster who kiss the wife's wedding ring and repeat a certain prayer. With all respect, is the power to confer that privilege the power simply of " a helpless old man " ? *. *