Papacy Gains American Government Support in Cuba and Philippines
Archbishop Ireland continues to tell, and the Associated Press diligently to publish, that the pope is “well pleased with the relation of the American government to the church in Cuba and the Philippine Islands.” In an interview published in the Chicago Times-Herald, October 24, the archbishop not only reiterated that, but added the following words from Cardinal Rampolla, the papal secretary of state:— The church needs in Cuba and the Philippines the co-operation of the American government for the protection of its rights and liberties; as indeed the American government needs the co-operation of the church for the pacification of those countries. And to all this he adds the following words of his own:— As a plain matter of fact, the only safety which the Catholic Church at the present time has in the Philippines for the possession of her property and for the lives of her priests is the protection afforded by the American flag, and all this is fully understood and fully recognized at Rome. Thus it is certain that the papacy has now in Cuba and the Philippines the United States government as her support and stay, as really, even if not yet so thoroughly, as she had any government in the Middle Ages. And that is why the relation of this government to the papacy is so “well pleasing” to the pope. And if the relationship were not that, it would not be in any sense pleasing to the pope. And what a position that is for a nation which was founded “upon the principles on which the gospel was first propagated and the Reformation from popery carried on”!