THE VATICAN METHOD

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 27, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 35.

THE VATICAN METHOD.

ARCHBISHOP IRELAND, in speaking of the negotiations between this country and the Vatican over the friars in the Philippines in the Examiner, July 22, says, on “reliable authority”:—

Yes, the news from Rome is quite satisfactory, and, I am sure, quite correct. The sovereign pontiff and other Roman authorities are delighted with Governor Taft personally, and with the negotiations in course of progress between him and the Vatican.

The pontiff assured Governor Taft that he was most satisfied and happy at the results so far obtained, and that he was confident the negotiations begun in Rome would be the starting point of a complete and satisfactory solution of the question under discussion. This statement resumes in the most exact manner the situation as to the Vatican views, and as it really is.

The Vatican and Governor Taft came easily and quickly to a substantial agreement; the question for the Vatican is what practical methods are to be adopted to put the agreement into execution. With a little time certain matters now seeming to offer great difficulties will be made, by quiet, skillful touches of pontifical diplomacy, to work themselves out without friction or excitement; and so, when, in Manila, final conclusions are to be reached, things will have been ripe and will turn out all right. This is the Vatican method of proceeding; it is a wise and prudent method. Mr. Taft understands the matter and leaves Rome thoroughly satisfied and hopeful. There can be no doubt that the active co-operation of the Vatican is now secured to the American Government in its task of pacification in the Philippines, and that in the results to come the administration at Washington will have ample reason to felicitate itself for having sent Governor Taft to Rome.

But nothing will be satisfactory to Rome that does not give her a stronger hold upon the American Government. In a letter from the Vatican in the New York Sun of July 11, 1892, giving the plans of Leo XIII. concerning the United States, it is said:—

What the church has done in the past for others she will now do for the United States.

What the church has done for other countries may be read in the condition of Spain, Austria, Italy, the Philippines. When these negotiations end the Papacy will be on the winning side. United States diplomats can not cope with “the Vatican method,” and the result will be the triumph of the Vatican object.