Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-10-05

| iHe Hlbueht NUMBER OF votes, ana everything
seemed to mark him out as the future Pope.
But there's many slip 'twixt the cup and
| the lip even i'll q conclave ; and the Italians
have proverb that in these contests the
iavorite never wins He did not in this case
In the second and third ballot Mastai- Fer
retti came more and more distinctly to the
front, Gizzi disappeared from the lists, and
Lambruschini fell hopelessly into the rear.
But if Lambruschini could only have kept
| open the conclaye a few hours longer he
might have displaced his rival, and perhaps
have placed the tiara upon his own brows, or,
| if not there, might at least have placed it
upon the brows of his friend Franzoni for
Mastai-Ferretti was in bad odor with the
| court of Austria on account of his sympathy
with the National party of Italy. and when
| the ballot that made him Pope was taken,
the Austrian Plenipotentiary was on his way
| from Vienna with veto in his pocket against
| the Archbishop of Imola, and with Cardi-
nails enough in his train to turn the scale in
favor Of the Genoese Cardinal. The veto ar
rlved a few hours too late, and the tagging
Cardinals entering the Holy City the day after
the fair, found the Romans shouting rirdS in
honor of a sovereign whose name they hard
ly knew how to pronounce. The telegraph
and the railway have put an end to all risk
of anything of this kind happening again !;
for Rome is now withing speaking distance
OF Vienna, Paris, Berlin, and London and
unless the conclaye sits, as it is said it will
sit, within twenty-four hours of the Pope's
death, and, under a dispensing bull, elects
his successor in present. cdddrere, there will
be time between the announcement of the
Pope's death and the day usually fixed for
the holding of the conclave for all the Cardi-
nails of Europe to reach Rome and to give
their votes
That implies also that the Veto Powers
vii this time be able to make their voices
heard, if they wish, i'll the conclave, and that
Prince Bismarck will have an opportunity to
assert his right TO veto as well as Austria,
Spain, France, and Portugal. At present
these are the only powers that possess a veto
upon the nomination of Pope. and it has
been challenged III the case of Portugal al
though that is the only case in which it is
said to rest upon papal bull. Its origin in
the case of France, Spain, and Austria is
only to be traced conjecturally but the right
itself has never been denied, and it has fire.
quently been exercised. Austria intended to
exercise it in the case OF Plus IN, and the
court of Madrid did exercise it in the case of
Cardinal Glustiniani in 1880, and exercised
1t without assigning reason, although the
reason may possibly be conjectured from the
fact that the Cardinal had been Nuncio at
the Spanish court, and was apt to be frank III
his criticism upon the foibles OF persons in
high position. The court of France in 1928
tried to place its veto upon the election OF
Leo MI, and that veto would have barred
his election if the French Cardinals had not
been outwitted by the Italians, as the Aus
trinns were outwitted by the Ryman party in
1916.
These vetoes are the only check upon the
absolute power of the College of Cardinals
to place any one whom they can agree upon
themselves by a vote of two-thirds upon the
throne of st. Peter ; and, as tar rs the Ro-
man Catholic Church itself is concerned, the
choice of the sacred college is final and bind
ing upon all, whether that choice be ratified
by the veto powers or not. The bull of Mich
olas H., vesting the power of election in the
College OF Cardinals, prescrlbes a form of
procedure which is hardly distinguishable
from that by which the head Of one our own
Oxford Colleges IL chosen. NJ. About has
put the papal constitution INTO a sentence
1.-The Pope elects the Cardinals, and the Car
dinals elect the Pope" That is the key to
the whole papal system. Yet. except when
in conclave, u Cardinal, as such, has no more
voice or authority IN the government of the
Holy See than an aeolyte who swings cen
ser in st. Peters. He need not even be IN
orders at all and that has been the case with
some of the most distinguished of the Car
dinals. Clement NIL, in 1875, made even
child of eight years old-Don Louis of Bour-
bona Cardinal. SiXtus V. paid similar
compliment TO one of his neplews, and Paul
". startled the Sacred College 10y nomina-
ating lawless and ferocious coRdohiere to the
Cardinnlate- Carlo Caratia of his own
nephews, who, knowing the weak side of the
Pope. contriyed to be surprised kneeling be-
e. 4
y. offered the red hat to Raphael. to console
him for the loss of Maria di Bibliena, the
niece of one of Leos Cardinals, and in the
reign of Sixtus ". Cardinals hats were
bought and sold with as little ceremony as
an advowson is now bought and sold in our
own Church. This scandal has long since
ceased, and believe there is now an under
standing that no more Cardinals shall he
created unless they have .taken orders but
II Is. of course, and can be, nothing more
than an understanding. for the creation q;
Cardinals is matter appertairing solely to
the Pope, and PiuN IN. cannot bind Plus y.
If Popes could have been controlled III this
way they would have been controlled long
ago. for the Council Of Trent. by one of its
DEGREES, imposed upon Cardinals the same
canonical conditions as those imposed upon
bishops. But the power which makes a Car
dinal can release him from the obligations
supposed to be imposed by the Council of
Trent. and this dispensing power has been
exercised again and again. 1t was exercised
in the case OF Albani, and II had been exer-
cised before then in the case of the Archduke
Albert. The Archduke never was i'll orders,
and Cardinal Albani only became sub
deacon in order TO sit i'll the conclnve of ls23,
and to turn the scale III favor of the Austrian
candidate. lie had been excused till then
on the plea that 1t might be necessary for
him to relinquish the purple and to marry.
in order to prevent the extinction of his
family and probably even then Albani
would not have taken orders but that there
was no power i'll the Church to renew his dis
pensation and to permit him TO vote except
as n deacon.
There is. apparently, but one real disquali-
fication for the Cardlnalate, and that is that
a man must not have a wife. A wife is fatal
to all hopes of the red hat He may have
been married and still he eligible as IL widow
er or being II Cardinal he may under dis
pensation of the Pope. relieve himself OF the
obligation of his position, marry, put away
his wife, and return to his old position i'll the
Church. But lie cannot keep wife and wear
the purple ut the same time, and in strict |
ness he cannot exercise the highest priyi- |
lege of the Cardinalate that OF voting in
tbUt nave ltiI bI't ulltHS lt llitS lthtI or
ders. The Archduke Albert sal in the con-
clave OF SiXtus v. under a special license
from the previous Pope, and sat apparently |
without protest from the College but his |
case, ~ tar AS | can find, stands alone. Al |
bani was compelled to take orders. and that |
lis the rule-thut unless Cardinal Is IN or |
ders he shall not vote, although the Cardn-
alate i'll itself is not an ecclesIastical rank, |
but only II sort of semi-spiritual peerage. 1t |
II degree in the papal court that |
and nothing more. But it II man is in or
ders the red hat gives him right, upon the |
death of the Pope. to take part III the govern
ment OF the loly city, to sit in tine conclayc. |
and to ballot for his successor, or to he IL
candidate ior the papal chair himself. lie
may be under sentence as criminal -as
hereto, ns IL traitor. lie may even be under
sentence of communication. But neither
heresy, crime, nor the major eNcommunlca-
ton can rob Cardinal OF his right to sit III
the conclnye and to exercise the highest iunc-
ton of his office that of taking part III the
choice of II Pope.
Till the time of Clement v many Carii-
nails had been deprived of their franchise.
and conspicuously the Colonna Cardinals by
Bonitace VIII. But the case OF these Colon
mn Cardinals created So much trouble i'll the
Church, and threatened SO many inconVe-
nient consequences, that Clement '. revoked
the sentence oi Boniiuce and issued bull
making the right Of Cardinal To vote lnyio-
late and that III now the rule of the Church.
A Cardinal may be fined, may be imprisoned.
may be degraded. may be deprived OF every
privilege appertaining To his rank, except
one. hut his franchise is indehhle that can
not bo touched 10y either Pope or Council
Several of the Cardinals IN the reign of Leo
~ consplred against the life OF the Pope.
were tried. found guilty, and sentenced to
degradation, and death, but
N every case except that of Cardinal Petruc-
i the sentence was revised petrucci wns
,trangied there and then in the castle OF St
Angelo. and Cardinal Soderlni, even after II
second conviction and second imprlson-
ncnt, was permitted to take his seat in tine
'onclnyc, and to vote for the election nt
Clement VII Yet the last or almost the hast
,ficml act of Pope Adrian had been the issue
# Bull ordering that the Cardinal of Vol
era should on NO condition be released
rom prison. aud the college marked its con