CHANGED POLICY TOWARD THE ROMAN CHURCH.
“Extremely curious and interesting,” says the New York Independent, “is the contrast just shown between France and Germany in their treatment of the Roman Catholic Church. Catholic France, eldest daughter of the church, is driving the religious orders out of the country as relentlessly as the Philippines expelled the Spanish friars, and forbids them to carry on their schools. The president of this Catholic republic goes to Rome and can not pay a visit of ceremony to the pope. But the emperor of Germany, when he goes to visit the king of Italy, pays a visit of extreme courtesy to the pope, and is most politely received. He goes back to Berlin, and one by one has the Falk laws against the Catholic Church repealed, until now there is nothing left of them. The Jesuits are welcomed back, and the Emperor William quite enjoys his trip to Canossa. So now the three happiest countries for the Catholic religion, the three where it has the greatest liberty, are Germany, Great Britain, and the United States, three predominantly Protestant countries, while the three countries in which the Catholic Church feels itself the most under unwelcome restraint are Italy, France and Spain, three Catholic countries. Here is a chance for students of freedom of religious thought to draw a lesson.”