Spain and the Vatican

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 21, 1910

Spain and the Vatican

It is very evident that the struggle now going on between the Spanish government and the Vatican will not go to the root of the matter, if reports from Madrid are correct. Premier Canalejas is having the active support of the young king in what he is attempting to do. Concerning his policy, the premier says:—

There are moments in life when it is necessary to take a decisive step. This moment has come for Spain. We must, therefore, take it. We ought to be staunch Catholics, but at the same time men of the present day, not prejudiced, but conciliatory.

The premier, it is reported, declared that even the laic schools (or common schools not under the control of priests or nuns) should have a religious and moral basis, and that he would oppose those who favored the expulsion of the religious orders and the separation of the church from the state. This declaration of the premier is proof positive that the Spanish government has not yet learned the secret of her many troubles. The unity of church and state, as understood by Catholics, always has meant, and always will mean, the supremacy of the hierarchy, the forced support of the clergy, and constant opposition on the part of the hierarchy toward every movement which the state would make toward enlightenment and material progress. The nations that have learned this, and have thrown off the yoke, are the nations that have forged ahead in everything that goes to make a nation great. To demonstrate this, compare Germany with Spain, or England with Portugal, or Scandinavia with the Catholic countries of South America. Nevertheless, the premier has taken one important step toward liberty and progress. Through his instrumentality, the government of Spain has promulgated a decree which grants Protestants the right to display, upon their places of meeting, signs to indicate that these places are places of religious worship. Against this, the Vatican is protesting most vigorously; and, while the Catholics in this country are holding up their church as the great exponent of religious liberty, the head of the whole Catholic system is threatening to break off relations with the Spanish government because it proposes to permit Protestants the poor privilege of displaying on their churches some mark to indicate that they are churches. This indignant protest of the Vatican against so small a recognition of the religious rights of the people, should not be forgotten when Catholic prelates in this country claim the honor for the blessings of religious liberty which this land enjoys.