The Irish standard., 1903-10-17

is to present to Emperor William an
autograph letter from the pope. Plus
y, after officially announcing his cle-
walton to the pontiical throne. makes
reference to the cordial relations be-
tween the kaiscrs government and
ms predecessor. and expresses the
nope that the same accord hr nElin-
tanned during his pontilicHtr. and that
h" may soon have the pleasure of
making the personal acquaintance of
the kaiser in Rome. Another political
question which is being dealt with at
llr vatican regards the nomination of
several new French bishops. The
trencli government insists that the
bulls of appointment issued by Rome
should contain the words 'Nobis NOM
lhavit, in order to make it clear that
under the concordat it is the right Of
the French government to nominate
the persons to be promoted and that
the vatican has only the right of
confirmation in these appointments.
This question cmbittcrcd the last few
years of the reign of Leo Nil, who
claimed that the words should be
omitted from the official bull, as only
the vatican could claim the right of
appointment under the concortlat.
PiuS y has already expressed his
views in the matter and. without re-
nouncinS any of the rights of the
nnpAcy, has found Il solution of the
dliliculty agreeable to all the parties
concerned, and this will be acted upon
at the coming consstory The busi-
ness of the vatican is just ut present
crntcrcd in the preparations ncces-
s''ry for the first consstory under the
new pope, preparations for which are
long and tedious and require Il great
deal of cilnoncnl knowledge and dip
!omatic tact. Besides the new car
dinals the consistory will fiji the
vacant episcopal sees all over the
world. The work Of appointing bisl-
| ops for Italy, when not undertaken
personally by the pope, belongs to the
special congregation whose president
is the cardinal vicar general of Rome,
ana Which is composed of five other
cardinals and secretary. The bisl-
ops of the other Catholic countries Of
Europe are appointed through the con-
slstornl congregation, which exam
ines into the merit of each candidate,
whose life and career are printed I'm
pamphlets, which are distributed to
all the cardinals and preates interest
ed in the selection. For missionary
countries, like the United States and
England, the appointments are made
by the congregation of propaganda
ana confirmed by the consistory after
the pope has approved of the selec-
tions. AS soon as the propaganda
snail resume it's meetings, on the first
Tuesday Of November, the vacant
sees of Columbus, O., and milwaukee,.
Wis, are to Lc supplied. Two other
dioccscs are to be erected in the Unit
ed States. one at Hartford, Conn.,. and
the other out of portion of the dio-
ccse of Dubuque, Iowa. These an
pointmcnts will have to be approved
by the pope and announced in the
coming consistory.
Much annoyance has been caused
to the vatican authorities by n prac-
tical joker. A few days before the
rrst encyclical letter of the new none
was expected an apocryphal encycli-
cal letter was issued from some OH
scurc quarter in the same type and
form as the usual vatican publication
and distributed through the mails to
all the cardinals and nuncios abroad.
This letter, addressed to all the bisb-
ops OF the world, filled with numerous
texts from the scriptures, was so well
edited in elegant Latin as to deceive
many. The Osservatore Romano. the
vatican official organ. promptly dis
covered the fraud and by careful an
aIysIs of its contents traced it's origin
10 a non-Catholic institution of Rome.
principally because of omissions
which made it appear that the letter
was addressed to all tbo o,,,,,o,, IL.