It is not. But the economic difficulties of
Germany and the political difficulties (with the Slavs) of
Austria-Hungary laid a heavier trial on those nations, and their
Christianity entirely failed. Catholic and Protestant alike--for the two
nations contain fifty million Catholics to sixty million
Protestants--were swept onward in the tide of national passion, or
feared to oppose it.
One might have expected that at least the supreme head of the Roman
Church would, from his detached throne in Rome, pass some grave censure
on the outrages committed by Catholic Bavarians in Belgium or Catholic
Magyars in Serbia. Not one syllable either on the responsibility for the
war or the appalling outrages which have characterised it has come from
him. The only event which drew from him a protest--a restrained and
inoffensive remonstrance--was the confinement to his palace for some
days of my old friend and teacher, Cardinal Mercier! To the stories of
fearful and widespread outrage, even when they were sternly
authenticated, he was deaf. One knows why. If Germany and Austria fail
in this war, as they will fail, the Catholic bodies of Germany and
Austria, the strongest Catholic political parties in Europe, will be
broken.
Pages:
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43