p. 480 | Rome Is the Same by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 4, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 30.

Rome Is the Same

By Editor

Rome Is the Same.—Even the optimistic Independent seems almost discouraged over what it calls "The Catholic Reaction." After hoping for so long that Roman Catholics were coming toward Protestants, partaking of the spirit of independence and liberality of the age, and growing more and more tolerant as regards religious dogmas and belief, the Independent is forced to be disappointed. All the Catholic papers which stood for freedom and independence have succumbed to the authority of the bishops, save one, Griffin's Journal, which the Independent quotes as follows:—

"The battle for the freedom of the Catholic press is over. The warrior Watchman has surrendered. It had to. But the revelation of the position of the contestants is startling and deplorable.

"However, the battle for freedom is lost. Not a paper dared take the side of the battler. . . .

"Every Catholic editor knows he is not free to speak as he thinks it right and proper without being struck down if he dares to do so. A press that is subject to an authority which can command, advise, warn, or direct, is not a free press. The very fact is slavery, even though the lash of the master be not blood stained. Is a press free when the Watchman is compelled to advocate the laws respecting the exemption of the clergy from the jurisdiction of the secular courts?"

And how long will it be ere Griffin's Journal "takes it all back"? Rome is just what she always was. Men who remain within her pale are free to do only what "the church" commands or permits.