The probability of restoring friendly relations between Church and State is a matter of concern to everybody in Italy; but of even greater concern are the implications which issue from Signor Fogazzaro's thought.

He is an evolutionist; he respects the higher criticism; he knows that religions, like states and secular institutions, have their birth and growth and inevitable decay.
So Catholicism must take its course in the human circuit, and expect sooner or later to pass away.

This would be the natural deduction to draw from the premise of evolution.

Signor Fogazzaro, however, does not draw it.

He conceives that Catholicism contains a final deposit of truth which can neither be superseded, wasted, nor destroyed.
"My friends," says Benedetto, "you say, 'We have reposed in the shade of this tree but now its bark cracks and dries; the tree will die; let us go in search of other shade.' The tree will not die.