January 6th, 1906.
THERE is reason to anticipate the speedy announcement of the betrothal of an
English Princess [Ena of Battenberg], the King’s niece, to his Majesty the King
of Spain. Report has it that the Princess is now under instruction with a view
to her reception into the Roman communion. What that means every one ought to
know. She will be made to profess that her Baptism, her Confirmation, and her
Communions have all been invalid, and to crave admission into the Roman Church
as though she were a converted pagan. If Her Royal Highness were permitted,
without these degrading conditions, so insulting to the Catholic Church of her
country, to conform to the practice of the Catholic Church in Spain, there
would be nothing to say. A Spanish Catholic would be free to communicate at our
altars, and an English Catholic should, in like manner, be free to communicate
at Spanish altars. If this reciprocity is not to be practised, and it is made a
condition of this Spanish match that the bride-elect is to renounce as
heretical and schismatical the Church in which she has been brought up,
believing it to be for England what the Spanish Church is for Spain, all we can
say is that English Churchmen will be seriously distressed. . . We cannot
persuade ourselves that King Edward, will sanction a proceeding which will be
deeply deplored by many of his subjects.