The Washington times., 1914-05-25
CONS|STORY NAMES
IS NEW CARDINALS
Four American Princes of the
Church Aid in Reducing
italian Representation.
By HENRY WOOD.

ROME, May 25.-Four American car
dinals, for the first time in the history
of the Vatican. this morning attended
Consistory of the Sacred College.
They were Cardinal Gibbons, of Bal
timore: Cardinal Farley. of New York;
Cardinal O'Connell. of Boston; and Car
dinal Falconio, formerly apostolic del
egate at Washington and a natural'zed
American citizen, of Rome. The votes
of the four Americans went with those
of their church colleagues for the rails
ing to the purple of thirteen new princes
of the church.
The presence of four American car
dinals, to permit Of whose attendance
Pope Plus had pospond the Consist
ory from Easter until today, contrib
uted to make the function almost as
famous as that of 1911, at which three
of the American cardinals were created.
Cardinal Gibbons especially, who, after
twenty-five years of service as 4 mem
Der of the Sacred College. ranks next
to the cardinal dean for seniority. was
the recipient of hearty congratulations
at having been able to make the pill
Srimage to Rome.
Consistory Is Secret.
In pursuance with the country-old
traditions of the Vatican, the Consist
ory this morning was secret. being par
ticipated in only By the Pope and the
members of the Sacred College. Fol-
lowing the formal opening, each car
dinal in turn. beginning with the dean,
Cardinal Serafini Vannutelli, was called
to the foot of the papal throne. There
Pope Plus whispered to each the names
of the thirteen prelates whom he had
decided to raise to the purple To
these nominations, each cardinal In
turn gave his whispered approval.
Although the Consistory failed to at
tract the attention Of that of Novem-
ber. 1911. in which eighteen cardinals
were created, an Importance neverthe-
less attached to il that may have the
most vital effects on the future conduct
Of the Catholic Church. This import
ance lies in the number of foreign car
iinals contained in the list as compared
with the Italian ones.
Until the Consistory of 1911, the Popes
had for centuries past never failed to
iority of Italians sufficiently large to
insure always the election of an Italian
Pope. A radical departure from this
vas made by Pope Plus in 1911, when
he majority was reduced 10 anything
,ut a safe one, from the italian point |
vas at once made to His Holiness by |
goodly party of the Italian prelates, |
Who pointed out to him the many dan |
gers which they believed the possible |
election of a foreign Pope might entail, |
hey apparently failed to swerve him |
rom the purpose he had in mind-if |
purpose he had-when he began the re-
lucing Of the Italian majority.
Only Five Italians.
Before the holding of the Consistory !!
his morning, the membership of the
sacred College had been reduced by re-
,ent deaths to fifty-three. OF these |
wenty-nine were Italians and twenty
our were foreigners. With the crea-
ion this morning of only five new
Italian cardinals against eight foreign
mes. the membership OF the Sacred
College is now composed Of thirty-four
Italians and thirty-two foreigners.
OF the former, several, such as Car
linal DI Pietro who is eighty-six years !
II age and has been bed-ridden for
ears, are unable because OF physical
nfirmities to attend a conclave for the
election of a new Pope. and so the
sacred College for the first time in CEN |
uries can now be regarded as at least
.venly balanced
The persistence of Pope Plus in the
,olicy that has resulted in this is gen.
rally interpreted in Vatican circles as
meaning that he at least Is OF the |
'pinion that a Pope. other that an Ital- |
an, might be beneficial to the church |
n the future. |