Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1907-06-15

The rumor that Cardinal Merry Del
1al is to retire from the office of the
secretary of state for Pope Piux x. is
lot new, for, during the troublous days
which have followed the carrying out
If the Vaticans policy in France, and
sor which the cardinal is said to be
largely responsible, it has been fire.
quently heard, but the present report,
coming through private sources,
seems to indicate that this important
change is one of the certainties of the
lear future, and when it comes it is
thought that it will, in a measure, al
Ter the present policy of the pope.
Cardinal Merry Del Val was just en-
ering his thirty-ninth year when he
became secretary of the apostolic see,
Ind because of his scholastic attain
ments and his theological training it
was considered that he was peculiar
ly well-htted to discharge the vast and
Understanding duties of his Office. At
that time he was already distinguished
as a theologian and a deep student of
church history. Latin was to him al
most like mother tongue; he spoke
and wrote like an educated native Eng
fish, French, Spanish, German and
Italian. But while some regarded him
as fine product of the English
schools of Slough, Ushaw and Stony
hurst, as a youth grown into manhood
under the liberal ideas of an English
mother, as a rational Catholic of the
Manning-Newman type, others remem-
bered him as the son of a Spanish dip
lomat, and recalled the years he had
spent in the most aristocratic ecclesi-
astical circles of Paris and Madrid,
with all their inviting reactionary in
huences, and recognized in him a SOM
Der Spanish prelate below his veneer
of English training.
By no means the least to be consid-
cred of the cardinals qualifications is
his address and bearing, in both of
which respects he has enjoyed an adj
vantage over the leaders of other Eu-
ropean chancellories. His knowledge
of the languages of different countries
has been an ever present aid to him in
his official communications with the
leaders of the church in thought and
government in various parts of the
world, and it has also facilitated his
intercourse with all with whom he has
been brought in contact from foreign
lands. Being in the very prime of life |
and possessed of good health, he has |
shown power Of application and a
zeal and devotion to the interests of |
the church which have surprised his
friends and been the cause of much !
worry and trouble to those who have |
him and the things for which |
he stood.
Few papal secretaries, perhaps, have /
been so severely criticised as has been
Cardinal Merry Del Val, for it has
been thought that he, even more than
the holy father himself is responsible
for the encyclical of last August de-
the French separation law
and forbidding Catholics to obey 1t
The powers of the papal secretary of
state are considerable. The office has
been evolved from the time when the
pope had representative at nearly all
the courts of Europe, and so at the
present tlme the duties and RESPONSE
bnides OF the Office are about halfway
between the German and the English
ministries of foreign affairs.
II The cardinal does resign his Office
and relia1uish this vast power, it is
certain that it will come as a result
e Dissatisfaction on the part of the
per "a wi;h the policy pursued. In fact
p S 'a'd HAT as long as two years
'ao The , or felt displeased over the
a,a u,ie which his secretary had
camod protesting TO France and the
~sthcic ICrs"s against the proposed
."s'f 1f Dg deaf Loubet to Rome.
lo n who are familiar with the in
: le bsury OF things It is known that
Pias \ ana not wish TO send it; but
sl0wed d.. SELF to be ovefruled by his
secrctasy O. safe,
When the e1ect OF the note was
realized by the pope. a change in the
of state was limited at,
but of this many were skeptical, for II
was pointed out that Plus X. was very
determined in matters in which he
was sure Of his ground, but where he