President Roosevelt and Catholicism
By Editor
President Roosevelt and Catholicism.—Bishop Gabriels of Ogdenburg, N. Y., one of a company of American pilgrims to Rome, read an address before the Pope, in which he said that Catholicism is making rapid strides in America, owing to the freedom which the church enjoys and the good-will of the American civil authorities. He quoted President Roosevelt as saying to him, on learning that the Bishop was conducting a pilgrimage to Rome: "Tell the pope that I send him my profoundest regards. I have tried to treat Protestants and Catholics alike, as my recent appointments show. I will try to perpetuate this policy. This Republic will stand for many a century. I expect that there will be Catholic presidents as well as Protestant. I trust that they all will treat each other as I have tried to do." The pope in reply, we are told "expressed great love for the United States, and the very highest esteem for President Roosevelt. Logically no Roman Catholic ought to be President, because he professes his highest allegiance to one who claims to be the ruler of the earth. It may be very readily seen that the influence of a Catholic president would be used to further the aims of his church in this country.