[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—I fear that Capt. Powell is becoming irrelevant. Having set out to show that the reason for twentieth-century Communism lies in the Church's failure to grant liberty to her subjects to read the Bible, and having been given abundant evidence to prove that this is not the case, he calmly ignores my letter and falls back on a proclamation of a local synod in the early thirteenth century. Really !
Has Capt. Powell heard of the Waldensian heresy ? Is he aware that much of its initial success was due to ignorant or malicious " interpretations " of the letter of the Bible and that, in the circumstances, the laity had to be protected against themselves by what, at first sight, seems an arbitrary decision ? But Capt. Powell, being a military man, will appreciate the importance of censorship.
As to " mariolatry," " image-worship " and the rest, I will ask one question. In addressing Mayors by the title of " Worshipful," does Capt. Powell intend to pay them that homage and worship which is due to God alone ? Once and for all, Catholics do not adore Our Lady or the Saints. They pay them a special form of respect, as representative of persons worthy of the highest reverence and homage. But every Catholic child is taught in his catechism : We do not pray to relics or images, for they can neither see, nor hear, nor help us." Why must Catholics be regarded as at once monsters of duplicity and portents of mental deficiency ?
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