Evening star., 1903-07-18
Papal Secretary Of State
Against Triple Alliance.
POLITICS AT VATICAN
LEO'S ADVISER WOULD RESTORE
TEMPORAL POWER OF PoPES.
Censured for Pro-Gallican Sympathy
Attitude Of the Press Of Aus
trfa and Germany.


Papal policy constitutes factor In world
politics which should never be lost sight of.
according to the Poster Lloyd (BudapesO.
which returns again and again to the sub
ject in editorials of a critical tone. 1t ar
rives at the conclusion that the political
element has been given too great promi-
nence'' at the Vatican for ten years past"
and 1t censures Cardinal RampoIla for that
fact. The Budapest paper antagonizes the
papal secretary of state because Of what 1t
styles his pro -Gallican politics." and 1t
even accuses him OF taking advantage OF
the pope's age to insist upon measures that
otherwise might have been disapproved.
The following utterance is to be interpreted
in the light Of the fact that the Poster
Lloyd champions the triple alliance. of
which 1t deems the papal secretary Of state
an enemy:
I'm the first decade Of his pontiflcate
Leo XIII had no less than three secretaries
of state-Cardinals Franchi, Nina and Lu-
dovica JacObini. During the second and
throughout the unexpired third decades of
his reign the name that persists is that OF
Rampolla del Tindaro. But the last named
was. during the first half OF the sixteen
year period OF his term of office-from 1887
until the early nineties-more the creature
than the dictator Only within recent years
was there change. The pope. who was
nearing the nineties. became a different
man from what he had been in his eighties.
Age did not fail to leave its impress upon
the vicar OF Christ The I.eonine period
was modified by the Leo Rampolla period.
Rampolla was very powerless while Prince
bismarck remained in power and favor.
The statesmanlike ideal of cooperation
with Bismarck In Europe was in the mind
of Leo. and the influence of Rampolla was
thus at first paralyzed. RampOlla had
neither sympathy for Germany nor for her
great chancellor. but was fascinated by his
doctrinaire policy Of an ecclesiastical
ny,oIJ J,of toy~ 1t
breathed more freely when the fall Of Bis
marck was announced in the year 1890.
Since then the star of Rampolla has been
in the ascendent.
LAS the severance OF Bismarck's connec-
tion with the conduct of German policy
caused lowering Of Germany's influence in
European affairs. German influence at the
Vatican sank. too. When Bismarck mere
ly pressed button the ring was heard
throughout Europe was subsequent COM
ment Of DR.. Won Schlozer, for many years
Prussian envoy at the Vatican. And he
added: When Bismarck quilted office /
felt that could not appear at the Vatican
with the Old-time effect. 1 no longer spoke
in the name Of powerful parsonage before
whom. even the iron will of the pope him
self had to bend
Influence Of Jesuits.
Now the influence Of the Jesuits began
to bloom They had hitherto found In Leo
XIII a promoter only Of their dogmatism,
for Leo had in his youth attended the Jes-
uit college at Viterbo. and his brother Car
dinal Giuseppe Pecci. was a member of the
order Of Loyola. The Jesuits now ventured
to draw nearer to the statesman Leo by
advancing the idea that the creation OF
Prince BtSmarck-to whom the pope had
once offered the decoration Of a papal title
the German empire would speedily COL
lapse now that the chancellor had retired
And as the exponent Of this idea, In whom
the wish was father to the thought they at
tached themselves to Cardinal Rampolla
The latter. by his capacity for work his de-
vction and his almost ascetic sympathy
with the prisoner of the Vatican theory.
so won the heart OF his master that the
pope would not be parted from the man
who gradually transformed himself from a
creature OF the pOntifical will into its in
spiration and even into Its despot 1t can
be truly averred that from this period the
craftsmanship of the pope acquired an
other direction. Toward Italy Cardinal
Rampolla has remained even more irrecon-
cilable than the pope himself The cardi-
nal considers the metamorphoss of Rome
from the capital of united Italy into the
capital OF the papal monarchy the easiest
thlnR In the world. He lives in the con-
v1ction that an International conflict NAV
break out In Europe today or tomorrow
and that In the universal unheaval the
unity of Italy will be doomed The papal
secretary longs for the conflict, and In this
receives the sympathy of the Frenchmep
who want revenge for Alsace-Lorraine men
like Deroulede and the nationalists of
France. No one is so Objectionable to the
cardinal as Waldeck-Rousseau and his fol-
lowers.
"All contrasts that last for any length OF
time have tendency to lose their vidid-
ness. and this has been the case with the
papacy In its relations with the kingdom
OF Italy. Why? Has not the papacy gained
In prestige during the last twenty years?
Cannot the pope, even In his claims to the
temporal power: express himself in free
dom to the whole Christian world? Is not
Vatican rhetoric, whose stalking horse is
the temporal power, at perfect liberty to
ride that hobby at will? Indeed cannot
the pope feel only the safer under the pro
lection Of the worldly power?"
The Budapest paper answers this last
question in the affirmative. Nevertheless
1t adds. the older Leo XIII grew the
more irreconcilabl took advantage Of the
For a time we read. the cardinal was en-
couraged by the state of politics in Europe
Vatican and Elysee.
The years during which the Meline cab
met, under the presidency of Felix Faure,
held the rudder Of the ship of state at Paris
saw the most intimate harmony between
the Vatican and the Elysee. The reaction
in France took place under the patronage
of the papal secretary of state who die
tated to the pope. There still famed out
occasionally q spark of Independence in
the soul Of the aged and physically debil-
itated pontiff But the Leo XIII of the past
decade was not the Leo XIII of the decade
that preceded. Nor did Vatican politics.
dominated by Cardinal Rampolla. meet
with the success that formerly crowned IT
when Leo XIII was able to retain the helm
in his own delicate hands. What infinite
pains were taken by the Vatican to pre-
vent the outbreak of war between the
United States and Spain and to favor the
Queen Regent Christina! Every interven-
ton Of the Vatican. all the efforts of the
papal nuncio in Madrid on the one hand
and all the diplomacy of the American
Archbishop Ireland on the other were fu-
tile Even when the war had actually brok-
en- out. the pope vainly strove to aid his
favorite Spain. Equally unsuccessful were
the endeavors OF the Vatican to establish
diplomatic relations with the sultan. A
baneful influence prevailed throughout the
last decade Of papal craftsmanship. How
ever. although the last years Of the ponti-
ficate have not been successful politi-
cally as were those of his first period of
power. the fame OF his striking personality
has remained undimmed. His days have
been spent in unremitting labor. Almost
up to this very day he toiled and toiled
even when Illness had weakened his powers
Of work. Wonders are related of his mod
Grafton in eating and drinking, nor does
it seem that he has much need of slumber
Thus II comes that the personality of Leo
lx,,