The intention of Rome to maintain the friars in their position in the Philippines, if it be possible, has been indicated at various times, and is now again declared in Cardinal Gibbons's organ, the Catholic Mirror. “It is becoming daily more evident,” says the Mirror, “that the salvation of the Filipinos is to be wrought out by the friars, who thoroughly understand and sympathize with them, and not by the Bible societies, whose ideals and methods are not only unwelcome, but absolutely repulsive to them. Slowly but surely the friars are gaining the day.” “The Church . . . recognizes that the amelioration of conditions is to be brought about not through the ‘padre,’ but through the friars.”—Special Correspondence from Manila.
The domination of the friars is the intolerable thing which the Philippine natives have been fighting to throw off. The substitution of American rule for that of Spain can mean nothing for the welfare of the people so long as the friars are retained. Rome intends that they shall be retained; to which end she is playing a game of diplomacy with the United States, in which she has thus far had the advantage. In diplomacy, Rome is the master of any nation on earth. All the ground that has been gained against Rome has been gained by the principles of the gospel.