The National tribune., 1903-11-12
TIE COLLEGE OF CARDINALS


Roman Catholics of this countrx hv g.
lihai Gibbons's announcement that the
rope had decided to make more Cardinal,
ior America. It has long been felt that
the great body Of intelligent, wealthy and
influential Roman Catholics in the JTnitaa
States with total membership approx..
mating 100000, were entitled to q
much larger representation in the Sacred
College than is given to such incomparably
smaller communities as Hungary, Bohe-
MIA, Belgium, and Portugal, to SAY moth.
ing OF the immense preponderance Of ItaL
'ans IN the college. 1t now appears that
the Cardinal mistook the Pope,s expre..
sion. The Cardinal, being a true Ameri.
can, understood by America merely thu
United States. The Pope meant BY Amer.
ica all Of the two continents. The Roman
Catholics in Canada have been without a
Cardinal since the death Of Cardinal
Iaschereau, and there has been none foy
Brazil, which has repeatedly asked the
rope to appoint one, nor for Mexico ara
other Spanish-American countries. VERY
probably it will be felt urgent to appoint
a Cardinal for Brazil. in which event Il
will be thought necessary to bestow an
equal henor upon MEXICO. and II 10 IA.
ther difficult to see how it can avoid sim
liar recognition of the Roman Catholics
Of the Argentine Confederation, Chile.
Peru, etc. The trouble Is to make room
for these additional appointments. While
the College is BY tradition entitled to 70
members, that number has rarely been
reached. and at present the total number
is 63, which is about as full as it has eve,
been. Of these 80 are Italians, five Span.
ish, seven French, one Belgian, one Amer.
ican, two Austrian, two Irish, two Ger.
man, one Portuguese, one Hungarian, one
Bohemian. and one English.
The Roman Catholic Church has always
been in the hands of restricted circle Of
great Italian families, who have held to-
gether against the rest Of the world, and
supplied the bigger number Of the great
offices OF the Church from their members.
The natural suggestion is to make every
representation in the Sacred College pro-
portionate to that of the Roman Catholics
in Italy, but it is said that the present
Pope favors the reduction Of the number
of Italian Cardinals. OF course, such
would meet with bitter oppo-
sition, and hardly seems practicable. The
next proposition is to reduce the number
of French Cardinals. France has now
seven for about 10000 900 Roman Cath
olics, or one for every 5.5OO,OOO adherents.
This is about the proportion, however, Of
Hungary, Bohemia, and Portugal Italy,
including her dependencies, has about 35,.
100000 people, which at the same ratio
would entitie her to only seven or eight
Cardinals. Spain has 100000 popula-
ton, which would entitle her to not more
than three, instead Of the seven she now
has. Therefore, it is apparent that France
has got no more than her proper share.
Though there have been strong measures
Tor curtailing the privileges and. preroga-
ives of the Church, there is no doubt that
the French Roman Catholics are really
more sincere and deyout and in their own
way better church people than those Of
Spain.
.fhe Pope can, if he chooses, gil up the
College to the full number Of 20, without
waiting for any vacancy to occur. There
must be, however, a great number of va.
.ancies in the next few years, since 20 Of
he 63 Cardinals are 20 years Of age or
,ver, FIVE of them are so years or over
md one is 81.