_On the attitude of the modern Catholics towards Catholicism when it is
in opposition to their nationalism._
A good example is the attitude of the German Catholics in the past
twenty years. It has been described with all desirable detail by
M. Edmond Bloud in his great study: _Le nouveau Centre et le
catholicisme_.[174] It will be seen that it strangely resembles the
attitude of many a non-German Catholic.
The ‘Centre’ began by declaring itself ‘a political party which has
assumed as its duty the representation of the interests of the whole
nation in all domains of public life, in accordance with the principles
of Christian doctrine.’ (_Katholische Weltanschauung_: Catholic
conception of the world.) Soon they announced political action founded
on ‘a Christian basis’ (christliche Basis), the spirit of which is thus
defined by one of its apostles (Doctor Brauweiler, April, 1913): ‘In
the domain of practical action, _concepts are determined by the end
in view_. The formation of political concepts is comparable with the
formation of juridical concepts. The jurist forms his concepts _with
no other consideration than that of what is needed, in relation solely
to the required end_. But no one can say that the juridical concept
thus formed is a false one. In the same way, one may speak in politics
of Christianity or Christian doctrine.’ In 1914, Doctor Karl Bachem of
Cologne, published a pamphlet entitled: _Centre, Catholic Doctrine,
Practical Politics_, where he declares that the doctrine of ‘universal
Christianity’ is only a political formula intended to render possible
the collaboration of Catholics and Protestants, chiefly in Parliament;
that from the religious point of view this formula has only a negative
meaning, and only means the determination to struggle against
materialism, atheism and nihilism; that its positive content is defined
by the Prussian Constitution which in paragraphs 14 and 18 lays down
that ‘the Christian religion’ is the ‘foundation of the institutions of
the State’.
Thus, as M. Edmond Bloud justly remarks, Doctor Bachem makes the
Prussian Constitution the Rule of Faith. Put ‘national interest’ in
place of ‘Prussian Constitution’ and you will have the state of mind of
many a modern French Catholic.
The attitude of the German Catholics seems to me also representative of
a certain Catholicism common to-day to other nations, in declarations
of this sort:
‘The Catholic members of the “Centre” remain Catholics individually,
_but the party, as a party, does not necessarily accept the Catholic
conception of the world_.’
And again:
‘The Pope and the Bishops have authority in matters of religion, but
wherever political matters are concerned we shall not allow ourselves
to be influenced by the authority of the Pope or by that of the
Bishops.’ (M. Edmond Bloud alludes to a conversation reported in the
_Frankfurter Zeitung_, April, 1914, where one of the chief of the
‘syndicats mixtes’ declared that, ‘The German Catholics have had enough
of the Pope.’)
What M. Bloud calls the ‘declericalization of the Centre’ is not a
thing peculiar to our neighbours, nor is the joy of the great German
nationalist organ (the Prussian Annals) when it observes that ‘the
Catholic idea of the State is ceasing to be ultramontain and is
becoming nationalist’.[175]
The attitude common to German Catholics and to certain Catholics of
other nations seems to me well brought out by two protests which M.
Bloud quotes.
The first is from Father Weiss:
‘There exist,’ says the eminent theologian, ‘several kinds of political
Catholicism.... The worst of all consists in looking upon pure
politics, social politics, national politics, not only as something
wholly independent of religion, but _as being the standard by which we
should determine the degree to which Catholicism or Christianity may be
utilized in public life_.’
The other is from Cardinal Kopp (then Bishop of Fulda) in a letter
written in 1887:
‘Unhappily a gust of madness is blowing over us. Formerly we held
to the principle: Faith first, politics afterwards. Now they say:
_Politics first!_ The Church and the Faith afterwards.’
Our Catholics of the _Action Française_ have not invented much.