[Inclosure in No.
529.—Translation.
The only solution.
[From “El
Impartial” September 17, 1875.]
Although the conservative parties strenuously deny it with notable
pertinacity there is not, nor can there be, outside of the democratic
doctrine, a plausible solution for the greater part of the conflicts
which in our times disturb the peace of nations or embarrass the action
of governments.
What has occurred with respect to the circular of the nuncio is an
additional proof of this truth, which we take pleasure in recording. In
what concerns the relations between the church and the state, in the
conflicts which arise between the temporal authority and the religious
element, to go far away from the democratic doctrine, through the paths
followed by ultramontanes and absolutists, is to go completely astray.
Let us see, if this be doubted, where and how religious conflicts occur.
Do they occur in the United States? No; because there the church is an
association, constituted, it is true, for the realization of the highest
of human aims, but, in fine, an association with which the
administrations have no other relations than those which exist between
them and any other association whatever, that of protecting its liberty,
affirming its independence, and assuring its respect to the laws of the
land. There the church is free mistress of her own destinies and apt to
realize them as she may deem most opportune. There the state is
sovereign, lives in the integrity and fullness of its rights, and the
civil power cannot be confronted, as among us, through a false
conception of the two powers, by a religious power as high as itself, as
sovereign as itself, and between which two powers it is more than
difficult, it is impossible, that daily differences shall not arise. Do
conflicts occur in Germany? Yes; because the imperial government, which
has had courage enough to fix the limits of the religious sphere of
action in recent laws, lacks what is needful to enable it to forego
intervention in the Catholic and Protestant churches, and so leave them
to live free and independent without its tutelage, which is harmful to
religious interests, without its tutelage, which is a cause of
embarrassment and disturbance to the general peace. Do conflicts occur
in Switzerland, in Italy, in Belgium, in Russia? If so, there is no room
for assigning them to other causes. The state seeks to protect the
church, and in exchange for this protection it injures the liberty of
the church itself and the rights of all its citizens. Where shall we
seek a more fecund source of conflicts? The ministry presided by General
Jovellar, being hardly constituted, a grave, event demands its attention
and distracts it from more patriotic and higher objects. The
representative in Madrid of a foreign sovereign has just issued a
circular to religious authorities who are exercising their mission in
Spain, which is contrary to the policy of the government, and in the
last paragraph of which there is contained an assertion which evidently
favors the cause of an insurrection which has for some time existed in
our country. This is the case, such as it presents itself, stripped of
its religious relations and of its connections of a distinct character.
What is to be done with the nuncio of the Pope? A democratic government
would have done nothing more than give him his passports as the envoy,
which he is, of a foreign sovereign, and bring before the ordinary
tribunals the prelates who second his attitude, if, in seconding it,
they infringe the laws. But the prerogatives of Rome exist, and the
author of the act in question is the nuncio of the Pope. He represents a
church protected by the state. What is to be done? We comprehend that
the conflict is serious, but for us there is only one possible answer—to
proceed now as energy commands, as the national decorum and the prestige
of the government counsel, and’, by and by, when the Córtes open, to add
to the constitution an article which shall make the recurrence of these
conflicts impossible, by assuring alike the indisputable sovereignty of
the state and the liberty of the church; that the church be set apart
from the burning questions of policy, far from governments and parties,
since its mission is not among them. This is the formula which most
befits its interests. At the same time, against “those who, under the
cloak of religion, endeavor to perturb communities and disturb the good
order of nations, the civil powers would find in this formula a most
useful weapon. Let us remember the words of Christ: “Render unto Cæsar
the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s.”
For many centuries the priesthood has asked, and even taken, as though
it were God’s, somewhat more than belonged to His priests. It is time
now that Cæsar claimed his share.
