The Irish standard., 1906-11-10


error, for, though he has been only
nine years a Bishop, and three years
Archbishop of Chicago, and although
he is but fifty-two years of age, it
must .be remembered that there are
two younger men in the Sacred Col
lege, Cardinals Skrbensky and Merry
del Val, and that the former had been
Archbishop of the great diocese of
Prague FOR little more than a year
when he was made a Prince Of the
Church. The question of age, there
fore. hardly solves the problem-at
least not by itself. But there are other
circumstances which render the ulti-
mate choice less doubtful.
A careful study of the dioceses of
the whole world will show that in
many respects New York, after Rome
itself, is the most important in the
Catholic Church today. In the first
place New York is the metropolis of
the western world, besides being sec
ond only to London in population;
with its Catholic population of about
a million and half (the Directory
figures are 100000, but they are sew
eral years Odd, it contains almost as
many Catholics as the whole of Eng
land. and certainly more than the
whole of Australia-and this Catho-
lie population is increasing and will
inevitably increase by leaps and
bounds in the future Then. again,
New York is about to celebrate an
event hitherto very rare in the his
tory of American dioceses, that of the
first centenary Of its establishment as
diocese. With Plus x. all these con-
siderations would not tip the balance
esteem and affection for the Arch
bishop-of which His Holiness makes
no secret. On the whole, then, one
need not be a prophet to be able to
predict that st. Patrick's Cathedral
will be solemnly consecrated by a.
Cardinal Archbishop of New York on
the occasion of the Centenary Jubilee
of his diocese
There is one category of Cardinals
which is certain to be greatly reduced
In numbers during the PontiAcAte Of
Plus X. viz. the Cardinals Of the
Curia. There are at present twenty
eight of them. Their functions in
Rome are connected with the various
Sacred Congregations, between which
is divided the work of the Universal
Church. 1t so happens that the pres
ent Cardinals Of the Curia number an
unusually large proportion of very old
men-quite half of them being seventy
and eighty years of age, and several
Of these have practically retired from
active work-althOugh. indeed, Car
dinal Di Pietro, who is seventy nine,
continues to be one of Plus KS most
useful helpers. Now the Holy Fathers
settled policy is to allow the Cardinals
of the Curia to be reduced to about
half their. present number-or to fig
ure 1t out more accurately, he in
tends to have only eighteen Curial
Cardinals in the future. Everybody
knows that he has practically abol-
ished the precedent of elevating to the
Purple Nuncios of the First Glass who
have completed the usual term of six
years as Apostolic Ambassadors to the
great Powers.
Finally. to complete this chapter on
the Sacred College at it stands at
present. Freeman readers may be in
terested to know who are the Car
dinals closest" to the Pope-that is to
say, those whom he most frequently
calls to assist him with their. advice
and labors. The Cardinal Projects Of
the different congregations, Of course,
ocChpy Il certain ok.OT1ClO position III
this respect, and it is needless to re-
fer to them specially. But there are
half dozen Cardinals resident In
Rome who are especially burdened
with work Of all kinds by His Holt
ness. The Cardinal Secretary of
State. Merry del Val, is one: Cardinal
Gotti. Prefect of Propaganda. is an
other; then there is Cardinal Serafino
Vannutteli; Cardinal Martinelli. Car
dinal Wives. and Cardinal segna. 1t
is not necessary to add that Cardinal
Rampolla continues to occupy an alb
solutely unique position among the
Princes of the Church.
House Decoration.