Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-08-06
Are we to Have an irish POps2


From the Roman Correspondent Of the
New York World
Speculations as to the coming con-
claVetare already rife. Perhaps they
should not be mentioned now, at a
time when all are thinking of the glO-
rious reign OF q living prince; yet do
not think them ungenerOus in their
authorizations of the sad events which
must precede that solemn assemblage
of the electors OF. the church. Their
place OF meeting has been discussed
before now. Even during the sitting
of the council the holy father, provid-
ing against all emergencies, issued a
bull dissolving the council in case of
his sudden death. More than once
the place of meeting for the election
of a new Pope has been named. Co.
IOgne, Malta and Malines have been
mentioned. There is even some Cos
sip that Trent may be the scene OF de-
alterations scarcely less important
than that of its famous council. But
these matters of detail are easily ar
ranged when the time comes for their
consideration. Less easy Of settlement
is the selection of the man who will
wear the tiara which the greatest of
the popes will lay aside. Before now
the popular voice has told the prelate
who was to be Pope, and the voice of
the people happened in those in
stances to be the voice of God. So,
too, now. The people are looking to
one eminent prince of the
church, who, whether he is to
be the successor of Plus or not,
at least merits that remark
able honor. 1t is not in this present
instance the voice merely of the Ital-
ian Catholics, to whom he is well
known, and who are almost his own
eountrymen, but of the wide cOnstit-
uency which makes up the universal
church. These whispers come family,
perhaps, from continental Europe,
more audibly from its islands, but
throughout all that vast domain of
Catholicism in which the Anglo Saxon
tongue is spoken and in which the
Catholic influence is greatest-from
India, Australia, Northern America,
Southern America, New Zealand,
Tasmania-in a word, from all those
regions where Catholicism is daily
making giant strides, which in fact
are the hope and the future of the
church, there comes this voice. Call
it testimony, call it prayer, call it
wish, there is the hope Of this peop'e,
the greatest in the Catholic fold, that
the mantle of Elijah may fall ON the
Celtic Eliseus in the person of the car
dinal priest Of st. Peter in MOntiOrio,
the world. famous Archbishop of Dub.
lin.
Here l am prepared to hear the
statement that il is only an italian
who can be Pope. May / ask why?
1t is not a fundamental law of the
church that its supreme head, the
Bishop of Rome. should be born on
this fair soil, which reaches from the
Alps to Brindisi. True, 1t is now
three centuries since the last "alien"
became temporal prince and spiritual
chief of Rome, but these centuries of
prescription ought rather be looked on
as q coincidence; certainly there is
nothing in this prescription to deprive
the church of the benefit of the talents
and the virtues Of her children who
Weren not born in the Italian peninsula.
During the three centuries it was a
matter of unquestionable policy to
select pOpes trained at the feet of the
chair of Peter, and imbibing from
their childhood the sOundest Catholi-
eism. Where was there then a more
active or more accurate Catholicism
than in this italian peninsula? So,
also, while Italians had a reverence
for the papacy, and saw in the Pope
not merely a secular prince, there was
reason to respect their wishes ia
choosing an Italian for that position.
But this is changed now.
There are three Europeans who
stand prominent in what may be
called the candidature for the papacy-
though it is but an apparent candi-
dature, for while few men are fit for
the position, fewer still of those who
are ht desire it. These are Mgr. Des-
champs, Archbishop of Melines, in
Belgium; Mgr. Manning, Archbishop
of Westminster; His Eminence Car
dinal Cullen, Archbishop OF Dublin.
To elect Mgr. Deschamps would be to
select an eminent and worthy man,
but it would be of special satisfaction
only to the Belgians. Archbishop
Manning's election would be an inn
shock to the English establish
ment, and would crafty all the Eng
gIish converts and old English Catho-
lies deeply; but in Ireland, and with
the Irish people, or with those whom
they influence, ii would be unpopular.
1t could not crafty the French, and
even such American Catholics as
have no special liking for the Irish
element would be better pleased that
Mgr. Manning should not be their
chief ruler. To say nothing of the
fact that the Archbishop of Dublin is
already a cardinal, and that he has
exercised during the captivity of Plus
a sort of ~vicegerency or v~icariate,
bis election would eonciIiate most
sections. In fact he would be the
choice of each nationality who
did not take him for their first. A
Roman n~aturalized by thirty years.
residence, he would know them bet
ter than an occasional visitor like
Archbishop Manning; q statesman
who has done not q little TO complete
the work of Catholic emancipation,
be would not be unpopular with the
English Catholics; his Celtic blood
and p~rocIIvities, as well as his deyo-
lion 10 them in their recent troubles,
have endeared him to the French
l.-~~ u.ffh noonu Of tho fnndnFo Of