Under the leadership of Martin Sommer and Theodore Graebner, the Lutheran Witness developed a strongly anti-Roman Catholic feel. Most of the articles discussing Roman Catholicism were frankly polemical and sometimes bigoted, but they could be amusing on occasion as well. The opening several lines of this article are a good example. The rest of the article I found interesting in light of the great respect shown to Pius X by Roman Catholics, culminating in his canonization. He even has a group of Lefebvrists named after him .
"A few days ago the Roman Catholic Church found itself without a head; the Pope had died. Romanists continually tell us Protestants that the Pope is an absolute necessity for the Church, yet at this writing they are still without a head, but seem to be getting along fairly well in this decapitated condition. The Pope who has just died, known as Pius X, did not cut much of a figure. He was personally a kind of uninfluential old man, who, when he was elected to what the Roman Catholics claim is the highest place in Christendom, declared that he would much rather have remained quietly in his diocese of Venice. It is generally conceded that he had little ability. It is certainly remarkable that in the eleven years of his pontificate he accomplished so little, and yet managed to work so much havoc. In spite of the fawning adulation which he received from subordinates, there was heaped upon him much contempt and opposition from many quarters. Upon his entering the Vatican, the press generally lauded his attempts at reforming that worst of all European courts, the Vatican household, a court that is supposed to be spiritual, but imitates the vices of the vilest courts, and generally proceeds to a vulgarity which they know how to avoid. If he was in earnest about this reformation of the papal household, he seems not to have applied any more severe methods than did Eli in the case of his sons, nor had he any better success.
"By his Ne Temere decree he again attracted the attention of all who will see to the tyranny and presumptuousness of Rome. By his encyclical on the reformation he aspersed the character and the work of a man whose very shoe's latchet he was unworthy to unloose. Think of an old man who waddles about his palace, spending his time in putting on gorgeous robes, and in lifting up hands to mumble stereotype benedictions, uttering a few weak denunciations against such a spiritual and mental giant, such a mighty man of God as Martin Luther!
"With all the idle priests, monks, and officials at his command it is surprising to see what a failure he made of his negotiations with the French government; it is pitiable to note that with all the wealth, influence, and men at his disposal he failed to conciliate Spain and Portugal, two of the most Catholic countries of the globe. As far as we know, he had not the courage even to take up the tangle in which his predecessor had left the affairs of the curia with the Italian government. . . .
"The Catholics themselves seem to feel that the dead Pope will have a hard time at the judgment-seat of Christ, for we read in one of our Catholic exchanges; 'Now that he is gone before the final judgment-seat to give an account of the great stewardship committed to him, all his children of every clime and nation and tongue will join in prayer that God may be merciful to him.'
"It is too late to pray for poor Pius X, but we pray that God may be merciful and grant light to those whom the Pope left in darkness."
Quoted from The Lutheran Witness, Vol. 33, No. 19 (September 8, 1914), p. 146.
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