The Pope on February 16th issued an Encyclical to the
French Bishops which, though it contains nothing new, will have a material influence on them as politicians. In it he defends with great force the old doctrine of his Church, that any form of government is allowable and entitled to obedience, provided that its action accords with the dictates of Christianity and the Church. There have been, writes the Pope, " many Governments in France during this century, and each has had its distinctive form,—Imperial, Monarchical, and Republi- can. Each of these is good so long only as it makes for the common well-being, and one form may be good at one time and another at another. Catholics, like all citi- zens, have a perfect right to prefer one form to another, as none of these forms in itself is opposed to Christian teaching. The Church has always in its dealing with States fully recog- nised this principle." "Acceptance of a new Government is therefore not only permissible, it is a duty." That is clearly a definite utterance on a question of morals, and as such it binds the French Episcopate, which has been much inclined to contend that a Republic, in France at all events, is
inherently atheistic, and ought, therefore, to be resisted as an evil thing.
