The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1901-03-06
POPE Is 81 YEARS OLD..a
Birthday Anniversary of Venerable
Pontiff Quietly Celebrated
at Rome.

Pontiff Quietly Celebrated
at Rome.
Rome, March To-day Leo XIII. Gel
ebrated quietly his ninety-irst birthday,
and, although there were no ceremonies
in connection with the affair, he held an
informal reception in the thronerOom this
afternoon, receiving the congratulations
of the sacred college and the Roman pref
ates as well as a number of Vatican dig
nitaries. Tomorrow the twenty-third an
niversary Of the Pope's coronation will
be celebrated with great solemnity in the
Sistine chapel!
In view of the fact that Leo XIII. has
now occupied the papal chair nearly
quarter OF a century it is somewhat diff
cult to realize that one of the chief OBJ
jectiOns to his elevation to the supreme
pontifcate in 1878 was his advanced age,
for he was then GO years old. His feeble
health was also urged against his selec-
ton at the time and it was freely predict
ed that he could not live long and would
soon make room for some one of the
younger and more ambitious cardinals.
OF the sixty-one cardinals who were
members of the sacred college at that
time only two are now living, while Car
dinal Franchi, one Of the youngest and
most vigorous members of the conclave
d L
most rival for the papal chair, has been
dead more than twenty years.
But 1t is now matter Of certainty that
Leo XIII. can survive but q short time.
In spite of the daily reassurances there
is no doubt that only the Pope's indie
fatigable will sustains the vitality in his
frail tenement Of clay. OF the great Eu-
Nineteenth century Gladstone and Bis
marck have both passed their final rest
ing place, leaving Pope Leo standing
alone. When news Of Queen Victoria's
death was brought to him the venerable
pontiff was heard to remark that his
own end was not far away.
Mention of Pope Leo's approaching end
inevitably raises the old discussion as to
his successor. This must always be of
absorbing interest on its personal side to
the Roman Catholic world. To Protes-
tants the aspect of the question most in
tteresting is as to the policy Of the next
tween those who think the successor of
Leo should be like himself, a political
pope, and those who favor a more dis
tinctly spiritual pontiff, with less def
mite programme of intervention in the
affairs of Italy and of Europe generally.
The antl-llbera1S trust that the status
quo will continue and that the Vatican
and the Quirinal will remain in latent
hostility until events will render a res
toration possible of the temporal domin-
ion of the holy see. The anti-clericals
wish that the coming man be a reformer
and foreigner"
Among those who are best qualified to
guage the probabilities of the situation,
the prediction Of the accession to the
papacy of some ecclesastic not of Italian
birth receives no consideration whatever.
So long as the intransigeant, Or ultramon-
tame element, remains in the majority,
Ctc olaa1 - h. Il
ton of a foreigner. If there were any
possibility of the election of foreigner
the United States would be more likely
to supply the man for the place than any
other country, because it is free from the
international rivalries which affect the
various European powers. 1t was ia
yorite theory of the late DIR. McGlynn
of New York, that the successor of Pope
Leo would be an American and in all
probability Cardinal Gibbons. But
among those in close touch with vatican
affairs there is none who now shares
these views of the distinguished New
York prelate. 1t is the universal opin-
ion that the next pope will be an Italian
and as consequence all speculation as
to the identity of the future pontiff is
confined to the high church dignitaries
of Italian birth.
Of all the members Of the sacred col
lege, the name of none is heard so often
as that of Cardinal Mariana Rampolla,
the papal secretary of state and the most
intimate friend of Pope Leo Kill The
election of Cardinal Rampolla would in
sure a continuation Of Pope Leo's policy,
for no man living has closer knowledge
or is in deeper sympathy with the hopes
and aims, the sorrows and the labors Of
the present Pope than the secretary
of state Another strong and able
candidate is Cardinal Serafino Vanutelli,
a really great diplomatist of high char
acter, and possessing a singular knoWl-
edge of mundane affairs His election at
the present time would precipitate a cri-
sis in the imbroglio between France and
the church, for his sympathies are dis
tinctly anti-French Singularly enough,
while his views Of the French question
are so well known, his exact principles
in other directions are in dispute. Some
Of his followers assert that he is hostile
to the Quirinal; others assert as posi-
lively that he would reconcile church and
state.
The names of a number of other pre-
lates are heard in connection with the
question of the succession to the triple
crown, though much less frequently than
those Of Rampolla and Vanutelli The
partisans of spiritual pontiff are under
stood to favor Cardinal Angelo di Pietro.
Others who are considered in the light of
possible candidates include Cardinal
Svampa, archbishop of Bologna; Cardinal
Ferrari, archbishop of Milan; Cardinal
SatrO, archbishop of Venice, and Cardi-
nal Capecelatro, archbishop of Capua.