The Eastward Path of Rome
Lama, Friedrich von
April 7, 1926 THE COMMONWEAL tion of all those who have had the honor and happiness to follow closely part of his work." There were, of course, casual brushes with the regime which...
...No one knows better than Pius XI how many seeds of war are awaiting the time of their germination in those eastern lands which have during so many ages been scenes of combat...
...In this spirit, a papal letter written to the bishops of Poland stated very frankly: "Inspired by affection for your mother country, we wish with all our hearts that Poland will soon master happily the difficulties which are necessarily bound up with its rise to nationhood, and will quickly arrive at a peaceful understanding with its neighbors in order to safeguard its entity and development...
...Finally, the encyclical letter for the feast of Saint Josaphat pointed to the fact that the martyr-bishop of Poland had "kept himself rigidly in the sphere of religion without interfering in any political business, altjhpugh he was asked more than once to take part in civil controversies...
...This was particularly important in Silesia, during the time when the Entente Commission was supervising a plebiscite to determine the future national allegiance of the inhabitants...
...and the papal Nuncio calmly earned the distinction of being the only member of the diplomatic corps not to leave the beleaguered city...
...The extraordinary difficulties created by the situation immediately became apparent...
...First came the problem of ecclesiastical property—both the ancient Russian confiscatpry policy and the new program of agrarian reform clouded the rights of the Church...
...In the second place, time had created a great variety of separate religious rites which the new Polish consciousness was only too likely to consider anti-national...
...This aroused considerable opposition on the part of extreme nationalists, the Nuncio was accused of partiality, and a resolution was introduced in the Seja—the Polish national assembly—to cancel his passports...
...While the whole story reveals the impartiality and tactfulness of the present Holy Father, it calls our attention to the abiding principle in the conduct of the Church's relations with governments...
...But, owing to the intelligent cooperation of Stanislaus Grabski, who has been termed "the savior of the new Poland," all difficulties were disposed of in a surprisingly short time...
...At the moment the new nation was throbbing with ambition to grow and with a great variety of political dissensions...
...Since the Dantzig and Silesian conflicts have not been brought even yet to a peaceful conclusion, ecclesiastical matters there are still in a tentative condition...
...There were, of course, casual brushes with the regime which the German government, wholly unmindful of the religious belief professed by Poland, had built up through evangelical bureaucrats...
...This example was applauded, but in the course of the peace negotiations which followed, a Polish general invaded Catholic Lithuania, wrought a great deal of destruction, and inaugurated a policy of territorial seizure which the Holy See was forced to protest against...
...The laws of justice and charity are abiding, and against them the gates of hell cannot prevail...
...This was an extremely difficult undertaking, for the reason that the new nation was comprised of provinces which had been ruled, during several generations, under widely divergent jurisdictions...
...We may see here the result of a desire on the part of the Holy See not to close the door to the peoples of the Christian East by nailing nationalistic insignia on the threshold...
...If this principle had been sacrificed during the years of Polish reconstruction, the eastward path of the Catholic Faith would not now be so unusually free of obstacles and prejudices...
...The Church, being the spiritual kingdom of all mankind, cannot take its stand with parties or peoples...
...Shortly afterward, a formal decree prohibited all members of the clergy from making political speeches...
...Archbishop Ratti had been appointed papal commissioner in the disputed territory...
...One of the most noteworthy aspects of the new concordat is the recognition given to the various separate rites of the Church...
...Another danger arose from the tendency on the part of priests to enter the political arena and sponsor one or other of the factions...
...But for the most part, harmony reigned until, with the official acknowledgment of Polish independence by the Holy See, on March 30, 1919, Monsignor Ratti assumed the diplomatic title of Nuncio, and became at the same time Archbishop of Lepanto...
...Although a bare majority upheld the rights of Archbishop Ratti, he decided that for the time being his usefulness had ended and returned to Italy...
...Pope Pius XI, however, used his acquired knowledge of Polish affairs to advantage in the work of drawing up the new concordat...
...The aftermath of Archbishop Ratti's experience is interesting: when the former Nuncio became Pope Pius XI, one of his first actions was to insist firmly upon abstention from politics on the part of the Polish clergy, and when the prince-bishop of Krakow had been elected to the national assembly, he was ordered to present his demission...
...It must be open always to the four ends of the earth and the inhabitants thereof...
...He delivered an address, calling upon all "to preserve Christian charity, which is the highest law and the most permanent symbol of the disciples of Our Lord...
...and his chief mission as such was to uphold the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishops...
...One of the first results was the Bolshevik advance upon Warsaw...
...Accordingly, good will began to rest in the balance...
...Third, preceding concordats, designed for conditions now very much altered, had to be abrogated...
...While the Polish government is allowed to supervise the appointment of priests to benefices, it will not attempt to abrogate forms of worship which tradition has established...
Vol. 3 • April 1926 • No. 22
