The election of Cardinal Pacelli to the throne of St. Peter has been acclaimed with unprecedented sentiments of satisfaction in both the Catholic and non-Catholic world. The lonely white figure crossing the already darkened basilica of St. Peter to pray at the tomb of the Apostle after his great decision, is symbolic of the man who has been providentially prepared by God to reign over the Church as Pius XII. His unmistakable ability, combined with a saintliness of life, could not fail to impress all who saw him. Even when placed in high station and surrounded with the pomp of the papal court, nothing seemed to disturb or distract the calm tranquillity of his soul deeply occupied with God. His linguistic ability combined with a fiery apostolic zeal particularly fitted him as an eloquent preacher. His sermons may still be read in various languages, but there was one which reveals the inner spirit of wisdom and the ideal he set before himself, so that his own life became a living sermon. This masterpiece of oratory was a panegyric preached on the occasion of the seventh centenary of St. Dominic, in the great Dominican Church of the Minerva, Rome. His text was taken from St. Paul, ‘Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine.’

Man is a complex being, largely due to the fact that he is a microcosm of Creation, comprising within a single unity the essential elements of the vegetable, the animal and the intellectual worlds. This is admittedly platitudinous; but it is also very widely overlooked by so many of those who produce the stream of panaceas for the cure of human ills and the remedying of human evils. Yet the simple truth is that if human nature is to be approached effectively and rightly it must be approached in its completeness and not just from one angle to the exclusion of others. The supreme example of the true approach to man for the furthering of his happiness is to be found in the Incarnation. To reveal the truth of man’s purpose, to provide a meaning to the problems of human life and to open the way to redemption and happiness, God became man and adopted as His own all the complexity of the human microcosm; and His subsequent approach to man was and is through all the channels implied in that complexity. Moreover, the point of primary importance in the Incarnation is that it is the final and perfect moment of Divine Revelation—that Revelation which covers not only the nature of God and His love-longing for man, but also the nature of man and his need for God. Though it is true that Faith without good works cannot save us, it is equally true that good works without; Faith are futile.

(I)

Now in those days Marcus Aurelius was Emperor and it seemed as if Wisdom herself in the person of this adopted son of Antoninus Pius, this disciple of Epictetus, ruled the Roman world . . . Nevertheless the Philosopher Justin, accused of being a Christian, was brought with several companions before Rusticus the Prefect of Rome, the very man who had placed in the hands of the young Emperor the Discourses of Epictetus.

‘What is your branch of study?’ Rusticus enquired of Justin.

‘I have studied all the sciences in turn and I have come to find rest in the teachings of the Christians, unacceptable though they may seem to those led astray by error.’

‘Miserable man, is that your chosen study?’

‘Yes, for the Christians possess the true doctrine.’ Rusticus turning to one of Justin’s companions, asked: ‘And you, what are you?’

‘I am Caesar’s slave, but Christ has given me freedom.’ But the accused men refused to obey Caesar and sacrifice to the Gods and the Prefect passed sentence upon them. Justin and his companions were beheaded.

‘I am Caesar’s slave but Christ has given me freedom.’ My whole discourse is based on this clear, this dazzling reply. My one object will be to make you conscious of its deep meaning. For to me falls the honour of bringing before you during these discussions on the subject of liberty in social life the testimony of the Christian, or, to be more precise, of the theologian; that is to say, of the Christian whose task it is to justify his religion to himself, to examine its structure and its inside workings.

‘L’Eglise, c’est Jésus-Christ, mais Jésus-Christ répandu el communiqué.’ Bossuet’s words were quoted by Père Clérissac to reinforce his argument that the purpose of the Redemption embraces mankind as a whole before it affects the individual. This dynamic aspect of the life of the Church springs to mind as the new pontificate opens fresh vistas so soon after our reading of the several attempts to assess the achievements of the previous one. In spiritual as well as temporal affairs the stage would seem to be set for a new epoch. The two troubled decades which followed the Armistice of 1918 appear to be leading to a more realistic because less treaty-bound polity, while the conclusion of the pontificate which spanned that anxious period, and alone among reigns survived it with enhanced prestige, has left the new Pope a simpler if no less heavy task.

Before attempting to trace one aspect of this in the special field of the missions abroad, it will perhaps not be out of place to dwell upon the paradoxical fact that more profound progress has been made within it during the past seventeen years than in as many preceding centuries. Today the Church is indeed universal, there is a Chinese, Indian, and African Catholicity as distinct as the English or the American; and this remarkable achievement, because it has taken place while the Church has been subject to considerable difficulties in lands older in the faith, has passed almost unnoticed, even in well-informed circles. But the fact remains that no Pope has been mourned by so numerous or so varied a Church as was Pius XI, rightly surnamed the Pope of the Missions.

Mr. William Teeling has now replied to the many critics of his book The Pope in Politics, which was published in 1937. His reply takes the form of a study of the conditions and prospects of the Catholic Church in Germany, a subject with which he is undoubtedly familiar and about which he can speak with considerable authority. He knows the language and the people well, and has taken pains to interview all kinds of personalities to ascertain the real state of feeling in the country. And though conversations, even with the most varied authorities, are not the most certain way of getting at the real truth, it is scarcely possible to adopt any other method in Germany. The Nazi press is inspired to tell just what the party leaders wish to have announced and the foreign press is often biassed.

The method has its drawbacks, so serious that one has to read the book with some caution. For it is undoubtedly true that it is a very dangerous thing to speak to foreigners about the faults of the system, and it is questionable whether even Mr. Teeling’s interviewing ability would elicit the whole truth about these from any responsible German. It is also a fact that the more highly placed ecclesiastics are rightly unwilling to grant interviews of the type that the author needed for the purposes of publication. Every spokesman, of course, is made anonymous in this book, but even this security would not encourage many to speak quite openly about politics.

As an instance of the work done by the Friars Preachers for the good of England, it is interesting to remark the part Dominicans played in keeping the country faithful to the true Pope during the Great Schism. This has not been sufficiently noticed in the history of that sad time.

On March 27th, 1378, Gregory XI died at Rome, whither he had returned from Avignon in 1376. The chief instrument used by God to persuade the Pope to take this step was that great daughter of St. Dominic, St. Catherine of Siena. She it was who reminded him of the secret vow he had made to return to Rome; and when innumerable obstacles were put in his way by the Cardinals, who were loth to leave the peace and luxury of Avignon for the grass-grown streets of turbulant Rome, it was Catherine who cried with holy boldness: ‘Be a man, Babbo miol’