A great deal of concern is being felt by many leaders of Protestant churches in the United States concerning demands being made in certain quarters that the Pope be given a prominent place at the peace table. It is common, of course, for Romanists to think of the pope as a ruler of millions of subjects. The little plat of ground embraced in Vatican City, however, surely cannot give Pius XII any right to claim a voice in making peace. Not only is his state small, but he has no troops that are engaged on either side of the conflict. If he sits at the table at all, it will be as a representative of religion.
While some Protestant leaders think that the Pope should not be invited to help to draw the peace pact, others are ready to give him a place at the table if representative Protestants are present also.
What the Roman church really wants to come from this war was expressed in two short paragraphs in an editorial in America, for November 6, 1943. This journal is perhaps the outstanding Catholic paper of the country, and is Jesuit edited. What we quote should stir the heart of everyone who understands the prophecies of the Scriptures concerning Rome:
"Our understanding of Europe, unpalatable as this may be in some quarters, must primarily be an understanding of the Christian culture that is deep in all Europeans. It is at times inoperative, but in periods of crisis and suffering, Europeans turn naturally back to what may be called the Catholic instinct of Europe. Either that, or to a period of revolution pregnant with a barbarity that is almost inconceivable to an American mind.
"The choice before us is really this : understand and foster the Catholic culture of Europe and thus rebuild the family of Europe ; or ignore this culture and prepare a century of revolution."
It would be difficult to imagine a more bald claim of superiority or a more bold bid for supremacy being made by anyone. Surely the millions of Protestants who have recently left the domination of Rome, as well as those who have been longer free, can never admit that there is no choice except between Rome and barbarity, between Rome and revolution. Most people who understand Roman claims and who have observed the practical slavery in which that church holds it subjects, would prefer a revolution of any length so long as it led to emancipation for men and freedom of thought and worship, than peace at the price the Papacy would demand.
