AN OBJECT LESSON TO AMERICA.
Two weeks ago it was shown from a Roman Catholic journal (the Catholic World of September, 1871) that at that time, previous to the Christian nation decision of the Supreme Court, Catholics declared that as the Federal Constitution was interpreted by the Protestant principle, so widely diffused among us, . . . we do not accept it, or hold it to be government at all, or as capable of performing any of the proper functions of government, and if it continues to be interpreted by the revolutionary principles of Protestantism, it is sure to fail. Hence it is we so often say that if the American republic is to be sustained and preserved at all, it must be by the rejection of the principle of the Reformation and the acceptance of the Catholic principle by the American people. The Protestant principle of civil government is absolute non-interference of the civil magistrate in the concerns of religion and the people the last court of resort in civil matters. But the Roman Catholic idea is the union of Church and State, with the Catholic Church dominant. The Protestant principle of civil government places all churches or sects on an equality before the civil government. And the Constitution of this government and its founders were in harmony with this idea. During this whole time, up to 1892, no Catholic was commanded to take the Bible in one hand and the Constitution in the other. But when the Supreme Court interpreted the Constitution after the papal principle (we quote from “the Rights of the People,” pp. 196–198)— 1. Then it was, and not till then, that there was published to the United States the purpose of Leo XIII., that what the church has done for other nations she will now do for the United States. 2. Then it was, and not till then, that Leo XIII., pope, sent his permanent apostolic delegate here in his name, to “call upon the Catholics of America to go forward, in one hand bearing the book of Christian truth and in the other the Constitution of the United States,” upon their hundred-fold rewarded mission to bring this “country into immediate contact with the Church” of Rome. 3. Then it was that, in the World’s Parliament of Religions, Professor O’Gorman, for the Catholic Church, claimed this country as Catholic, and which “must find its perfection in Catholic Christianity.” 4. Then it was that Archbishop Ireland could proudly point out the union of the Catholic Church and the United States typified in the Vice-President sitting at the right hand of the cardinal. 5. Then it was that it could be announced as “the policy of the pope,” “toward which all his remarkable energies are bent,” to unite “the church and America.” 6. Then it was that Leo XIII. could officially declare the United States to be “a Catholic country,” and elevate it “to the first rank as a Catholic nation.” 7. Since that it is that the United States has become “the chief thought” in “the government of the Roman and universal Catholic Church,” in the carrying out of “his Catholic universal policy.” 8. Then it was that Leo himself could openly call for “the favor of the laws and the patronage of the public authority” to the Catholic Church. 9. Then it was, and merely the consequence, too, that the Papacy could set forth the doctrine that in interpreting the Constitution “the decision of the Supreme Court is final,” and that the people “may4read the Constitution, but they are not allowed to interpret it, but must submit to the interpretation given by the Supreme Court.” 10. And thus it is that Satolli can now take it upon himself to interpret the Constitution in its new relationship to religion, and set forth that the Constitution in its separation of government and religion meant only the “separation of the State from any religious sect”—the very doctrine of the Christian nation court and its decision. As it is certainly nothing else than the Catholic Bible, which Leo through Satolli has commanded the Catholics of America to “take in one hand,” so certainly also is it nothing else than the Catholic Constitution of the United States that he has commanded them to take in the other hand. As “so long as that Constitution was interpreted by the Protestant principle the Catholics did not accept it,” and now they are all commanded to accept it and use it, equally with the Catholic Bible, in their mission to bring this country into immediate contact with the Papacy, it follows inevitably that to the satisfaction of the Papacy that Constitution has been interpreted according to the papal principle. And as they themselves say that the Supreme Court is the interpreter of the Constitution, and that its interpretation is final, this proves conclusively that the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States interpreting the Constitution to mean that this is a Christian nation, is the cause of this change in the attitude of the Papacy toward the Constitution, and is the foundation of this series of facts in the course of the Papacy in crowding itself upon the country as the “Christianity” of this “Christian nation.” Thus does it stand as clear as tho it were in letters of fire that in its decision that “this is a Christian nation,” the Supreme Court of the United States accomplished, to the satisfaction of the Papacy, precisely the thing that the Papacy had long demanded, viz., “the rejection of the principle of the Reformation, and the acceptance of the Catholic principle,” in the interpretation of the national Constitution. Thus, in principle, the work of our governmental fathers has been undone. The barrier which they set up against the nation’s being led back to the Church of Rome has been broken down, and that church has already entered upon the consequential task of leading the nation back to that iniquitous goal. Since the last step referred to in “The Rights of the People,” the power and influence of the Papacy in this nation has grown apace. It may be well to note some of the more recent events in which the Papacy has figured quite prominently in government affairs:— 1. The prominent part taken by Archbishop Ireland in the last presidential election, and previous to that in the St. Louis convention. 2. The elevation to the Supreme Court of a Roman Catholic, who was not considered by many of his legal acquaintances even an able lawyer. Of course Roman Catholics are eligible to the Supreme Bench, but since the Constitution has been interpreted after the Catholic principle, the danger to the government will be readily seen. There are now two Catholic justices in the Supreme Court. Where religion is in question, which way would their decision be likely to fall? 3. The very prominent part that the Papacy has acted in connection with the Spanish-American war, the administration hoping to secure through the pope what American diplomacy had failed to obtain,—a peaceful solution of the difficulty. 4. Out of this has come the reception of Archbishop Ireland by the administration as the representative or ambassador of the Vatican. The papal ablegate Martinelli was asked to take this place, but he declined to act because he had no particular standing as “merely an ecclesiastical representative,” and so Archbishop Ireland was chosen. He tells us:— It was then determined that the close and cordial friendship which existed between Archbishop Ireland and President McKinley and his whole cabinet, joined to the fact that he is an eminent American citizen, made him a fit instrument through which negotiations could be conducted. Archbishop Ireland acted, and was in such close and cordial relations as to be able to send to the Vatican “hourly bulletins of the attitude of the administration.” As it has been ably pointed out, no Methodist bishop (tho Mr. McKinley is a Methodist) had such “close and cordial relations” with the White House as this, and that these relations were political and governmental. Thus official relations are opened between the Vatican and this government, between the greatest ecclesiastical power on earth, who holds herself as mistress of all nations, and a civil government of this republic. As an Eastern paper forcibly puts it:— The pope and his representative to the United States Government did not succeed in securing a peace to perpetuate the papal power and revenue in Spanish-enslaved Cuba; but they did succeed in getting what the Papacy for years has been working for,—the formal receiving of a representative of the pope to this government, upon a formal letter from the papal secretary of state. And thus has been established this act and the precedent of formal official relations between the Papacy and this government. There is even yet more, which we will notice from time to time. The peace negotiations now proceeding between the governments will, if Rome’s desires are met, recognize officially the Papacy, if in no other, in a negative way. In some way, if possible, the Papacy will secure indemnity for property destroyed or confiscated, and security for debts for which bankrupt Spain is responsible. This will be unless the peace commissioners are grounded in the true principles of government. It is the aim of the Papacy to do by this government as she has done in others completely under her sway. Spain is the fairest example of what the Papacy can and will do for a government. God in His providence has brought this government and people—Roman Catholic among the rest—in immediate contact with Spain, the ripened fruit of papal teaching and dominance, that they may be warned and saved. Will America heed the lesson? or will she rush on blindly to her fate?