What appears to be an answer to the charge sometimes made that the French clergy's loyalty to Petain may bring misfortune on the Church in France after the war has recently been made by M. Wladimir d'Ormesson in the French newspaper Figaro.
M. d'Ormesson, n well-known writer and journalist, was recently French An,hassador at the Holy See.
In an eloquent article in defence of the French clergy. he writes : " The Church in France is now recovering her liberties—or rather her rights. This restoration is pure justice. At th, same time the masses and
the must not be allowed to think that there is any simple connection he!Wen this restoration of justice and the evils which overwhelm us, " Let 115 be clear about it; thing's will go hard one day for all who refuse to understand that the appalling trials which we are enduring constitute a time of mourning, of Iminiliatiem, of discretion, of national suffering. of sacrifice. Hence the need of tact. understanding. elevation of spirit, warmth of heart. And these are the virtues which the French clergy have been exercising because it has suffered so mar. h."
" in the results of this work of salvation. The French clergy are admirable. . . Let us note that in a country where the political world, the civil servants, the middle classes, the workers have so many sins on their consciences, the French clergy can be accused of no such weaknesses. On the contrary. If there is anything which has not moved in the general upheaval of social and intellectual values, it is the rock of the Church. If there is one point on which we can prop ourselves up, it is the religious tradition . . .
" Because the clergy will be recognised tomorrow as having helped the people of France to go through this most terrible trial of our history the Church, when a little happiness returns to our land, will not be met with an ingratitude which would cause the country to fall hack into its old errors, but rather with a fidelity which will save it."