ANGLO-CATHOLICS AND REUNION
[To the Editor of THE SPECrATOR.] Sin,—I can also remember the days when Mr. Ivor Thomas ran the Society for Reunion at Oxford ; he ran it in a very lively and intelligent way, and I am therefore all the more surprised at the quality of his letter.
(1) The Feast of Christ the King. What is the matter with it? Does he look on the Son of God as merely the prime minister of this world (scarcely complimentary, if one may Judge from the qiiility.of most prime ministers), or is he so strongly anti-monarchist that he considers the ascription of kingship an insult to God ? In the latter case I imagine he remains seated when the National Anthem is played.
(2) The Roman Church's attitude in Ethiopian Oral's. One wearies of this dead horse. As Father D'Arcy explained in your paper some weeks ago, the Pope agreed by the Lateran Treaty to keep out of all international disputes, unless both sides appealed to him as a court. In this case no appeal was made by either side. Does Mr. Thomas expect the Pope to treat the Lateran Treaty as a scrap of paper ?
(3) In regard to the Spanish Civil War the Holy See has remained neutral ; this was officially stated in the Osservatore Romano when the trouble broke out, and the Pope's speech at Castel Gandolfo was strictly non-partisan. The majority of Catholics are fighting for Franco, as far as one can make out, but there are many Catholics on the other side.
It is true the Pope has condemned the errors of Marxiqu, without attacking any person or persons by name, and in doing this he was performing his duty as the leader of Christians ; the Archbishops of Canterbury and York might do well to give more attention to this urgent question, instead of making spiteful attacks on a Prince who has given the best of his life in the devoted service of this country.
(4) Mr. Thomas says the Roman Church is the " spiritual buttress of Fascism" but makes no attempt to substantiate this libel. It cannot be substantiated.
(5) To which encyclicals does Mr. Thomas object and fox what reason ? These vague attacks are not enough.
(6) He says " it is a sobering thought that every one of the modern dictators is or has been a Roman Catholic." I had never heard this said before about Stalin and Kemal Ataturk. General Metaxas, the dictator of Greece, who is from all accounts as autocratic as any of them, belongs I imagine to the Greek Orthodox Church, with which body Mr. Thomas should, as an Anglican, be in almost complete agreement.
As regards Hitler, Mr. Ivor Thomas knows enough about history to be aware that nobody becomes so fanatically anti- Catholic as the renegade Catholic. Knox, Luther and Calvin were all Catholic priests in their young days.
(7) The Austrian experiment. One swallow doesn't make a sununer, and thanks to the treaty-makers at Versailles the position of Austria since the War has been lamentable. From what I hear from Vienna, while some things are unsatisfactory, much good has been done in a remarkably difficult situation. My informants are not necessarily right-wing.—I am, Sir, yours faithfully, CLONMORn. Travellers' Club, Pall Mall, S.W. 1.
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