The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-21
WORLD CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY
 OF NEW POPE TODAY

- Messages of felicitation by thous- a.rds from all over the Catholic world will pour into the Vatican to-day on the occasion of the sfxueth birthday Of the new supreme pQntif of the church, Pope Benedict xV. The rise of this scholarly, ascetic spectacled man to the leadership of the worlds most powerful religious organization can only be described as spectacular, for it followed within four months Of his elevation to the College of Car dinals His election to the papacy came at a. time when Europe was plunged into the worst war in all his- tory, and when the church was con fronted with problems of policy for which the past offers no precedents.
 Giacomo della Chiesa was born on. Nov. 21, 1854, in PegIi. in the diocese of Genoa. He was in his twenty fourth year when he was ordained to the priesthood. His ability soon at- tracted the attention of Mgr, after ward Cardinal Rampo1la, and under Pope Leo, the papa1 secretary of state In 1888 the young priest ac-l lcompanied Bgr. Rampolla to Madrid, as secretary of the 4nunciature. When
 Mgr RampoI1as was given the red hat and made secretary of state at the. Vatican, his friend became ont of his
 minor officials. Tn 1901 he was made substitute of the secretary and sec
 retary of the cypher, a post of no hf- tie importance in the sCaThOl1cs organ izatfon. He was also appointed com
 sultor of the holy office.
 During this period of the career of ] the future Pope he was initiated into l all the mysteries of papal diplomacy, | in which Cardinal Ranpolla was so great a master. Educated in the I school of Ranpolla, and Leo XIII, his policies are likely to follow their nnes 1 rather than those of his immediate predecessor, Pope Plus x, and his
 seceretary Of state, Cardinal Merry del I Val There are already indications | that Pope Benedict proposes to follow I the program of Rampolla and Leo I VJII. in exerting greater diplomatic e I Influence from the Vatican This means that the Vatican will strive to I exercise a greater power and to par l ticipate more actively in the affairs of l the world than was the case during l the rule of the late Plus x.
 It was doubtless his reputation as a 1 diplomat that caused Cardinal della Chiesas to appeal to his fellow eardin- sIninister the affairs of the church during a period when the greater part Of the world is at war, and when
 many changes in the map of Europe l and the alignment of nations must j logically result It is remembered that Austria. interfered to prevent the Ielection of RampolIa to the papal I throne, at the time when Plus x was 1 chosen Austria was opposed to the T views and policies of the great states
 man of the church in cultivating re- l lations with the civil powers. Aus
 trian statesmen believed that Ram lpoI1a was too friendly toward France. and they invoked the Spanish veto, l with the result that Cardinal Ram sl polla, who had had a majority of the
 votes, was defeated
 Unlike his predecessor. who, was oi
 Humble origin, Pope Benedict xV is ot noble birth. From 1907 until his el-
 ovation to the papal throne he was
 archbishop of Bologna, to which i'm
 portant see he was consecrated by Il the Pope himself.
 T The new Pope is the first to choose the name of Benedict since the reign
 of Cardinal DLambertini 1740-58, wlle
 was Pope Benedict. XIV. The lat Iter was one of the most liberal. pro- gressive and broad-n1inded pontiffs ir
 Catholic history. and it is significant that the present pope chose the name
 of Benedict out of admiration for the character and policies of the enlight. ened Benedict XIV. 4$s