Dr. Cahalan, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Cork, whose eligibility
for the position was strongly urged by the Germans during the war, has threatened to excommunciate those-Roman Catholics who are guilty of murder, even though they be Irish Republicans who lay ambushes. We need not inquire too closely into Bishop Cohalan's motives ; we prefer to record our genuine satisfaction at one of the few strong pronounce- ments against murder which have fallen from Roman Catholics in Ireland. Dr. Cohalan says that " murder is murder, and arson is arson, whether committed by agents of the Govern- ment or members of the Volunteer organization. . . . Let there be • no doubt about it, these ambushes were murder, and every life taken in an ambush was murder." The Bishop ends by announcing that anyone in the diocese of Cork who " organizes or takes part in an ambush or in kidnapping, or otherwise is guilty of murder or attempted murder, shall incur by this very fact the censure of excommunication."
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