Will Rome Change Her Policy? by John O. Corliss

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 13, 1906

Will Rome Change Her Policy?

By John O. Corliss

J. O. CORLISS

It has been the proud boast of the papacy that her methods have never abated in any degree from those first established. How true this is history can well testify, but the unbroken continuation of these has at last brought about a crisis which students of prophecy will take interest in watching.

It seems that the controversy in France about the separation of the church from the state, has emboldened other nations to come into the open with direct statements upon the same point. This has called forth an expression of views from Pius X which reiterate the sentiments formulated in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

For some years past the notion was obtaining that the papacy was modifying its views regarding heretics, when suddenly, about three years ago three leading lights of the “system”—Abbé Loisy, Abbé Houtin, and Abbé Denis—were condemned for heresy, on the ground that their writings breathed sentiments of toleration not to be permitted by the faithful. But the principles of religious liberty had become so much a part of the education of some others that they did not, or could not, refrain from giving expression to them, and these, too, fell under the ban of the pope, in April of this year.

The serious offense of this occasion is stated by a correspondent of the London Times to have been disclosed in a personal letter written by the pope to Cardinal Ferrari, Archbishop of Milan, in which he condemned the sentiment found in a pastoral on “The Church and the New Times,” written by Mgr. Bonomelli, Bishop of Cremona. The particular point with which fault was found in this production, was the advocacy of religious toleration in practise, and the statement that in the circumstances of the modern state, the separation of the church from the state was often better for the church. The pope declared this to be “modern liberalism which the church will never accept.” So strongly did the pope push this matter, it is said, that strong protests from America (and perhaps from other parts) were made the buffers between the pope and the bishop, which saved the latter from disgrace, and the faithful in America from embarrassment.

Decrees were also published in the Osservatore Romano of April 7, placing on the condemnatory list a booklet by M. Paul Viollet, in which was advocated the idea that a “syllabus” from the pope is not necessarily infallible, but that when any one of these condemns modern civilization, religious toleration, etc., it is not to be taken literally. The same decree condemned two works on philosophy by Abbé Laberthonnière, a philosopher of wide reputation, because these did not sustain the dogmas of the church.

These high-handed acts have aroused great indignation among the educated classes of Europe, and have called forth some very sharp things from authors. One Il Santo, an Italian novelist, went so far as to say in one of his productions that, if Christ were to return to earth, he would receive from the Vatican the same treatment that he met at the hands of the Sanhedrim. It is also said that now the church in Italy has become distracted by the position the pope has taken against the “Christian Democrats.” It seems that for some time the pope has tried to suppress this organization, and to force its members to take their political orders from the bishops. This effort of the pope has been met with open defiance, and he will have to choose between wholesale excommunication, or acceptance of defeat.

From these cases it seems that modern ideas have made much headway in Europe, and to some extent threaten the unity of the papacy. These are, however, but the prelude to an impending stroke at intellectual religious theories in Europe, and perhaps in America as well. A far-reaching syllabus is looked for to emanate very soon from the Vatican, in which every phase of supposed heresy will be condemned. Great pains are being taken, it is declared, to make this an exhaustive edict. Books and papers (some of them non-Catholic) of every language are being overhauled, to find compromising sentiments.

To some this is significant as an indication of the nature of the controversy just before those who “fear God and keep his commandments.” It certainly savors of that period when a mark will be set upon those who will not worship the beast and his image. It also points to a complete separation between these and others who yield to the demands of the Vatican, not only in America, but in Europe as well. It will pay to watch the unfolding of matters now engaging the attention of the papacy, and be ready to meet the issue with unflinching loyalty to the truth which has been committed to this people.

Mountain View, Cal.