The True Test

THE Holy Father's Letter to the Hierarchy of the United States, together with his English message broadcast on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Catholic University of Washington, should be studied in conjunction with the Encyclical Summi Pontificatus. That Encyclical, dealing directly with the chaotic international situation so disappoint ing to the Pope after his great efforts to ensure " Peace, the Fruit of Justice," summarised in a series of propositions the history of the root causes of the present disorder and indicated the only remedy.
On this occasion the Holy Father addresses himself to the greatest of neutral Powers, the country which he himself visited shortly before his election, and exposes in some detail the nature of the internal disorders which can corrupt an internationally high-minded country that does not heed the teaching of Christianity. These internal disorders are chiefly to be found in the corruption of personal, family and social morals, in secularist education, and in the continued maladjustments in the economic order.
Readers of the CATHOLIC HERALD would be surprised at the numbers of letters received from correspondents who ask us how this country can presume to stand before the world as the champion of justice, decency, Christianity itself when there has in the past been little or nothing to show that we intend any sort of cultivation of the moral roots from which alone can spring the flowers that we so glibly offer to the world and undertake to defend with the last drop of our blood.
And the point is very far from being a debating one. In the adjoining article the writer shows the intimate connection between international ideals and the spiritual and moral conditions upon which their attainment depends. This must be the case, for the ideals of justice, honour, decency, liberty are the fruit of prolonged training in virtue, discipline and self-sacrifice. They cannot be taken out of a drawer at will and put on like a beautiful dress. Nor can we suddenly declare to the world that Britain and Britishers have decided, in this particular respect of international relations, to be saints and heroes. If we do, we shall not be taken seriously.
It is true—and the Holy Father made it plain in his Encyclical—that there are degrees in wickedness, and that sometimes public action for the common safety is required from sinners; but the Pope's message made it equally plain that this wickedness cannot be stamped out until we are all honest enough to engage in the common task of radical reform.
In these latest writings the Pope leaves no doubt about what exactly is in his mind. So much so that we may say, without exaggeration, that the test of our cause in this war is not to be found in our declared intentions of saving Poland or Czechoslovakia or in making aggression impossible—all these purposes have a double edge—but in our willingness or not to discipline ourselves, as individuals and as a nation, to the spiritual and moral reform outlined by the Holy Father as all of a piece with the ends that Britain and France and the United States propose to themselves.
And if we feel that this is asking too much we have but to read the lesson of history: we can defeat the enemy without any great exercise of moral virtue, but we shall surely not rebuild the world in accordance with the hopes that justify the war unless we all take the Pope's lesson to heart. ugliness and evil consequences of war should.inspire public opinion not to tolerate for a moment any reversion on our part to the manners of the last war.
Two happenings this week should warn us that the descent into the old way is perilously easy.
The first was Mr Churchill's broadcast. It was a cheap and vulgar performance, worthy no doubt of some of the present rulers of the German people, but utterly unworthy of a leading statesman in a country which has chosen to be judged by the highest standards. The fighting and animal side of the listener may, no doubt, be unable to avoid deriving a certain satisfaction in hearing Hitler and his friends answered in their own coin, but his better self is disgusted by a tone of contempt and complacency, a sneer, a mockery so glaringly in contrast with the invariable dignity of the language used by the Prime Minister or the Foreign Secretary.
And Mr Churchill, apart from his tone and language, allowed himself to contradict the British Government's answer to the peace initiative of King Leopold and Queen Wilhelmina. In this answer we stated that we would examine with care any proposals made by the German Government directed towards bringing about that form of international settlement to achieve which we are fighting. At the very time, the First Lord of the Admiralty was telling the world that this war meant either the end of Britain and France and all they stood for, or the end of Nazi Germany and all it stands for.
The second complaint arises from the handling by the Press of the Netherlands scare. It appears now that there never was any justification for the wild rumours of an imminent Nazi invasion of Holland with consequent exceptional defence measures on the part of that country.
The policy of putting the very worst interpretation on every German action will only succeed in deferring the day of peace and the intensifying of war.
Germany's actions in the past have, unfortunately, given only too many grounds for expecting the worst and being prepared for it. It is for this reason that the Prime Minister cannot soften the terms under which he can see any ending to the war, and it is for this reason that neutral countries like Holland must guard against the worst. But every time a statesman transforms dignified sternness into vulgar ranting and every time the Press works up scares to put Germany further into the wrong, Great Britain by so much weakens her only too well justified moral case.
Mr Stokes' Questions
IN this issue and the last we have reported and explained the nature of awkward questions which Mr Stokes, M.P., has put to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Mr Stokes, who is himself an experienced industrialist and business man, has little respect for the " reasons of State " which prompt the Government to protect the abuses of the Capitalist system. He happens to know the game too well to be fooled, as the public is fooled. Moreover, he has found in the Social Encyclicals the only moral principles upon which a decent economic system can be founded.
Armed with his experience and an understanding of Christian teaching, he is in a position to make things very awkward for the Chancellor. This campaign will mark an important date in the Christian attempt in this country to restore social justice, and it should be carefully watched. More power to Mr Stokes' elbow, or, rather, voice.