p. 7 | The Same Papacy

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 16, 1908

The Same Papacy

If any have entertained the idea that the papacy was growing more tolerant and that it would no longer utter its thunders against so-called heretics, they ought to note that the decree of major excommunication has been pronounced against Abbé Loisy by the Inquisition. The Roman Catholic correspondent of the Church Times (London) refers to this matter in these words:—

The principal feeling of the general public is one of amusement, mingled with some indignation, at the attempt of the pope to inflict a boycott on M. Loisy. The “consequences” mentioned in the decree of the Inquisition would not be amusing if Rome had the power to enforce them. No one would be allowed to hold any communication of any sort with M. Loisy, to supply him with food, drink, firing, or shelter, or to perform any service for him. If the pope's writ ran in France, M. Loisy would starve by the wayside unless he submitted. The fact that this will not happen in twentieth-century France does not diminish the significance of the amiable and Christian intentions of this decree “by express command of our holy father.” There is no longer any doubt that it is not lack of the will, but merely lack of the power, to persecute that restrains Pius X from resorting to the remedies for heresy that flourished in the palmy days of the Inquisition. It is a fact for reflection. Even among those who would regard the infliction on M. Loisy of the spiritual penalties of excommunication as justifiable, there are many—for the credit of Christianity one may hope that they are a majority—who feel something more than uneasiness at this gratuitous and futile revelation of the spirit of the papacy.

It is a very long time since any excommunicated person was sentenced to the full penalties of a vitandus. I am not sure whether Lamennais was in like case; if so, he must have been the last; some say that there has been no instance since Napoleon I, but I have not looked up the point. Even Victor Emmanuel was toleratus, though under sentence of the greater excommunication; that is to say, Catholics were not bound to boycott him. I understand that any Catholic who does not boycott M. Loisy will be, ipso facto, excommunicated. The situation is likely to become complicated now that ipso facto excommunications can be so easily incurred.

If the papacy should at any time or in any place regain the power to persecute, we should see a repetition of the scenes of the Dark Ages. The excommunication of Abbé Loisy is a clear demonstration of this assertion.