The Catholic Church in Canadian Politics
By Editor
The Catholic Church in Politics in Canada.
The Toronto Sentinel tells us that a serious effort is being made by the Christians in the province of Quebec to have the sacred heart flag adopted as the national emblem of the French Canadians. Certainly we can see no reason in the world, unless there is a desire to bring the province of Quebec under the absolute dominion of the Roman Catholic Church, why the religious emblem should be demanded. The same paper also quotes Archbishop Langevin as saying that it is the duty of Roman Catholics to exercise their franchise upon instructions from their bishops, as it is the bishop's duty to take his instructions from the pope. The Sentinel truly remarks: "When we find that the franchise which is given to a man because of his standing as a citizen is handed to the third party because of his religion, we see the whole purpose of the enfranchisement of the individual overridden. The laws of our country do not give to a man the right to vote because he is a Roman Catholic; they give him the right to vote because he is a citizen, and his enfranchisement carries with it the obligation to examine public questions for himself, and to exercise his own judgment, free from the dictation of priests or politicians. Politicians will always have influence with the masses, and so will the priests. But when Roman Catholics accept, as a religious duty, the direction of the parish priest as to how they shall vote on public questions, they surrender their franchise in the interest of the foreign power." The worst that has ever been charged against Roman Catholics is admitted by Archbishop Langevin and his flock in Saskatchewan. The prelate acknowledges his duty to follow the directions of the pope. This is a state of affairs against which every Protestant and every liberal Roman Catholic should protest. Carried to its logical conclusion, it would make the pope absolute ruler in Canada, as he is in no other part of the world.