Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1914-09-05


doliers'' was a beloved and familiar
figure. His firm, dignified, yet genial
rule quickly made him a force to be
reckoned with.
He gave proof of extraordinary tact
in dealing with the civil authorities
and he succeeded in winning the sup
port of radicals as well as clericals.
He became a favorite with King Vic
tor Emmanuel and Queen Helena,
when they visited Venice, and it is an
open secret that the news of his cleo
ton to the pontificate was joyfully re-
ceived by the king.
His Election as Pope.
1t was no light inheritance to sue
coed such a pontiff as Leo XIII, for
in many ways Leo symbolized the old
order, incarnating, as he did, the arts
tocratic ideal of the scholar and the
diplomat
Plus x. was, as befitted a demo
cratic pope, different in many respects
from his illustrious predecessor Like
the fisherman whose place he held, he
found his recreation fishing in the
Vatican ponds rather than in writing
Latin verses. To his saintliness of
character and moral worth, independ-
ent of all lesser and worldly consid-
erations, memory doubtless will pay
homage.
When balloting began, to choose a
successor to Pope Leo XIII, the name
of Giuseppe Sarto was hardly consid-
cred at first. AS balloting continued.
however, the roll of votes in his favor
increased. He was then regarded as
a compromise candidate, and finally,
on the sixth ballot, he was elected
August 4, 1908, and five days later he
was crowned in ST. Peters, Rome,
with all the magnificence and bril-
lance OF ceremonial that distinguish
es the coronation of each successor to
the apostolic throne.
He never had been ambitious to be
the head of the Catholic church and
the successor of ST. Peter. He loved
the simple life among his friends, his
relatives and his proteges in the par
ish he first held. The grandeur, the
pomp, the great power of the Vatican
did not appeal to him
Direct and Simple In Method.
1t is much easier to face the rulers
of Europe on question than the car
dinals assembled in the Sistine chapel.
but Pope Plus did not quail or show
timidity when he informed the car
dinals as to his perseverance in the
lines he drew for himself. He was
firm, brief and unruffied, and made it
plain that he would not lean in either
direction to lend weight to favored
plans of different cardinals or fac
tons
When the trouble between the
church and state broke out In France
and the Concordat was dropped, the
world hooked to the pope, specializing
as to what course he would take. What
he did seemed to be the only right
thing. according to the American idea
He ignored the nation
Before Pope Plus had been on the
throne three years he showed that
young men who dreamed of the career
of a courtier In Rome were going to
be disappointed. The pope wanted
bishops for the difficult sees, and the
way for young diplomats to promotion.
IL was soon apparent, was through
the tiresome but wholesome ONCE of
governing bishop.
One great reform Pope Plus accom-
plished, and it promises to be ever re-
membered in history. He proved that
diplomacy in church matters is thing
of little importance compared with the
direct teaching and preaching OF the
gospel to the poor.