Romophobia

On the left there's Pope St Pius X, standing for the Catholic Church, and on the right there's Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, standing for Germany, imperialism, aristocracy, capitalism, and all the other things that Marxists hate apart from the Catholic Church. But the most extraordinary thing about the above picture is not so much that it unites two progressive hate figures of its era. What is rather more interesting is what they are supposed to have in common.

The picture itself is from the front cover of a Marxist (or "liberal") journal that was published in Italy before the Great War. This particular edition came in the wake of an infamous gay sex scandal in the imperial German military. The cartoonists in Italy, of course, had a veritable field day, and even though the Roman Catholic Church had had absolutely nothing to do with the court politics of far-off Protestant Prussia, somehow that did not matter to her enemies. (Facts have never mattered to the enemies of the Truth!)

What is remarkable about this cartoon then is not so much that back before the Great War Italian Marxists, who were the progressive internationalists of their day, tended to be a bit homophobic, not to mention xenophobic. What's rather more striking is that homosexuality was as easy an accusation to throw at the Catholic clergy then as it is now. Indeed, homophobia and Romophobia have always gone hand in hand.

In which context what becomes even clearer about modern anti-Catholic bigotry is that, however much its specious causae belli may changed, in terms of its tone there's nothing very modern about it.