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Show (l J j 1 ; "This is the . ( I f J 1. yjT victory which j;'' ;i c, h Church, unwwsal r : i II T faith." 1; . j t L - . !; j I BUSINESS SIDE OF THE VATICAN ': n ji October minibcr The Bookkeeper, the j;,,.,!'!'' Man's Magazine giver leading place to an j - jJ)(r,v -i!ig and informing article on "The Business t ' i)cpiirul('ni 0 Vatican.' The writer, Mr. Conrco Barton, has evidently been at. pains to pi'lur lus data from authoritative sources, and his f f few rid treatment of ihe subject is fuch as will not I .2 ,,j iv ;ir"Ho and hold the interest of the "men of S f-urfs" who read The Bookkeeper, but of the read-f read-f ji:- I'liMic in general. Says the writer: i TV- business department of the Vatican by I vln'cli term is comprehended the immense yet deli-r;i!e deli-r;i!e internal machinery of' the Roman Catholic c.iir-h--i probably the least known and yet the I jv- int reting bit of mechanism connected with notjiblc organization, than which Trd lUaean-j lUaean-j .. .lerlnreil, none was niore worthy of serious cx-I cx-I in ination. Th" vastness and ihe -perfection of the system I M'i" al strongly to the modern American mind, 5 rlii' li looks with admiration upon big enterprises l 1 ef any character and has special reverence for 'any ! ,. m by which the ordinary omissions and blun-i blun-i I :- of mankind are .reduced to a minimum. It can t I !: said -without exagggeration that the business de-' de-' J h riment of the Vatican is more nearly flawless i than that of any great corporation in tin? world. , 'Mi!-; perfection, it should be said, is largely ob- tained by a sacrifice of the speed the strenuous I activity which is one of the chief features of our I modern American business life. I By the. Vatican is meant not only the official I residence of ihe pope, which is also the working I 'headquarters of sonie of his chief assistants, but all d" "that large 'establishment in Rome which has the executive charge and management of ihe material 5nterels of the Roman Catholic church. The Vatican Vati-can palace is only one of the rive large buildings utilized for transacting ihe business of the holy see. Tljey are ihe Palazzo di S. Affizio. wherein are the o Sices of. the congregation-of the 'holy office; the - Valicano, which is the hcadi"9trers 'of the state department" ;t lie Palazzo di Propaganda Fide, occu-; occu-; pied by tlie congregation having charge of the af-j af-j -1'air.- of missionary countries: La Dataria, used by I ihe congregation which might be termed the bureau ; of appointment, and La Cancelleria, wherein, are f )i"ii-e all of ihe remaining congregations. The j buildings are not grouped, but are in widely sepa-! sepa-! ! rated . porlions of ihe Eternal City, much as the ? I "White House, the treasury department, the pension . iiic and the war and navy departments are scat-. 11 red in Washington. I An inquiry into ihe business department of the ' Vatican naturally includes some reference to the source of revenue of the church, the method of ciillcctiiig Peter's Pence, the cost of maintaining Vatican and ihe mode of disbursing the funds, ' wlii.'li ;:ve under the control of the Curia Romana. 7t may be said to include all of those who form the ci. mi of the pope, from the sard inal secretary of : state down to the humblest subordinate clerk who spends his days and nights on a high stool copying 'i'l-innents and engrossing certified copies of papal l-a!i-. .... During the period that the pope was sovereign ; ef the Roman states the government was admin- i.-tered under the pontiff by a minister of the in-t' in-t' tior. ihe niinisiers of finance, commerce and war, a council of state, several board? and commissions, j ;ttinancial consulter Mid courts of law for trying cvil and criminal cases. Since the pope has been 1 deprived of his temporal power these offices remain ; in abeyance. ;. "' ' . ' j The receipts and expcndilures of the Vatican, j Tke those of our government at Washington, vary 2 l oin year to year, so that it is impossible to give I i.p'cise figures. It is estimated, however, upon good j authority.' that during ihe last years of the life of I Leo X 1 1 1 the annual receipts and expenditures ; uuimnited to about .l..V0.O()(i. One estimate of the I divUiun of tliis sum places $100,000 for the sup-t sup-t pert of cardinals and diplomatic missions abroad, i s:,uoono f,,r ihe niaintenanee of the Vatican and its V.Vary and museums which, of course, includes ihe Vatican household expenses; $400,000 for the V' t mi' -il alms and ihe subsidies to the schools of. TV'' , ; s:;iio.oiki Uj pjft.s aml charities, and $200,000 for miscellaneous purposes. In some instances the cost of diplomatic missions is defrayed by the eoun-iries eoun-iries t, whicli they are delegated; in others by the Pope. t IV n vcmies (,f the church come from two I sources, one known as the "patrimony of Peter" ' J Ji her called "Peter's pence." The patrimo-j patrimo-j : 1 oi peter rejiresents the invested capital of the ciurcn. It is the interest on funds invested by f ."itner K.nt iffs. rent from buildings owned by the dim-eh. fees for various services performed and 1 j e "ijtlViiis -that are issued in the course of every- listical business. Since ihe bulk of its i ; rtv whs seized by the "Italian government the cinir.-h realizes very liltle from its real holdings : i ihe hternal City. Cardinal !Moeenni, who is l;'"w,, as ihe administrator of the Vatican, is also th" tisluirer of its-funds and is regarded as a man f t unusual ability as a financier. Some of the j I ;i"ii. -. of the Vatican is in Italian banks, but this j i H"i;ov represents lc less important parts of the s " or what in bank parlance is known as the j j i x. account of the Vatican." The failure of an I i : ti hank, some len y-ars ago, by which the Vati- ! - i a considerable sum of money, has made the 1 ycrv wary about having business relations "i;h tlie financial institutions of Rome. It is no -t That the larger porlion of the Vatican invest-t invest-t ' is ; London securities, nl recent years I 1. : i i well, has been given friendly, eonsidera- . i . It js hardly necessary to say that the invest- f t.ts am exclusively in high-class bonds. i l eiers pence is probably more important than i ii ; ci revenues of the Vatican, for it represents '' "iuntary and often spontaneous offerings of ' i hful. The time ami method of its collection -e i,- i entirely to the judgment of ihe bishop of i ' particular diocese. Of course, under such a i i ii ihe method of collecting Peter's pence i s vcrv materially. In this country the process siuiide. The plan adopted by any one of I 11 ' H -e dioceses is representative of that employed ii: "a- others. Take Philadelphia as a specimen. i I f;e an'hbishop sends out a letter to the rector t -r- parish in his archdiocese, instructing him t p a collection for the Pope at all of the - iM' i s ,,n speejfiod Sunday." The letter con-: con-: c- an appeal' calling upon the faithful to eon- s "" "according to their means." One of the j s 'mars, relating 1o a collection taken up a few ; ..-fat-s ayo. recited the fact that, sfhee the Italian - 'o ji na-iit has despoiled the Pope of his temporal l'"--r.ssj(llis u. deendel almost entirely upon the , Vn;mnary contributions of the eople. It paid an ' fi and merited tribute to the character and f v '"k of Leo XIII. and was read at all of the i ''"--os j, tk, churches. In most cases it was ae-j ae-j ."'I'anied by an exhortation from the pastor and s "isianls urging the faithful to make an un-'""il un-'""il etfurt in order to show their devotion to the See. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has ; "atholie population of nearly 500,000. Deduct ; :i' jHiml."- of those below the age at which at-j at-j p.ltl,aiK'0 at "lass is compulsory, and it will read-s read-s 'e Sf?r-n what an extensive publicity is given f ".thr? appeal. In addition to this xetbel advertise-I advertise-I ' 'f .direct as ii is. the archbishop Sprints the ap-j ap-j 1,1 official organ of the archdiocese. The i ' announcements having been made on one Sunday, the collection is taken up on the following Sunday. The money is forwarded to the chancellor of the ' archdiocese, who, in his turn, remits it to the Vati-. can. When it is known that the plan is applied to every diocese and every parish in the United States, it is not difficult to imagine that the results are exceedingly fruitful. Indeed, it may be said that ihe colled ion of Peter's Pence is the most thor-j thor-j ough, the most systematic and the most economi-I economi-I Cally managed revenue producing agency, combining combin-ing both business and religion, that has ever been attempted in this country. The method of collection collec-tion demonstrates ihe power of perfect organization. organiza-tion. From top to bottom, every bit of the vast I. mechanism works with absolute precision. There is order ami authority everywhere. The spectacle is' presented of one cardinal, thirteen archbishops, eighty-seven bishops, J2,fHS priests and 11,20,710 of the laity working in entire harmony to accomplish ac-complish a given purpose. Consider that these figures relate merely to the United States, which is only one nation out of many, and the magnitude magni-tude of the operation boeomos apparent. . Some parts of tho distribution of the Papal income in-come are regulated by rule," but the Tope is the unquestioned dispenser of the Peter.'s Pence." In ihe early age of the Church in England, this was regarded as a fixed tax; but now, while considered a pious duty, it is purely a voluntary contribution. -The Pope, besides allotting hundreds of thousands of dollars for the running expenses of the Vatican, Vati-can, for maintaining schools and libraries, for supporting sup-porting cardinals and diplomats and for gifts and charities, maintains-also- the Pontifical army. It is composed of four sections the Xoble Guard, the Swiss Guard, the Guard Palatine, and the gensdarmes. The only commands receiving pay are Ihe Swiss Guard and the gensdarmes who live in the Vatican. The other guards are made up of the sons of wealthy families. They reside outside the walls and support themselves. The Swiss Guards receive $10 a month, out of which they must pay for one meal. The fact that every member mem-ber of the Xoble Guard is a count, a marquis or a titled nobleman of some rank makes it the most unique, the most exclusive and the most aristocratic body of soldiers in the world. The Tope has no personal salary. There is a reason: Being a spiritual sovereign, he cannot be a subject of or subject to any person on earth. This one thought contains, in a nutshell, the whole theory and contention of the Church as to the temporal tem-poral power of the Pope. He not only protests against the confiscation of Church property, but he declines to be an Italian subject, and is thus a self -immured prisoner in the Vatican. The Popes have followed Pius IX in steadfastly declining to receive the money voted for, the maintenance of the Holy See by the Italian government. It. is a grant of about 3,000,000 francs a year, and, as it has been refused for thirty-three years, the total is now about $20,000,000 with interest. Xo tax is imposed on the Church for the support of the Pope. In this the Pope differs from every other minister of the Church. Rectors and curates receive specified speci-fied salaries. The bishops and supported by the. pastors. Every. parish sets aside a. pro rata sum, known as "Catherdaticum," for the bishop. Cardinals Car-dinals are paid a salary of $5,000 per annum, ex actly the amount )aid by our government to each member of the United States senate. Xuncios, legates le-gates and delegates. are paid prescribed salaries. - Pomp and power and responsibility surround the Pope. He has control over immense sums of money. But out" of it all he gains no temporal or personal advantages. He receives simply food and lodging. And it is no exaggeration to say that his living expenses are as low, if not lower, than those of the humblest curate in any one of our large city parishes. One authority has placed the amount at four francs a day. The Papal delegate to the United States receives re-ceives a salary of $6,000 per annum, out of. which he pays an auditor and a secretary. Fortunately, some years ago, he was presented with an official residence in the city of Washington, so that he is relieved from the payment of house rent. His expenses ex-penses for travel, in going from city to city, are paid by the Propaganda. The United States is not a diplomatic mission. The delegate resides here as the personal representative of the Holy Father for the purpose of settling ecclesiastical or other disputes between bishops and priests, and priests and people. Xuncios are appointed by the Pope to nations having regular diplomatic relations with ihe Holy See. The principal missions are at Paris, Madrid, Lisbon and Vienna, the capitals of what are popularly known as Catholic countries. .The congregations or committees are the mediums me-diums through which the greater part of the business busi-ness of the Holy See is transacted. The general plan of doing business at the Vatican Vati-can may be best explained by saying; that the Pope is the great centre towards which all of the congregations con-gregations converge. Everything of importance they pass upon comes to him for. final, confirmation. A mass of mail matter-is received at the Vatican every morning it has been estimated at 23,000 pieces and it is distributed "with promptness and exactness. That which is addressed directly to the separate congregation,?, of course, goes to them at first hand. The multitude of letters addressed to the Pope are opened by Jus secretaries, and the communications that do not require the personal attention of His Holiness are referred to the ap: propriate congregations. Four secretaries, with their assistants, have all they can attend to in opening, open-ing, sorting and distributing the .daily mail. To be an employe of any of the congregations requires a high degree of intelligence. Accuracy is required above all else, and carelessness in transcribing important decisions, relating to faith and morals, can easily assume the importance of a venial sin. Salaries of the officials are small, in some cases not over $200 per year. To this is added the cost of maintenance. Incidentally, it might be slated that the Vatican itself is a parish, par-ish, quite distinct from St. Peter's. The Vatican J parish includes all who live in that vast and beautiful beau-tiful edifice. The men who reside, and are employed em-ployed there are thaught that there are only two ways to do a task ihe right way and the wrong way. The man who does it the wrong way more than once is soon informed that his usefulness has been impaired and that it would be well to seek employment elsewhere. But the forms are so precise pre-cise that it seems difficult to go wrong. An employe is comn1anded to do a certain thing in a certain way. and apparently nothing but perversity can get him in the erroneous way. Rules are. indelible. It is like pouring hot. metals into carefully prepared pre-pared molds. The mass of matter is bound to come out in certain cast-iron patterns. This sketch of the business methods of the Vatican Vati-can would not be complete without, calling attention atten-tion to the fact that the Church possesses two complete printing establishments in Rome. They are very similar in their make-up to the Government Govern-ment printing office at Washington. One is in the Vatican palace, and the other, in the Propaganda, toown as the Polygot, is perhaps the most- remarkable re-markable printing house in the world It contains oemnletA sets . of tvpe, cast in nearly - all of the known languages. The most important of the fonjs used hi the "art preservative?,' are the. Latin, Greek, English, Italian, French and German. Missals for different rites are printed '"hi all. languages, and books of piety and devotion are turned out by the tens of thousands. Cases have been known where a missionary, at the head of a band of priests who have successfully Christianized' some beaten country, coun-try, has set himself to the task of compiling a catechism and prayer book in the language of the natives of the country and has then gene to Rome and had the printing done at the Polygot office. The fact that a la rare portion of the work done in ihe business department of the Vatican is made a matter of conscience may in a large measure account ac-count for the perfection of the system and the ecoiiomy of the administration. The officials who preside over the various congregations are not only men of great learning, but also, in many instances j men of affairs who have represented the Holy See at many, of the courst of Europe. While the temporal tem-poral power obtained, archbishops and other prelates pre-lates were governors of provinces. Since then they have found opportunities in other fields of acquiring acquir-ing knowledge of modern business methods, a knowledge which has been shrewdly utilized in the management of the vast concern known to us by those two brief words the Vatican. |