The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-09-12

Candidates" will come as a surprise
But the election, which week ago
would have have seemed far IRON IN
eyitable. has been quietly hoped Tor by
a large and increasingly influential
proup in the Catholic hierarchy, as the
safest solution of the difficulties which
beset the church at the close OF Plus rs
reign and at the beginning Of reign
which, after the present European cata-
clysm must of necessity be one oil re-
construction. To understand the prob
lem set before the conclave and Of wrach
Cardinal della Chiesa's elevation IS the
solution, one must understand the three
! tendencies in the church which during
the past two reigns have found express
sion in varying degrees OF effectiveness.
| The pontificate of Leo XIII was pre-
leminently conservative" in its church.
manship. Minor anil local differences OF
opinion, practice, and ritual inevitable
in living organism, were serenely ig-
nored so long as the great central cur
rent of Catholic tradition flowed on UNI
INTERRUPTED and uncontaminated. This
conservative school, of which the late
Archbishop Williams was an admirable
type, is still large one in the ehurch.
! Its diplomacy, under Cardinal KAN
polla, occasionally brilliant and always
astute, was marked, as must all efncient
diplomacy be, by an intelligent "oppor-
! tunism."
There is however, a deyout type OF
mind that sees even in minor irregular.
tiles wastefulness, and in any form OF
"opportunism" a needless worldllness
and a swerving from an ideal standard.
| IL is very easy for these idealists to be-
come labelled "reactionary;" and tins,
| in fact, il the term oftenest applied 70
the pontifcate of Plus X. Among the
merits of his reign is undoubtedly
louickening and intensifying OF the
spiritual life of the church and q great
gain in administrative precision. That
| the reign has been benefeient will not be
questioned by all groups OF Catholics.
But this reaetionary school, if continued
| in power. under new and tragically diff
| ferent conditions, might easily 90 beyond
the healtnily corrective stage, now end
ed. to one of numbing repression. The
| Diplomacy of Plus, under Cardinal Merry
del Val. naturally took on somewhat the
same rigidly umyielding, idealistic char
acter of the spiritual reign. Dealing
with different material, it proved less ef-
| fective. and to one not carefully study
ing the late pope's motives and ideals
may well be called inapt. Certainly re
dictionary" here is not an unfair char
acterization. To most observers before
the conelave. this reactionary group
seemed far the largest. OF the third
tendency modernism, it is unnecessary
/ to speak. Suspected and repressed, the
movements strength may be Iona in
ideterminable.
! Cardinal della Chiesa, one of the
youngest of the college, curiously falls
I between the first two groups. Trained
under Rampolla, whose pupil he was, he
| has Inherited the best traditions of Leo
tNIIrs pontifcate, and, more than any OF
| his Younger colleagues, may be expected
| to share the openness of mind that char
acterized that period. But, among the
most efficient and loyal of Plus ad
iutants, he has also for nine years been
/ Influenced by the stricter administrative
and devotional standards that succeeded.
lOf an artistic heredity, thoroughly
scholarly training and sympathetic
bearing. the new pope is blessed with
gifts which augur well for the success of
! his pontifcate. Indeed, when he was
made cardinal only a few months ago
there were some within the shadow of
the vatican who believed that his ele-
walton presaged to-day's election.-Bos-
ton Transcript.