Personally I wish the Church to hold her dogmas, because I would do
nothing to widen the gulf which separates us from the other great
Churches, the Roman and the Eastern. The greatest political aim of
humanity, in my opinion, is a super-state, and that can only come
through a Church universal. How we all longed for it during the
war!--one voice above the conflict, the voice of the Church, the
voice of Christ! If the Pope had only spoken out, with no reference
to the feelings of the Austrian Emperor!--what a gain that would
have been for religion. But the great authentic voice never
sounded. Instead of the successor of St. Peter we had to content
ourselves with the American Press--excellent, no doubt, but hardly
satisfying.
Let me tell you a rather striking remark by an Italian friend of
mine, an editor of an Italian review, and not a Roman Catholic. He
was saying that every Church that persisted for any time possessed
something essential to the religion of Christ. I asked him what he
saw in the Roman Church that was essential. He replied at once,
"The Papacy." I was surprised for the moment, but I saw presently
what he meant. The desire of the world is for universal peace,
universal harmony. Can that ever be achieved by a disunited
Christendom? The nations are rivals.
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