Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1903-07-30
OUTSIDER MAY
SUCCEED LEO
Candidate Not Yet Mentioned
May Wear the PapaI
Tiara,
RAMPOlLA CONTROLS VOTES
Cardinal Holds the Balance Of Power
and May Throw His Strength In the
concIave to Gotti--latter Belongs
to the Orders.

Rome. July 27.-The contest for
election to the papal chair as success.
sor to the late Pope Leo XIII Is be.
lieved in Vatican circles to have
finally narrowed practically to four
candidates. Cardinal Rampolla, Car
dinal Gotti, Cardinal Capecelatro or
Cardinal hi Pietro will, 1t is predicted
by members of the sacred college, IL
the choice of the conclave as head
of the Catholic church.
Cardinal Rampolla, although gen.
orally believed to be the weakest can
didate, nevertheless probably holds
the balance OF power, For political
reasons all Spanish cardinals are IA.
vorable to him, as we'll as a dozen
Italians. This will give him total
OF twenty-five votes. AS there are
sixty-four cardinals. however, and all
but two or three will be present at
the conclave, this number will not be
enough TO elect.
Rampolla to Help Gottl.
Should Rampolla find, on the first
ballot, that his strength is greater
than he had anticipated, even though
some votes are lacking, he will try
again. IL he has few votes and one
of his opponents has many, he will
renounce his chance, and he and all
his friends will support, first, Cardi.
nal Gotti. with whom he now has
come to some such agreement, and
attempt to raise the latter to the SUI
preme office, with Rampolla as an
ally. This would mean the mainte-
nance of Pope Leo's policy on exactly
same men.
Belongs to Orders.
Gotti, however, inspires great dis
trust, because, as he belongs to the
religious orders, he would render the
situation of the papacy extremely diff
cult at the present moment, consider
Ing the conditions prevailing In
France, Spain and the Philippines. 1t
seems, however, almost sure that IL,
on the first ballot, It Is not probable
that Gotti can be successful this Sec
ton of the sacred college will decide
on Cardinal Di Pietro, one of Ram
polla's most faithful followers.
Rampolla, being Sicilian. can
count on the two Sicilian cardinals
One of them, however, Cardinal Ce.
lesia, archbishop of Palermo, Is so old
that his relatives strongly oppose his
going to Rome to attend the conclave.
Other Candidates.
The anti-Rampolla tendency has
more prominent candidates, such as
Cardinals Oreglia, Serafino Vannu
tell, Satolli and Agliardi, which will
cause difficulty in arriving at an agree
ment on any one of them. 1t is al
ready foreshadowed that. should the
success of their opponents be prob,
able, this group will center all their
votes on Cardinal Capecelatro, arch.
bishop of, Capua.
A cardinal who seemed to have con.
siderable chance of success was Car
dinal Sarto, the patriarch OF Venice.
but now he Is scarcely thought Of, be-
cause he does not know French and
is not likely to learn it at 70 years OF
age.
May Select Dark Horse.
1t is understood that the Prussian
minister accredited to the vatican has
received instructions to favor the cleo.
ton of Cardinal Serafino Vannutelli
or Cardinal Agliardi. Cardinal Kopp,
bishop of Breslau, has been ap-
preached to the same effect.
AS opposed to the supporters OF the
respective candidates named few
still assert that some candidate as yet
scarcely mentioned will be agreed on
by the rival interests, and that one Of
whom the general public knows little
or nothing will wear the tiara.