Rome [excerpt]

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Sunday, September 15, 1901.     

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HIS HOLINESS AND THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT.

     His Holiness then referred at some length to the assassination of President McKinley. As far as he knew the President had no personal enemies; he was the head of a great State, now still further expanded by important conquests in the Philippines and in Cuba. The fullest liberty prevails in the United States, yet not even this sufficed to save the life of the hapless President. Nay, it might be said that Mr. McKinley was the victim of a license without limit; before him King Humbert had been a victim of the sect of anarchists, and before Humbert Carnot, also president of a republic. These instances showed that anarchy strikes at the very principle of authority, and that no régime, however free, is sufficient to curb the brutal passions of the enemies of society. He urged upon Catholics to unite in associations of all kinds, and thus [453][454] raise a barrier against the evils of anarchy and socialism. “When you are all united,” he said, “our cause will not be lost even though socialism may get the upper hand for a time, for our adversaries, realising that outside the Church there is no salvation, will implore our aid, and the Church will save them.”