Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-08-20
Infants Slips

prised himself. So little did he antici-
pate the future that when he left Ven
ice in July, 1903, for the conclave in
Rome ne bought return ticket He
nad said to a friend at Venice before
leaving for the conclave:
Il think the election will be a short
one. We will put Peter in chains per-
haps on the very first day, crown him
pontiff as soon as possible, and hasten
back to our dioceses'
what fate caused a comparatively
new and untried cardinal to be elected
so Unexpectedly to so high an office?
When the conclave met after the
death of Leo XIII it was plain that a
division was expected along the old
familiar lines of cleavage between the
rigorous ecclesiastical party and the
party which believes in a perpetual
adjustment of ecclesiastical policy to
secular needs. The candidates of these
parties were, respectively Cardinal
Serafino Vannutelli and Cardinal Ram
polla, the famous secretary of state
under Pope Leo XIII. Up to a certain
point in the voting the choice was
thus registered:
Rampolla, "a; Vannutelli, IA; Gotti
II; Oreglia, 2; Di Pietro, 2; Cane
celatro, 2. and Sarto. 5.
1t was well known that the votes re-
ceived by Cardinal Gotti, the prefect
of the congregation of the propaganda,
were to be diverted to Cardinal Ram
polla II needed to give him a majority,
In votes for the less conspicuous can
didates were matter of compliment.
the two for Luigi Oreglia di Santo
Stefano the dean of the sacred COL
lege, being due to the fact that he
the only surviving cardinal appointed
by Plus TX.
All that seemed to remain for the
cnnHllVn tn do fhornfora -
the vote unanimous for Cardinal Ram
polla. but something intervened. AL
though all that takes place in a con-
clave is supposed to be under the seal
or secrecy. yet cardinals are but
human, and the walls of their palaces
have ears, and before many days had
elapsed after the election of Plus X
1T became generally known what that
something was
1t seems that Cardinal RampoIla
was no favorite at the Austrian court.
owing to his French proclivities. and
so when the Austrian cardinals were
about to depart for the conclave they
had been advised by the Emperor
Francis Joseph to invoke what is
known as the Spanish veto in case
Rampolla,s election seemed a GER
tatnty. This article is said to have
permitted either the king of Spain or
the emperor of Austria to forbid" the
eleclion OF certain candidate who
might be deemed "unworthy," or. in
other words. who might act contrary
to the foreign policies of Spain or Aus
tria, as the case might be.
So Rampolla was defeated. It is
worthy of note that one of the first
acts of the new pontiff was not only to
abrogate the ancient article of the
Spanish veto. but to declare that who
soever should attempt to invoke 1t in
the future should suffer excommuni-
cation.
With Cardinal Rampo1la out of the
way the election of Vannutelli might
have followed. except that, while the
would-be electors of the former sec
retary of state were willing to unite
and elect n conservative churchman,
they would not unite on VannuteiIi.
Thus in the end a unanimous vote was
given to q cardinal who was known
to be without party or policy. This