France Proposes Abolishing Religious Orders
THE French government is proposing to abolish the religious orders. They hold about one tenth of the total property of France. The pope has come out with a defense of the orders, of course. He declares that “the excessive wealth of these congregations is exaggerated. The money does not belong to them, but to the poor.” That is the same old plea made by the papacy for more than fifteen hundred years. She oppresses and robs people into poverty, that she may pile up untold wealth under the plea that it is for the poor! for the poor! But none of the poor ever have any of the benefit of it; except when her oppressions can be no longer borne, and violence fills the land.