ITALY AND THE ROMAN CHURCH. T HE Marquis di Rudini has
reformed his Ministry, and it is rumoured that its first business will be to punish the Church for its sympathy with, or at any rate neglect to help suppress, the recent disorders. We most sincerely trust that the rumour is untrue, or that the new Cabinet, if it has formed any intention of a campaign against the Church, will speedily abandon the idea. Under present circumstances we cannot imagine anything more disastrous for Italy than a policy which could be repre- sented as a campaign of persecution. We fully admit that the policy pursued by the Pope and the Catholic Church in Italy has been anti-national, and that in its mistaken longing for the shreds and patches of temporal power the Papacy has worked against the maintenance of Italian unity. It seems, too, more than probable that a section of the Roman Church viewed the recent risings with something akin to approval, and that the Vatican did not clearly and firmly repress this approval or half- approval, but in effect gave latitude of action to the disloyal clerics. We print in another column a very interesting letter from Mr. Stillman, in which he adduces instances of clerical disloyalty, and shows the kind of attitude that the extreme men in the Italian Church have of late been taking up. Possibly some of the statements quoted by Mr. Stillman may turn out to be unfounded and others exaggerated, but after making every possible allowance, it is clear that a large por- tion of the Clericals who have always been anxious to break up their country into a federalised group of Republics thought that last month the moment had come, and instead of, like good citizens, trying to put down disorder, lent it a certain amount of countenance and encouragement. We do not, of course, mean to say that the Pope himself looked with satisfaction on the riots, that the Church was officially implicated, or even that a majority of its members were disloyal in word or deed, but that there was enough anti-national feeling in the Church in presence of a grave national crisis to make Italian patriots deeply and justly indignant seems to us to be proved. Bat though we think that the Italian Government have in theory, and possibly in law, ample excuse for striking back at the Clericals, and even for making the Church responsible?for the acts or inches of its representatives, we hold that it would be disastrous for them to do so. The very last thing the Italian Government should do is to enter upon an anti-Vatican campaign. To do that will simply be to make the Church close up its ranks, and to give the control of clerical affairs to the extreme party. If the cry can be raised that the Church is in danger, and that the Holy Father and his representatives are being persecuted, all moderate opinion will be silenced. If, how- ever, the Government refuse to use their opportunity, and do not strike back, we may be certain that the patriotic and moderate influences in the Church in Italy, which do exist and are by no means insignificant, will begin to take effect. After all, the extreme men have failed, the dis- orders have been put down, and the Church has suffered very considerably in public estimation owing to the belief that certain high ecclesiastics were not anxious to see the Government able to restore order. The discredit that has taw fallen upon violent and disloyal views cannot fail to affect the situation. It must increase the power of the moderates at the Vatican and depress the extremists. The Pope may desire, and in theory may work for, the destruction of the present Italian kingdom and the substi- tution of federalism for unity, but he is sincere, above all suspicion of intrigue, and the enemy of anything that savours of Radicalism and Socialism. In addition we may depend upon it that he does not wish for a scandal. If, then, nothing is done, we may feel sure that the ex- treme men will be out of favour at the Vatican. If, how- ever, a campaign is begun against the Church, there will be an excellent excuse for not being too hard upon plotting ecclesiastics, and, in fact, for taking the side of the revo- lutionary Catholics. If Clerical clubs and associations are abolished and their funds seized, men who are now inclined to be moderate will go into the opposite extreme, and say that after all those were right who declared that it was impossible for good Catholics to live under the house of Savoy, and urged that it was justifiable to use any weapon against them. In fact, at the present moment an anti- clerical campaign, or anything which could be represented as such, would render the Vatican once more a formidable enemy of Italy, while an abstention from such proceed- ings will enable, and indeed encourage, men who are good Catholics, and also good patriots, to rally to the Government.
When we express a hope that the Italian Government will not attempt to strike back at the Clericals, we do not, of course, wish to argue that they should not punish any man, lay or clerical, who can be proved guilty of illegal acts. An individual priest who incites to riot should be punished like an insurrectionary artisan. More than this, we think that the Government would be wise to collect and publish all the bond-fide information it can as to the participation of members of the Clerical party in the late disorders. If this were truthfully and impartially done, the effect on public opinion ought to be very great. To begin with, if the report were sent to the Vatican, it could hardly pass it over, but must take some notice of the fact. But even if the Church did nothing official in the way of cen- suring its representatives, the country would feel that the Church had been in the wrong. The coquetting with Socialism and disorder proved against a portion of the Clerical party, and the refusal of the Govern- ment even to take this excuse for a persecuting policy, would make it almost impossible for the Vatican in the future to show itself actively hostile to the King's Govern- ment. The influence of public opinion is, we recognise, very often greatly exaggerated, but this is just a case in which it might be brought to bear. As our readers know, we are strongly Italian in feeling. We want to see Italy survive, free, united, and prosperous, and we hold the policy of the Roman Church towards the king- dom to be absolutely unjustifiable, and as contrary to the true interests of religion as to those of Italy. The Pope's true dominion is in the hearts of those who regard him as the delegate of God, not in a few acres of Italian soil. His sovereignty is over matters of faith and morals, not over the taxes and police and drains of a single city. But though we have no sympathy for the action of the Roman Church in Italy, we cannot but dread the effects of any attempt to punish the whole Italian Church for the misdeeds of a party. It is seldom fair, and never wise, to attack a religious institution as a whole. Prince Bismarck found the truth of this, and so will the Marquis di Rudini if he tries. Depend upon it, the best way to fight the extremists at the Vatican is, as we have sug- gested above, to make the better Catholics ashamed of their patronage, or half-patronage, of Socialism and disorder. i
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