New-York tribune., 1903-07-21
LEO XIII.

Catholic Church of one Of the greatest OF its
Popes of modern times, and the world OF one
of its most conspicuous and most honored per-
sonages. So much may be said without heslta-
ton and without fear of controversy Ihere
wore various features of his character and
career which may form subjects OF fair dis
pute and some which must be further elucl-
dated by the slow processes Of historical revela-
tion before the world Will understand them
Alright and be fitted to form opinions upon
them. He was q man Of singularly secluded
life contrasted with others Of anything like
comparable prominence, yet in many respects
he was exceptionally wen known to the world.
He filled no temporal throne, and was not in
any direct sense the power behind one, yet the
world saw few sovereigns who exerted so
strong an influence as he and none whose infiu-
ence was so widespread as his, even in tenn
poraI affairs His career as Pope was marked
from first to last with controversy and conflict,
vet his passing causes no crisis IL even ripple
upon the surface of political affairs review
Of his quarter century of Pontifcate seems
almost paradoxical, and in parts enigmatical.
Yet the salient fact Of his greatness in both
the Church and the world is not for a moment
te be disputed questioned.
We may confidently call him great because
Of his work for his Church He found that
historic organization at his accession to the
PapaI throne at probably its lowest ebb since
the storm and stress of the Reformation He
has left it at probably the highest point of inf1u-
ence and prosperity it has known in those
centuries. That, we believe, is the best con-
temporary opinion Of his work and will be
the mature judgment of history. He found the
Church deprived of the last remnant Of its
temporal sovereignty, and it is true that he
In fhn Gfata lore han
we may say that he was not able to make
progress toward a temporal restoration, and
that he leaves even the possibility Of such
restoration at any time entirely too remote for
practical consideration It is not by political
provinces or by political subjects, however,
that the progress of the Church is to be meas
ured At the beginning Of LeO's reign the
Church was on unfrendly or unSympathetc
terms with almost every government in the
world and was positively at enmity with sew
eral of the most important. At its end it is on
terms Of cordiality with all, save only that OF
Italy, and indeed with that one its relations
are far less estranged than is commonly sup
posed. Leo found Mr.. Gladstone laundering
against Rome with all the fervor of some propa-
gandist of the Reformation, yet he brought
that same Mr.. Gladstone to re-establish diplo-
matte relations between Westminster and the
He found Bismarck and Falk stoutly declaring
1--WE shall not go to Canossa," but he COM
PEELED the Iron Chancellor to go to Canossa and
to acknowledge the fact to all the world. He
found all relations with Russia severed, and
he restored them on terms most advantageous
to the Church. He found Gambetta and Ferry
denouncing the Church as the chief enemy of
France, yet despite the emulation Of their
words and works by DR.. Combes he leaves the
Church more truly influential in France than
1t has been since the Revolution.
The secret of these and Of innumerable other
achiev vements may not be at once obvious. 1t
may comprise a number of factors or elements.
We are inclined to think, however that more
than in any other 1T is to be summed up in the
one word, tact. Giovacchino Pecci was noted
as one of the most diplomatic Of diplomats be-
fore Leo XIII assumed the Triple Crown. He
made friends, not enemies. He avoided or
removed difficulties, instead of creating them.
He allayed rather than provoked contentious.
Both as head of the Roman Church and as a
great international parsonage he sought the
blessing of the peacemaker. He was as patient
though he had been endowed with perpetual
youth. He is not commonly regarded as having
been notably liberal or progressive. Yet he
was one of the most democratic of PopeS and
the Church under his guidance made pretty
steady progress toward liberal politics. Theo-
logically and ecclesia stically the Roman Church
is now no nearer to a reunion with the great
mass Of Professionalism than 1t was in the days
Of Cromwell, yet between the two there is
certainly far less bitterness Of antagonism than
ever before since Professionalism began For
this, as for all other progress made by the
Roman Church in the last quarter century, Leo
XIII may not have been entitled to all the
credit There were other forces at work in
the Church, at Rome and elsewhere Yet we
shall not overrate him or do injustice to others
If we accord to him the major part thereof
The first Leo was the founder of the Papal
principle of temporal sovereignty, and the tenth
Leo by his ecclesiastical ineptitude gave oppor-
tunity for the Reformation to rend the Church
asunder. This latest Leo did nov succeed in re-
establishing the monarchy Of the one or in
repairing the neglect of the other. But he
enhanced the moral sovereignty of the Papacy
to a degree unknown for many a reign, and,
infexible as he was in doctrine, he made on the
whole for the advancement of many of those
practical principles for which the Reformation
was begun In creed he was immovable, but in
political and social practice he led the Church
in the same path that, as we believe. the whole
world was and is pursuing, and it will be by
no means the least or the least worthy of his
distinctions that he, perhaps above any of
his predecessors. kept himself in touch with
the world and in sympathy with its great move
ments. and was thus not only the Chief Pontiff
OF a great Church, but also one OF the chief
citizens of the world.
RESERVOIRS AND DAMS.
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