THE "BLACK" POPE AND THE "WHITE" POPE. T HE speech made
by the Pope to the Cardinals in answer to their Christmas greetings shows that the Vatican—we speak rather of the institution than of the man—is determined to maintain and continue the struggle with the Italian Kingdom. That is, as the very able cor- respondent of the Times at Vienna puts it, the " Black " Pope has gained the day, and will continue to keep the " White " Pope in the background. These two forces, one political and the other religious, one worldly and the other spiritual, have always been opposed to each other in the world of Roman Catholicism. One influence has been directed towards magnifying and developing the political power of the Vatican ; the other has been intent upon extending the spiritual power and influence of the Roman Church. The last phase in this secular struggle seems to be giving victory to the " Black " Pope, for it was his voice that was to be heard in the Christmas speech. The Times' correspondent at Vienna puts the most recent aspects of the struggle so well that we cannot do better than summarise and quote his words as to the distinction now made in Hungary be- tween the two Popes, remarking, however, that this distinc- tion is a very old one, and by no means a modern coinage or restricted to Hungary. The " White" Pope, as the corre- spondent tells us, is regarded as" the venerated head of the Roman Catholic community, to whom all members of that Church look up with reverence, and whose behests within the limits of his own sphere—that is to say, the ecclesiasti- cal and moral—they all unhesitatingly obey. The 'Black' Pope, on the other hand, is the symbolic representative of the supposed temporal interests of the Papacy and of the system of intrigue and violence by which it is attempted to promote them, regardless of the prejudice which they may occasion to the countries chosen as the seat of war in a struggle which is as damaging to true religion as it is to material prosperity and progress." The correspondent goes on to point out that it is not only in Italy that the Vatican is injuring the true interests of the Church by its political aspirations. "In Hungary," he declares, "the serious prejudice to which the national interests are being subjected by tiltramontane intrigue is well calculated to open the eyes of Catholics to the danger both to true religion and to public order and prosperity involved in the temporal claims of the Papacy and the consequent con- version of the priest into a political agent." In America he points out that the situation is no less serious. There are there "thousands of good and devoted Catholics who cannot follow the reasoning that seeks to represent the restoration of the temporal power as an integral part of the Roman Catholic faith, and who are honestly convinced that their religion could only gain by a frank renunciation of claims which they regard as hopeless." He next proceeds to argue, and we believe with perfect truth, that since the Triple Alliance came into existence, "the influence which is predominant at the Vatican, and which is now characteristically styled the ' Black ' Pope, has been steadily at work against the Kingdom of Italy, which it considers as the principal hindrance to the restoration of the temporal power." The Vatican has not confined its operations to the demoralisation and weaken- ing of Italy. It has sought by various means to acquire ascendency in the Dual Monarchy, in order to break up the bonds which unite Italy with Austria. No wonder, he ends, that a large number of patriotic Catholics who are most sincerely devoted to the "White" Pope as the head of their Church refuse obedience to the " Black " Pope.
We should be wanting in sincerity if we gave the impression that we were inclined to give any special or personal sympathy or support to the Roman Church. We cannot for a moment admit the tremendous claims of Rome upon the human conscience, nor do we think her System, either moral or spiritual, the best calculated to advance the highest interests of Christianity or of true human progress. We protest, that is, against what we hold to be her errors. At the same time, we fully recognise that the Roman Church is, despite her errors, a great force for good arrayed in the battle against materialism, and that for the Latin races Roman Catholicism is probably the most suitable form of Christianity,—the form which attracts them most, and holds them most firmly. No one, therefore, who does not wish materialism to win can desire to see the spiritual forces of the Roman Church injured. The work she has to do among the Latin races may not be, and is not in our opinion, so great as the work which the various forms of Protestan- tism and Reformed Catholicism will accomplish among the Anglo-Saxon race, or the Greek Church among the Slays—the Latin races are on the downward, not on the upward, grade in strength and numbers—but it is nevertheless a work of vast importance. It is, then, because we desire to see the Roman Church efficient and apt for her spiritual mission that we raise a, protest, however insignificant, against the misguided action of the Vatican in spending its energies in the attempt to regain its temporal power by a life- and-death struggle with Italy. We shall be told, no doubt, that unless the Pope has temporal power. and has it in Rome, the Roman Church cannot exercise its spiritual functions. We absolutely deny that proposition. The Pope in the Vatican is per- fectly free to exercise all his spiritual functions. The proof is in the fact that he does exercise them unimpeded, except in so far as the impediments are self-created. His control over St. Peter's is prac- tically complete, and his own armed guard controls the Vatican. No doubt that guard could be overwhelmed with the greatest ease, but in what other capital in the world is there such an imperium in imperio as the Vatican ? The right to keep an armed guard, and the right to receive and send Ambassadors, are the symbols of authority, and the fact that they are allowed by the Italian Govern- ment is a notice to the whole world that the Pope is not the prisoner of the Vatican, but its Sovereign ; not the subject of the King of Italy, but an independent Power. It is strange indeed that the Pope should not realise that it is a far greater, nobler, and more potent thing to be the spiritual head of the whole Roman Catholic world than to be lord of a single city, to rule a spiritual Empire than to domineer in a parish of priests. But, it will be said, the Pope, if he had temporal power, could do both. True ; but the petty material cares of a little kingdom must interfere, and did interfere, with the higher functions of the Papacy. 'You argue from insuf- ficient knowledge,' it will be urged. 'Do you not perceive that all this must be as easily seen by the Pope as by a London journalist, and that the fact that he thinks other- wise is a sign that there must be considerations which you have ignored ?' Possibly there is one argument which we have up till now ignored, and that is the strong desire of the Papal Court to regain the temporal power. We cannot imagine the head of the Roman Catholic Church really desiring a feeble little earthly principality, but we can well understand the desire of the Cardinals and great officials to domineer in the parish of Rome,—to have a place in which to exercise that physical authority which all men love. They are not Popes—i.e., persons whose spiritual authority is so lofty that temporal authority, however vast, is as naught beside it—but ordinary men who wish to be able to exalt their own offices. That is human nature, and it is human nature also that the Pope, unless a man of extraordinary intellectual vigour and originality of mind, should share the feelings of his sur- roundings, or at any rate be immensely influenced by them in all practical questions.
But if we can understand in some measure the forces that make the Vatican long so greatly for the restoration of the temporal power that it has become its supreme object—an object to be prosecuted in season and out of season, and without reference to other considerations— we can still better understand and sympathise with the sincere and ardent Roman Catholics who, as the Times' correspondent in Vienna infers, are almost in despair at the policy pursued by the Vatican. In every country in Europe and America the true interests of Roman Catholicism are at any moment liable to be set aside and sacrificed in order that the Vatican may inflict a blow on Italy, and so score a point in the squabble over the tem- poral power. One can imagine an American Roman Catholic full of zeal and earnestness raging inwardly at the pity and folly of this waste of energy. Here,' he might argue, is a whole continent awaiting spiritual con- quest if only you will put your heart and soul into the work, and you are wrangling in a corner with a petty King whose whole kingdom would go into one of our States—Italy is smaller than Texas—and who in twenty- five years' time will not have as mans' subiects as there will be people in four of our cities—New York, Chicago, Boston, and St. Louis. Let King Humbert alone. If the Pope wins in the spiritual battle we can deal with him as we like. Meantime, the necessary thing is to increase and develop the spiritual dominion of Rome.' One can imagine how the grave and stately Cardinals of the Sacred College would smile at the wild American, and tell him bow the policy of the Church has never altered in regard to Rome, how she has had plenty of quarrels of this kind before, and how she has survived them all victoriously, and will conquer here also. But, nevertheless, the "wild American" would be in the right and the Cardinals hope- lessly in the wrong. A turning point is coming in the history of the Roman Church. If she shakes off things temporal—and the symbol of her change will be the abandonment of the claim to any temporal power—and becomes a body devoted to purely spiritual aims, she will still continue to play a part of vast importance and vast spiritual grandeur in the world. If, on the other hand, she exhausts herself in the miserable struggle for tem- poral power, she will not progress, but will slowly begin to show real signs of decay. No doubt the process will be very slow, but it will be begun. If any proof is wanted, look at the history of the Roman Church in the last twenty years. Who can say truthfully that she has made adequate progress during these years ? How many Roman Catholics have entered the United States during that period, and how many are there now in America? Unless we are greatly mistaken, the result of such an inquiry could not be satisfactory to the Roman Catholic Church. Look, too, at the present state of affairs in France. There is nothing in Roman Catholicism to make men nate Jews, but, as one of our Roman Catholic corre- spondents has very truly pointed out, just the reverse. Again, the Roman Church preaches and requires that justice must be done. Roman Catholicism as a spiritual force is, then, against an Anti-Semitic crusade and for justice being done to Dreyfus. Yet all observers tell us that the Clerical and Ultramontaine party in France is both Anti-Semitic and Anti-Dreyfusard. Roman Catho- licism in France has therefore got out of hand, and a great opportunity has been missed. Some day—perhaps some day very soon—France will repent her of the evil. At that moment how greatly would the Roman Church be raised in popular respect could it say that it had all through done its best to hold back the nation. But this is meant as an illustration rather than an accusation. We merely wish to point out that in places where they ought to be most carefully considered the true spiritual interests of the Roman Church are being sacrificed owing to the virtual inability of the Vatican to take serious account of anything but the fight for the temporal power. We come back, therefore, to where we began. The " Black " Pope and the "White" Pope are once again in rivalry, and on the victory will depend whether the spiritual power of the Roman Church shall be crippled or increased. All who care for the spiritual side of life and desire to hold in check the material tendencies of mankind, whether they are Protestants or Roman Catholics, will then wish well to the forces that are symbolised by the " White " Pope.
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