THE Vatican has denied that it was in any way responsible for the action of Brazil at the League of Nations Council meeting [Brazil blocked Germany’s entry into the League, for reasons of its own], and there is almost certainly just as little truth in the suggestion that Rome has inspired the renewed demand of Austria for inclusion in the German Republic. For centuries the centre of a great Empire, Austria has become a small, poor, and weak republic. The break-up of the Austrian Empire was one of the blunders of Versailles, and the creation of a number of independent Powers has immensely added to European complications. Genuine statesmanship would have contrived to change the old Empire into a Confederation with a central Government and without the multiplications of pernicious frontiers and customs houses. Cut off from Hungary and Bohemia, Austria would quite naturally welcome entry into the German Reich. That has been her wish for seven years, but the doctrine of self-determination does not yet apply to the old enemies of the Allies. It is natural that the Vatican should sympathize with a Catholic nation in its days of adversity. It would naturally welcome a large addition to Germany’s Catholic citizens. But it is not necessary for the Church to stimulate a natural political ambition, which neither France nor Italy will permit to be satisfied.
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