The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-02-20

Vatican aides.
 An account of ons of these con- versations has been brought back from Rome by one of unimpeach- able integrity and is of unusual interest to Americans.
 For in a conversation not long before his death, the Holy Father spoke of the possibility of a foreigner-especially an American--following him to the papal chair.
 Those about the Pope were stunned. All thoughts of suc- cessor had been confined to Ital- fans, and the names of two were uppermost-Cardinals Ella Della Costa of Florence and Ildefonso Schuster of Milan. But the Pope continued with words to this eff feet:
 "It is not well for Italians al- ways to be succeeding to the Holy See. Some other national ity should be represented. God willing, 1t might be wise to choose the next Pope from across the watersS
 The remark had added signifi- canoe in view of Plus controversy with Mussolini, then raging. In his last previous public act, the Pope had defended the Jews and denounced Mussolini's anti-Semi- tic drive as a cheap limitation" of Hitler. This so infuriated Il Duce that many Vatican leaders antic- ipated an open rupture and an- other assault on the Church's temporal power, regained in 1929 after a 60-year rift with Italy.
 Accordingly, the Pope believed that the support of such a pow erful country as the United States would be a safeguard against Mus solinis wrath.
 PRO-AMERICAN
 Several other factors favoring an American Pope were in Plus mind, according to those who wis., tied with him in recent months. He was influenced by the argu- ments that the 20 million Cath olics in the United States were the largest group never to have had papal representative. Fur ther, the Church in the United States is the Vatican's chief ti- nancial support.
 Also the Pope was extremely fond of the United Stataes and its people. This grew chiefly from a deep respect for Ameri- can freedom of religious wer- ship. Once Plus remarked to an American visitor: You ought to cherish your liberty of relig- ion. Over here we are not 90 we'll blessed"
 Again, when asked why he had not sought a Church-State con- cordat with the United States, as he had done in so many other countries, he replied: "Why sign a treaty to gain rights already en- joyed by law?"
 PRO-ROOSEvELT
 Pope Plus also had a deep ad- miration for President Roosevelt and spoke most affectionately. of him to Cardinal Mundelein and other American prelates.
 He considered Roosevelt an outstanding ally in the battle which he, and Pope Leo XIII before him, had waged for the underprivileged. To Plus, the Roosevelt program was the ec- onomic embodiment of the prin- ciples which he and Leo had champiOned in their religious writings.
 His encyclical on the social or der (Quadragesimo Anno) spoke eloquently of this, and also gave a clear indication or the har- mony of views existing between him and Roosevelt. In that ency- clical, Plus declared:
 Every class then must receive its due share, and the distribu- ton of created goods must be brought into conformity with the demands of the common good and social justice, for every sincere observer is con- scious that the vast difference between the few who hold ex- cessive wealth and the many who five in .destitution consti- tutes grave peril in scciety." MAN OF PEOPLE
 American churchmen who knew Plus well will remember him for his deep-rooted liberalism, which they ascribe to three things. He sprang from simple peasant stock and spent his early years on a small farm near Milan. In later