His Holiness Prostrated
By Editor
“His Holiness Prostrated” is the heading of a despatch which we find in a great daily paper, not unfriendly to the Papacy. What he is prostrated about is told in the despatch itself as follows:— “Rome, May 2.—His Holiness is quite prostrated by the news from Manila. He has expressed his horror at the terrible loss of life and repeatedly said that he could wish to have died before seeing such a war. Both the pope and Cardinal Rampolla, the Papal Secretary of State, have refused to consider any interference, declaring that the attitude of the Vatican is one of strict neutrality.” The loss of life at Manila thus far, as the news has come to us, is confined to that class who have chosen war as a profession; but it is sad to hear even of the loss of 400 lives of soldiers. But for years previous to this the poor pacificos of Cuba, men, women, and children, those not responsible for war nor engaged in war, have been outraged, driven from their homes, robbed, slaughtered, starved, by the thousands and thousands, but we have not heard that the news of the unholy and prolonged massacre of years has at any time prostrated the pope. If the loss of life at Manila was terrible, no words in the language can express the loss of life in poor Cuba. Of course the pope’s sympathies are with Spain, one of the faithful children of “the church.” But he wants to win America. He is in sore straits. As to “neutrality,” it is just now fashionable, and doubtless the wisest course to take. In this we are not condemning the Papacy. She is acting in all these respects consistent with her genius, spirit, and principles.