Rome and France

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 9, 1908

EVERY visitor to Rome observes that pagan temples and pagan monuments have been made to do service for the papacy. One of the most popular images of the Madonna and Child is clearly an image of a Roman matron of the days of the republic, but now having been duly installed in a Roman Catholic church, it does duty as the Virgin Mary. This action on the part of the church is now being called up in justification of the taking over of a number of Roman Catholic churches and cathedrals by the government of France in the carrying out of the separation act. Thus it is said:—

The day the church gained a victory over Rome, she made no scruple in taking over the pagan temples, which surely were not built to foster the worship of the Galilean.

While the tit-for-tat argument may not be convincing, it yet sometimes serves a useful purpose in closing the mouths of complainers. The measure which the church meted out to the pagans, appears to be measured to her again in France.