Such are the forces which the Church of Rome, as the most prominent of the Christian churches, finds opposed to it at the threshold of the twentieth century. What the issue of the struggle will be it were presumptuous to explore; it is even a delicate task to estimate the actual condition of the Church of Rome. We have spoken in detail of the state of Catholicism in London: there it is certainly not making progress. We have had a glimpse also of its condition in the provinces, which was equally dispiriting; the immense tract of territory represented by the diocese of Northampton only contains enough Catholics to form one good congregation. Other parts of England give similar results. Take the Fylde—a long strip of the Lancashire coast—which curiously retained the old faith until modern times; I was informed by a priest who has been stationed in it for many years, at Blackpool, that Catholicism is actually decaying in the old families. On the whole, Catholicism in England seems to be stationary for the last twenty years, and promises to remain so for many years to come.
Of Catholicism abroad we can form an opinion from the religious condition of Belgium, described in the seventh chapter. The religious condition of France is well known to be highly unsatisfactory. Tested by the safe criterion of fidelity to grave obligations—such as weekly attendance at Mass and annual confession—French people seem to be fast losing their traditional faith. It is usually said, and observation
