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Show HOLY SEE POVERTY-PIUS POVERTY-PIUS X ALWAYS POOR William E. Curt': Writes Most Entertainingly ' of the troves That Have Hurt the Church's finance. Home, Jan. 7. The other day, when tho Italian newspapers contained ,i cab?--grain stating that the Catholics of Chicago had subscribed a large sum of money as a present 'to. the- ne.TV pop1., several very distinguished ec-clesi.ot h-s ar the- Vatican expressed ex-pressed their gr;ti ilieat ion and askekd me if I thought the story was true. "The holy see is very much cramped for money. Vim X came i ut power with an empty poekeibook. He was always a poor man. The revenues of tlie diocese of Venice tlid not give him more than an average of $.4oi a year, with which lie was u-ompelled to maintain the dignities of (he patriach, kept up a. 'palace which is very old and out of repair, and respond to very urgent appeals for charity. His friends say that he was often entirely without means, and had to ask credit for his market bills'. Several times when he was suddenly called to llonie he found himself without a cent in his pocket, and was compelled to ask friends for money to pay his expenses. On one occasion when repairs to the cardinal's palace in Venice became imperative borrowed $401) at a bank and was in continual distress of mind for fear that he should never be able to pay if. His scruples about money matters made him over-sensitive. It is also said that when he was summoned to attend the conclave which elected him pope his archiepiscopal ring was in a Venetian pawshop to secure money he had borrowed bor-rowed to relieve the distress of a family whose father had been sent to prison and left them entirely en-tirely destitute. This, however. Venetians say. wis not an unusual circumstance. Three pawnbrokers-in pawnbrokers-in Venice are familiar with that ring, and it is a standing joke among the people there that the patriach pa-triach patronizes Jews instead of Catholics for fear that his parishioners should discover a secret tbut j was known to every child in the city. The ring is I said to have been redeemed by a friend only an hour or. two before Cardinal Sarto's departure for Borne. The expenses uf the funeral, the conclave and the coronation were very large, and there was only a small amount in the treasury to meet them. There ' was great disappointment at this fact. It was supposed sup-posed that Leo XIII had a large sum in cash locked up in his little chamber, but it has not. been found. There were about. 7,000.000 francs in securities se-curities among his papers, which also created considerable con-siderable surprise, and 45.0O0,(M) francs in bonds and .stocks were deposited in his name at a safe deposit company by a financial commission com-, com-, posed of Cardinals Bampolla, Mocennj and Cre-toni. Cre-toni. The exclusion of the religious orders from France has been a severe blow to the Vatican from a financial point of view, because most of them were rich and derived large sums from industrial enterprises and investments, from which they Contributed Con-tributed liberally to the papal treasury. Since their expulsion two years ago these contributions have been almost entirely cut off, and the members of the French nobility and aristrocracy have been so i much dissatisfied with the policy of Loo XII in continuing his support of the republic that they i have refused to give anything. ' ' Thus France, which ha.s formerly furnished J nearly one-half of the papal revenues, has dropped to the fourth place. Although the religious order j of Spain are very rich, they give nothing. The re- ceipts'f rom that country are smaller than from th ! little Protestant republic of Switzerland. Belgium ; gives more than Austria, although the Litter em-! em-! pi re is supposed to be t he mainstay of the church. while downtrodden Ireland, with all its poverty, contributes more to the treasury of iho. church .than j all the nations of Kurop, except France, combined. Ireland gives almost as much a? the United States, i There is a c!oe .rivalry between the two countries ! for the first place on the list. If in were not for ! them the holy see would be bankrupt. Yet neither Ireland nor the Cnited States has anything to say I about the management of affairs, and they are not even represented at Iiomo. Italy,, which contributes practically, nothing1 and : controls everything, has thirty-seven cardinals. Tre-j Tre-j land and the United States have only one each. The Italians declare, with some truth, that they are compelled to support a large number of priests and monks. Thi is not true so far as the priests are concerned, for the secular clergy are paid by the government. The only church in Borne sup- ;': ported entirely from the funds of the Vatican U St. Peter's., of which Cardinal, Bampolla is arch- '-priest. '-priest. St. John Lateran, of which Cardinal Satolli 'i-; 'i-; is pastor, and Santa Maria Maggiore. of which Cardinal Vannuielli is pastor, receive a consider-I consider-I able amonut from the government treasury, which ! pays nearly one-half of their expenses. But there j is no doubt liia.t. the regular, clergy, as tho monastic ' ! orders are called, arc a burden upon the Italian ! people, ami they are increasing rapidly in numbers. According 'to the directory of -I'M).'!, there are sixty- eight. monasteries, lis nunneries and o,"2 churches j iu Borne. t Upon the dissolution of the relations between j church and state, the Italian parliament made a grant, of $S."0tH.) a year to the holy see as incfem- nity for the property of the church that was con-l con-l tiscated, but neither Pius IJv nor Leo XIII was I willing to accept it. arc! the money is supposed to I have been accumulating in the Italian treasury for ' nearly thirty years. ' Tlie pope is absolutely independent regarding the disposition of the church funds' He is responsible respon-sible to nobody except his own conscience, and hi disbursing officer, who is Usually a priest, of high rank, is responsible to none but him. It has been customary to have a committee of cardinals to re- I 1 lieyc the holy father of the details, but Pius X h.3 j I made a new and sensible departure by selecting on- of the directors of the BanJv of Italy, a practical I I business man of recognized intesvity and lopg ex- I J ' porieiice. to act as chairman.' Cardinal Mooenni. j I (Continued on Page 2.) HOLY SEE IN POVERTY-PIUS POVERTY-PIUS X ALWAYS POOR (Continued From Page 1.) who wa3 chairman of the finance committee under Leo XIII, resigned on account of old age and infirmities, in-firmities, and Cardinal Cretoni also resigned upon the plea that his duties as executor of the will of Leo XIII require his entire time and attention. Merry del Val, the new secretary of state, has been appointed in his place, and Cardinal Rampolla remains re-mains upon the committee. The new pope is anxious to cut down expenses and has appointed a commission to report to him how they may be reduced, .but it is not probable that it will be able to suggest any considerable economies. econ-omies. The largest sums are supposed to be expended ex-pended in support of the embassies at the European capitals, and there is an impression that their allowances al-lowances will be considerably cut down. It is certain, cer-tain, also, that a large number of sinecures at the papal court will be abolished, an5 naturally the employes about the Vatican are considerably agitated agi-tated as to their fate. Every post is now filled by friends of Cardinal Rampolla, who was secretary of state for seventeen years, or by some favorite of Leo XIII, and they naturally object to being turned out. Every one of them supported Rampolla for pope as far as they were able to do so, and it is perfectly natural that they were and. still arc loyal to him. Pope Pius is not a partisan, and has surprised people by retaining most of them in their positions. The only changes thus far made in the staff of officials have been due to age or some other disability. The. only new men who have been introduced in-troduced are his secretary, Mgr. Brassan; his chap lain. Mgr. Constantini. and out- or tv.-. or!., r j,rr. Is sonal attaches. This is quite reniark;il.l ;mi tIri. x w procedented, particularly because Sarfo -,,,,., ft-i-m the north of Italy, and nearly all of the Vatican ,,f. 1 " fieials arc from central or southern iudy. li i,Vl l n j ..the two sections of . the kingdom are nut .nly iv-nt I differences in manners, customs, method.- mm! ,,,,"ui. ions, but there is considerable jealousy and I . -j ru-t on both sides. I Thus far Pius X seem to have been -.., r: . 1 I by nn uiir-elii'di disposition to si i ve the inti-n - I which he is responsible, lie is entirely iniper- n;.;. The men who opposed hi election t the jm.;i throne most earnestly seem to have as rni.'-'i :n fluence and to receive s much cunsidi-nit i-ii t:-..r;, him .is his most earnest supporters, tion he claimed because in- had tried to prevent the pope's election. v "Fought to be grateful to him fr that." n-pjie,! f the holy father; "I am orry that ho did !.t mi.- , creed." ' Thus far nothing is certain about the fimir-except fimir-except that the expenses of the Vatican will be r. -duced as much as possible, and little money will he a disappointment to the residents and to the visit ors in Homo. WILLIAM K. TKTIS. |