OCR Text |
Show u- I NO AMERICAN POPE. . Well informed Catholics read with some degree of amusement an editorial edi-torial which recently appeared in the Denver News, explaining the editor's reasons why Cardinal Gibbons stands no chance of election as successor of Pope Leo. An editorial in the Salt Lake Herald, bearing out the same conclusions In almost identical lan- Euage, appeared a day or two after i According to these two newspapers' the chief reasons , militating against , uie succession of an American cardinal cardi-nal are trade conditions, the Jealousy j of European nations over the vast exploitations ex-ploitations America is making in this direction. A typical American In the papal chair, these editors ed-itors gravely assume," would upset' up-set' all of Europe's schemes of reprisal against American competition competi-tion In trade. Cardinal Gibbons Is a typical American; therefore there Is no show for Cardinal Gibbons at Rome What nonsense all this is when we contemplate the democratic character .' of the college of cardinals, each exercising ex-ercising his right of suffrage in a cell, with no second . person to enter or influence in-fluence his choice for pope on any ballot bal-lot Trade conditions never before guided the selection of a pope, nor will the successor of Leo be chosen by any boost of Standard Oil, the Chicago cattle market, or the fear that the Panama canal will knock commercial Europe into a cocked hat. Our kind Protestant friends of the press, who have written so much that gratifies Catholics relating to the dying pope I and the American cardinal, need have no fear that any of the things named will be considered in the conclave. American Catholics are not in the least optimistic about the elevation of Cardinal Gibbons to the papacy. They recognize the fact that there is a good deal of human nature in the church as well as in the world outside. out-side. The Italians in the college of cardinals lead by a great majority, and blood is thicker than water. These Italian churchmen are wedded to the traditions and customs of the Vatican handed down from the centuries. Most ; of them are averse to innovations, and , they certainly have reason to fear that an American would make some changes not in harmony with church aristocracy. In their mind's eye they perhaps see Cardinal Gibbons, as pope, mustering out the' Swiss guards, cross-1 ing the bridge over the Tiber on foot, wearing a Prince Albert coat and stovepipe hat, and buying a paper from a newsboy, just as he does in Baltimore. Perhaps he might effect an amicable understanding with King Humbert, who, after all, is not a bad sort of a fellow. No, no, no! an American Am-erican must not be considered. While we do not say that any of these apparitions will militate against the selection of an American cardinal for the papacy, they certainly are more likely and weighty than the trade conditions presented by the Denver Den-ver News and Salt Lake Herald. |