New-York tribune., 1900-12-02
BY ITALIANS.
WHY REFORMS IN THE CATHOLIC HE
RARCHY ARE IMPOSSIBLE

Rome correspondence of The London Post
The report that Leo XIII has in his eccieslas,
teal will recommended the Spanish caIulhdi
Wives TutO his successor has caused mucn
speculation as to the effect on the Church oA
the election of a nOn-Italian Pope. Inc OI
hcial Vatican handbook to the ecClesidst.t'Sa L.'
hierarchy supplies material for much lnteTestin6
study on the subject. First Of all the questtiOIi
arises whether the election of nOn-ltdAld1
Pope would be possible even if he were 70 De
designated by the preceding Pontin The Italian
cardinals now number thirty, the foreign car
dinals number twenty-five. and several OF thehI
could certainly not arrive in Rome III thlo "
take part in the cOnclave. The Italian majority
would, therefore, be greater than tine HSuIeS
make it appear. Very few Of the Italian car
dinals possess any patriotism in the poIltlcal
sense of the word, but all Of them would GER
tainly vote together in Obstructing the election
of a foreign Pontif. A Pope has to be electeu
by twO-thrds majority, and, though the
Italians are not strong enough to elect their own
Pope outright. they are strong enough 10 pre-
vent foreign cardinals from electinS foreigner
The foreign cardinals, however are always anx-
iOus to exercise their influence in cOnclaVe, De-
cause ii is the only opportunity they ever nave
Of influencing the government of the Church'
The Church is practically governed by the car
dinals who reside in Rome and by the ecclesias-
tical bureaucracy. These cardinals are twenty
thre" in number, but only four are foreigners
Only two of the four foreigners, Cardinals
Ledochowsk and SteinhEber preside over LI., M,
pOrtant congregations, Cardinal LedochoWskl
being Prefect of Propaganda Eide and Cardlnal
SteinhUber president of the Congregation OF the
Index. Ali the other important Offices are Ia
the hands of the nineteen Italian cardinals resi-
dent in Curia.
ITALIAN PREDOMINANCE
In the lower ranks of the Catholic hierarchy
and in the bureaucracy the pTepOnderance OF
Italians is still greater All, with very rare ex-
ceptiOns. Italians. This mOnOpOlizatiOn Of
the administration of the Church in Italian
hands is Of the greatest obstacles to un-
derstanding between the Vatican and the Italian
Government. The reform of the Catholic
ganzation IN Italy would be one of the principal
points Of any such understanding, and it would
very greatly cOnduce To the proper training Of
the clergy and to the proper religious teaching
of the masses. But it would destroy at least
diminish the enormous number of Italian bish-
Oprcs, and would tend to reduce the number of
Italian prelates to a proportion in keeping with
the proportion existing in other Catholic cOun-
tries.
In the whole Catholic world there are 9i2
archiepiscOpal and episcopal sees, of which 5SS
are situated in Europe. Italy alone possesses
2IJ of these 5SS sees, while the whole of Europe
including Austria. Hungary, Belgium France
Germany. England, Ireland Scotland Holland
Portugal, Russia. Poland Spain and Switzer-
ldnd-cOuntries having a total Catholic pOpula-
tiOn of about one hundred and twenty-five mill
iOns-pOssess only 313 sees Thus Italy
with less than thirty million Catholics