Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-26
THE CRITICS REVIEW.

| 0uzette, uhuo pASIlmdRe TO Rome las
fall for the purpose of finding out answers tt
three questions. These questions concerned th.
attitude of the Roman Catholic Church towarf
the conditions of modern life. There are thret
| characteristics, according TO Mr. Stead
which difference our days from the day:
of our grandfathers: "t1.) The world i.
passing into the hands of the English-speakine
peoples. (2.) Society is being reorganzed on a
Socialist basis; and (3) woman is at last being
| recognized as being with a right to equal
privileges and opportunities with man." The
shrewd editor wanted TO know what was
| thought of these new ideas at the headquarters
| of the Roman Catholic Church.
The undertaking was somewhat remarka.
BILE one. 1t was a proposal to interview the
| Pope. Mr.. Stead did not succeed in getting
| the Pope to dictate column or two for the
| Pail Mall Gazette, but he accomplished the
next thing to that He secured an interview
| with the Cardinal whom common prophecy
points to as the probable Pope to come-Cardi-
| nal Parrochi, the Vicar General of Rome
| The interview like everything in this enter
| tanning book is written up in very interesting
way. How much is lost to history by the tardy
| advent of the newspaper reporter into our
| mundane lifei If he could but have made his
| appearance good many centuries sooner and
have interviewed julius Caesar and Nero and
| Heliogabalus; if he could but have written up
| in his unique fashion the relations between
Charlemagne and Pope Leo, or between Hide
brand and Henry, giving the inside details of
delightful reading it would be!
81
II ERE is the beginning Of Mr.. Stead's de-
scription of his visit to Cardinal Par
rochi: AFTER passing through various ante
chambers. almost as if you were entering into
the presence of sovereign prince, we were
ushered into large reception room. where, at
the end of long table, with a crucltix and a
picture of the Madonna and Child Immediately
before him, sat the Vicar General of Rome
The light was curiously arranged so that it fell
full on the face of his visitors, while his own
features remained in the shade. But he was
evidently man Of considerable determination,
and in the full vgor of life, with mind active
and alert, looking out from heady black eyes
under bushy brows. He has a jaw also of i'm
mense power. His address was pleasing. He
said that he occasionally read the Pail Mall
Gazette, and inquired. as most people do, how
its name was pronounced-whether as pawl
mawl or pell nell. After explaining that the
Is pronounced as though it were e. said was
very glad to have the opportunity of meeting
him, inasmuch as his position as Vicar General
caused him to be conspicuous above abe all the
the questions and answers.
~
MR.. STEAD's paragraph about the daily life
of the Pope is equally chatty. interest
ing and full of just the information which most
people want.
"a very interesting picture might be drawn
of the daily life of the Pope in his palace
prison. In some respects it must be admitted
that the spectacle is almost ideal. Imagine
pure, good and able man. of more than three
score years and ten, rising at o. CLOCK on any
given morning, after sleep as untroubled as
child's and setting about what is In his own
honest conviction the discharge of his duty to
God and his church, by using his influence as
the vlcegerent of the Almighty 80 allay the
troubles of the world.
"Hs authority, to begin with, is almost abso-
lutely untrammeled. When Alexander LII:
he a As
Rampolla is equally the peer of Leo Kill.
Around the Papal throne are cardinals and
archbIshops and dignitaries of great place; but
in all the brilliant throng there is no one who
exercises any controlling influence over the
detached and lucid intellect of the Pope. Oc-
casionally, earlier in his reign, they would en-
to adopt policy to which he was dlsinclined
What you say he would reply, is very good.
no doubt, but let it be done in different way
And done always it was in Leos way, until at
last the cardinals desisted from making fruitless
suggestions. He is SO supreme that compared
with the elevation which he occupies, cardinals
count for no more than deacons, or even than
in the congregations from men who once
counted for something in the church, but now
count for nothing; but on the whole, the Sacred
College recognizes with loyalty and pride the
commanding ability and authoritative conf
dence of its chief. The Pope, therefore. has
single mind, and he has an immense sense of
his responsibility for the decisions at which ne
arrives.
xx#
UE VERY morning. before addressing himself
to the direction of the affairs Of this planet
he offers the sacrifice of the mass, and then for
grdtidruns dctio attends a second mass at
which his chaplain is the celebranr; with
mind thus attuned to divine things the Pope
then begins his working day. A single glass of
coffee, tea or milk suffices to break his fast
After going through his papers, he begins to re-
ceive about 9. From that hour till ! in the
afternoon the throng of visitors never slackens.
Secretaries, Ambassadors, Cardinals from the
Congregation, Observation-Disclosures, Bishops
from affair." have audience in turn. There are
1000 Bishops in the Catholic Church, and with
all of them the Pope is in more or less constant
personal relations.
Nothing can be more gracious, more ami
mated, or more sympathetic than the manner
of the Pope. His eye, which when fixed in
thought is deep and piercing, beams with kind
illness, and the severely rigid lines of his intel
lectual features relax with the pleasantest of
smiles as he talks. using. as the case may be,
either French, Latin (Which he speaks with
great purity and facility or his own musical
native tongue.
he returns to his books and papers until 8,
when he dimes. His meal is frugal: little
soup, two courses of meat, with vegetables, and
dessert of fruit, with one glass of strong wine,
suffice for his wants. After dinner he goes out
for drive q walk in the gardens of the
Vatican. In the evening he resumes his papers,
and at night between and 10 all the Papal
they retire to rest. But long after that hour
the Cardinal State Secretary, Rampolla, or the
Under State Secretary, Mocenni, is often sum-
moned to the Papal apartments, where, by the
light of the midnight lamp Leo watches and
thinks and prays for the welfare of the church."
sxs
a LII this, however, brings us no nearer to the
answers which Mr.. Stead went after. What
thinks the Pope about the position of woman
in our modern life, and about the advance of
Socialism, and about the changing conditions
which are steadily making the civilization of
the world neither Italian nor French, but En-
glish? Upon these points the English editor
went away from Rome, greatly reassured.
He still believes the prophesy which he au-
nounced not long ago in one of the great re-
views that the Pope will one of these days take
up his abode in London, and be in touch with
that progressive race which dominates more
and more the world living and thinking.
He declares that the Pope is at heart thor |
ough-going Socialist. 1.-The Pope is for develop
ing and extending the principle of factory leg
islation, SO as to secure for childhood exemp- |
ton from labor and liberty to learn; the Pope |
is for securing for the workman one rest day
in seven; the Pope is for shortening the hours
of labor as he sent Cardinal Lavigerie over |
trade, SO he may presently send another Cardi- |
nal to preach another crusade which will not |
be so very different from that which DR.. Nc
Glynn is preaching.
As for the enfranchisement OF women the
Pope has not yet declared himself in favor of
woman suffrage, but Mr.. Stead thinks it not
unlikely that he may.
*xs
TT is encouraging to learn from sources which
may be trusted. that the Pope is not in favor
of the incendiary policy of some of his follow
ers in regard to the reinstatement OF the tempo
raj power. The Pope does most earnestly desire
the temporal power. Of that there is no dou BIT
TJ;s tears and DraverS and faStingS uDOn the