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Show 1 PREFECT OF THE PROPAGANDA. if ' ' ' 6 ' "Ex-Attache V Letter to Chicago Tribune. Q uronimEr to the most recent cen- (i I ' ,,f. memherp of the Roman rati,. (9 1 oli'c church outnumber ly .several mil- A' I jjniip those f ;iny other religious de- 0 j .initiation in the 1'nitod Slates. The O I jjuurrs arc in the neighborhood of 10,- I (i"".nn. exclusive of the l.ono.ooo of i r ! catlK'lies in Porlo Rko and the con- ! f;,.val'l.v larger number of the ndh'-r- ' 1 1 puts of the same rreed in the Philip- i 9 ' jiinos. The personality of the prelaw j Q ' 5 nim has just been appointed by en i ft "j ;yjll to assume as piriect of the pro- j O . I papantia ;'t Kome the ecclesiastical su- i O I pi-vision and control of the heirarchy j X : of the clergy and of the Roman Cat bo- y 11 c lil' in I lie great republic of North ! Q II America and its colonial possessions ! j r.iupt, therefore, be a matter of consid- j 0 fralile interest and even importance to j ft 1 ill people of this country. j ?S I It is the prefect of the propaganda 0 determines the appointments to i 0 m Hie vacant bishoprics and archbishop- i m if rics in H missionary countries, in II vlii- h the United States and Great j ) yy Britain are comprised. It is the pre- ft If cides 8 11 disputes in connection with It K-'-h siastii-al administration or doe- Sff trine that may arise, cither directly' II er thr'-'uph the papal delegate at Wash, 0 fi i:icion. and. finally, it is the prefect of I ft Li ih- propaganda who constitutes the ! ran!ic of intercourse between all W j nuriean Catholics and the pope, as j 9 I well as the representative and deputy ' ? I ( the latter. In his dealings with all ! f : those members of the Roman Catholic 0 ji hurrh who live and flourish beneath ihe r""nlf'',i,n of the stars and stripes. ' Q I It is difficult to refrain from the con- j ft I viction that in appointing; Cardinal .) 1 ;ui to the office of prefect of the con- I l I pvgation for Ihe propagation of the I (I iHith-that is his official title Leo XIII I t V va( in view the United States and its j ia , fiiionial possessions. For the distin- ! Tf fi jrnished prelate in question, who is a fi li HiHti of the most humbie orpin, his a if father havins been a dock laborer at 2 f ;en"a. may be said to have won his M , fimrs and the good will of the pontiff "1 ' iy the tact, the diplomacy and the skill which he displayed in organizing the RomanCatholic church in Brazil '3 sfter its disestablishment on the over- 1 throw of the empire and the inaugura-J inaugura-J I lion of a republican form of govern- ! nient. The connection between church j uid state in Brazil was severed when ! 1 IontNpedro lost his throne, and abso- I 5 Jute equality now exists among all i forms of religion. A It was a task of considerable diffi- culty to accustom the Brazilian hkr- j atchy and clergy to the new order of j tilings and to the loss of some of their ! must clierivhert uri vilpp-es whilo vtill ' more arduus was the labor of bringing ), y, the various monastic orders to com-)'iehen.l com-)'iehen.l that they wer placed, both as regards the possession of property and liscal obligations, on the same , footing as ordinary corporations and j individuals. Yet Gotti accomplished i this without friction, by means of eom-I eom-I r ' mon sense and a spirit of conciliation, 1 in such a manner as to give satisfac-I satisfac-I tion alike to the Brazilian government, I 1 the clergy and religious orders in Bra-I Bra-I 1 1 zil. and to Leo XIII. receiving, indeed, : I II his red hat as a reward for his success I -f in the matter. j j The papacy is now confronted in the t , colonial possessions of the United ; Slates with a situation similar to that ! which existed in Brazil at-the time of the downfall of the empire. The Roman Ro-man Catholic church has been discs-j I tablishej in Porto Rir-o and in the Phil- ippines that is to say, it has ceased I , to be a state church and in the same way the various religious orders. which, durine the Spanish regime, cn- l joyed the most extraordinary preroga- I lives in the shape of immunity from 1 laxation. as well as from civil and ' criminal jurisdiction, besides virtually J reigning supreme in all the rural dis- , iricts. have now been deprived of all I iheir piivileges and placed on the same footing as the ordinary- citizen, the sit- j nation in the Philippines being aggra- II -ated by the bitter animosity of the I! native Catholic clergy towards the j friars. II Leo XIIT manifestly hopes that Car- fl rjinal Gotti. as prefect of the propa- f gatida, may prove as successful in ef- 'Hiestions that have arisen in connec- J lion with the disestablishment of the, I Roman Catholic church in the colonial I possessions of Uncle Sam as he was ten years ago in Brazil, and that he may I suererd in satisfying both the United (states government and the ecclesiasti-eal ecclesiasti-eal interest!! concerned in the same way that he managed to reconcile the conflicting con-flicting interests of church and state I in the greatest of all the South American Ameri-can repuhlies. ''ardinal Gotti enjoys an advantage vl.jch none of his predecessors have possessed. He knows this country from personal experience, having spent a ronsiderable time in the United States.! traversing it in every direction w hile general of the Older of Carmelites. Tlmse w ho had dealings with him on j that occasion were able to convince! themselves that his administration of the great Carmelite order had had the effect of endow ing him with prompt ! ,y and thorough businesslike habits, and 1 that'h" spoke not only French with aj ' pei fection and grace rare in an Italian prelate, but. likewise English, while his knowledge of canon law is claimed by, churchmen to be superior to that of any other member of the sacred -col-; lege. . . . Neither Cardinal Ledochowski. nor yet his predecessor at the propaganda, 'ardinal Simeone. had any knowledge ef the United Slates, except through h-arsay. and were consequently unable t" form any definite, concept ion of its. conditions and of its peculiarities. This' has. consequently. K-d in the past to errors of judgment on the part of the propaganda, which were all the more ; comprehensible when the fact is taken into consideration that until a short time ago there was. not a single prelale r ecclesiastical connected with the proj agenda who was even conversant if with the English language. Cardinal ''I Gotti. therefore, enters upon his duties a prefect equipped with an experience 1 of American conditions that is pos- J sessd by no other members of lite j ( ---acred college, with the exception of '".irdinals Satolli and Martinelli. V.zr. Gotti has been generally regarded nntil now as" destined to become the I su.vetrcor of Loo XIII. and there has n much speculation in consequence to what his policy would be likely j to be in the event of his becoming pope, j Far too much importance is attached j ' this question, and I always recall in connection therewith the remark made "V Cardinal Parocchi years ago and hieh has ever since remained im-rfcsse.1 im-rfcsse.1 upon my mind. "The successor or j,00 xill." he exclaimed, "will be f'-'-oi to walk "much in (he footsteps of his predecessor, just as Leo XIII has oocn compelled to continue in the path of Pius IX. Ea-h pontiff, from the moment mo-ment that he takes possession of the 'liair of St Teter, cuts himself adrift f'-om all his previous prejudices and views Thus I -Happen to know tha tm oianv important particulars the ideas "f Lp0 xill todav are diametrically op-, op-, , l'osed ,'0 those "which he entertained ' hile still Cardinal Pceoi. Indeed, I cannot? conceive the possibility of any no,,-compliance with the fundamental rrln. iples of the papacy which has con-. i tributed so greatly to the continuitj of ' the policy of the church." iti.R One vawbfck-to Cardinal Gotti s candidacy for the succession to t. e -hair of St. Pter is his bumble bit th Uor there has been no pontiff that. I aS -ecll for several ' centuries past ho not belonged to some noble , i ,1 -i fdmily, 01; w ithout .being able to boast of blue blood and ancient lineage. Judging by precedent, his appointment' j to the office of prefec t of the propaganda propagan-da will constitute an additional obsta-: obsta-: cle to Gctti's becoming pope. For there w 110 case on record of a promotion from the Palazzo Ferrattini in the Piazza di Spague to the holy sec. Perhaps Per-haps this is because the prefect of the propaganda is too powerful and that the extent and character- of his autho-rity autho-rity are such as to give rise to jcalousv smong his associates in that senate of the Roman Catholic church, the sacred 1 college. Indeed, his l owers are so vast. so little inferior to those of the pontiff ! ; himself, that he is surnamed the "red pope" hy reason .of the scarlet robe! which be wears as cardinal, the holv I father being invariably arraved in i I white. ' j ! Not only the United States, but like- ' j w ise the w hole of the western hemis- j I phere. Great Britain and Ireland, all I j Germany excepting Bavaria. Norway, j Sweden, Denmark. Switzerland. Greece, i and Turkey, as well as all Africa. Asia. Aut-tralia and Oceania indeed all countries save those where Roman I Catholicism constitutes the established j state church are subject as "partes j intidelium" to the ccciesia.nical juris-j ! diction of ihe prefect of the propaganda. propa-ganda. They are considered as forming form-ing spheres of missionay activity, and w hf n "fid years ago or more the eon-jgregation eon-jgregation of the propaganda came into existence, the direction of all the missions mis-sions of the Roman Catholic church ! was concentrated in the hands of its prefect. There arc but few popes who have not added to the privileges and prerogatives of this congregation, and according to a bull issued by Tope Urban Ur-ban VIII its deliberations when formulated formu-lated in decrees and signed by the cardinal car-dinal prefect and by the seeretarybave the force of apostolic constitutions, to which inviolable observance is exacted. Since 6f,o the headquarters of the piopaganda has been in the Palazzo Ferrattini, on the Piazza di S pagan, a gloomy, grimy pile, which presents a striking contrast to the modern newspaper news-paper offices, cafes and apartment houses by which it is surrounded. It is a .perfect beehive of activity, comprising com-prising offices, lecture halls where the students receive instructions, printing oftices. where religious publications are printed in 2,"0 languages, and last, but not least, the museum, among the treasures of which is that famous map of the w orld, on which Pope Alexander V$ drew the dividing line, allotting one-half of this western hemisphere to din anu me uiiici linn 10 1 i'iiuh' not one rood of American land, how-. how-. ever, remaining in the possession of I either of these two powers today. The propaganda is not merely a general gen-eral missionary seminary for the whole 1 world, but it likew ise has colleges de-! de-! pendent on it in all quarters of the I globe, maintained to a great extent at I its expense. For its revenues are ! great thanks not only to tke genero- sity of successive pontiffs, but likewise to the donations and bequests of Cath-iolics Cath-iolics in every land and clime who have I been interested in missionary enterprise. enter-prise. Some five and twenty years ago the Italian government... by virtue of the law s enacted . with regard to ecclesiastical ec-clesiastical property, seized the immense im-mense real estate holdings of the propaganda prop-aganda in Italy. -.But. while the rights of the state in the matter are opi question, the seizure could hardly be called an act of spoliation, as the government gov-ernment gave the propaganda in return treasury bonds for the entire amount or the price of the lands, which were asHessed at their highest value. These bonds bear today an annual interest of from 3 to 5 per cent, which furnishes the propaganda at the present moment with a much larger revenue than it was ever able to derive itself from the real es-tate thus "confiscated." In conclusion, it may be well to draw auction to the fact that the new prefect pre-fect of the propaganda, having been reared b. the Jesuit.-" and having spent the greater part of his life as a Carmelite Car-melite monk,' is hardly likely to entertain enter-tain much sympathy for that element j in the American hierarchy which has , distinguished itself by its opposition to i the religious orders in me States, and the fact that Cardinal . Vannutelli has been transferred from the direction of the financial department depart-ment of the propaganda to another post serves to emphasize this impression impres-sion At the same time it is well to bear in mind that Cardinal Gclli's principal claims to distinction until now have been as a conciliator and as j a peacemaker. : EX-ATTACHE, j |