FATHER CURCI'S PEN. 275 



between the Vatican and Christianity. For this he is 

 called to account by the Pope and the Council. He 

 sincerely repents, promising hereafter to be a good 

 and dutiful child ; but the book is out and shrewd men 

 have well noted and marked its contents, even if its 

 title be written down in the Index Expurgatorius. 

 His repentance is so genuine that the kind, merciful 

 priest (the true pattern for all Christians) who sits 

 upon the papal chair, forgives his penitent child, and 

 so Curci is free, and so free that he soon comes out 

 with another book quite as bad as its predecessors. 

 Again he is taken to task and again he repents, with 

 such genuine earnestness (sic semper Jesuitry} that he 

 is once more forgiven ; but the book is out, and shrewd 

 men have noted and marked its contents. 



At this moment, people in Italy are looking for still 

 another book from Curci's facile pen. To many in 

 Italy, Curci is a puzzle. They know not what to 

 make of him. Some even think him a Protestant 

 who has chosen this way to get his views into the 

 minds of Italians. I do not think that any one ought 

 to be long puzzled respecting this lively-minded priest. 

 It is simply a hard-fought battle between truth and 

 error in a single mind. Poor Galileo was himself an 

 example. I have no doubt that great man, for the 

 moment, thought perhaps he was wrong. No sooner, 



