Mr. Noyes and the Holy Office The condemnation by the
Holy Office with which Mr. Alfred Noyes's book on Voltaire has been threatened, if it has not suffered, is a matter of personal concern only to members of the Church of Rome, but is not without interest to persons without the Faith. The facts of the case have been fully ventilated in the correspondence columns of The Times during the past week. In a letter signed by Cardinal Sbaretti, Cardinal Hinsley, Archbishop of Westminster, was told that the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office had decreed that Mr. Noyes should be informed that his book had been found worthy of condemnation, but that condemnation itself might be avoided if Mr. Noyes were to withdraw his book and write something " equivalent to a reparation " ; and that Mr. Noyes's publishers should be censured for having published the book and be ordered to refrain from offering any further copies for sale. The publishers have complied with the Holy Office's direction, but Mr. Noyes has not unreasonably replied that it is difficult for him to acknowledge his error, let alone write something " equivalent to a reparation," unless he is, as he has not yet been, informed what those errors are. It is, of course, an axiom of Roman Catholicism that authority must be unques- tionably obeyed, and a Roman Catholic writer who wishes to remain a member of the Church will presumably not question the directions he is given. But the Holy Office, in addressing a writer of Mr. Noyes's reputation and aims so summarily, and demanding that he should admit guilt and recant before being informed of what he is guilty, seems to be resorting very inopportunely to the technique of insti- tutions which in other spheres it has shown no reluctance to combat.
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