Religion: More Cardinals

When will there be another non-Italian Pope? A Dutchman, broad and beaming, was revered by Roman Catholics some 400 years ago as Adrian VI (1522-23), but his successors have all been Italians. Their names are the historic name of Italy: Medici, Borghese, Chigi, Rospigliosi. . . . Last week, as the Consistory of Dec. 20 approached, it was rumored that His Holiness would raise the plenum (total number) of the Sacred College of Cardinals from 70 to 80, and appoint a sufficient number of non-Italian Cardinals to make the election of a non-Italian Pope a practicable possibility.

Those who have long urged this course upon Pope Pius XI (Achille Ratti) are headed by the 90-year-old Cardinal Bishop Vincenzo Vannutelli, patriarch of the Sacred College. A venerable radical, he has pointed out that 37 Cardinals for Italy and only 30 more for the remainder of the Earth is a curious proportion. Canada, Australia and Ireland have had no Cardinals since the deaths of their last representatives in the Sacred College. The Americas have but five Cardinals—the U. S. four,* South America one.†England has only two.** Belgium desires a successor to the red hat of the late Cardinal Mercier.

Yet the Sacred College was practically “full” with 65 Cardinals last week. Sixty-five is the usual number, for that permits a new Pope the traditional satisfaction of creating several Cardinals of his own choosing without exceeding the plenum of 70. In short, there is a clamor, mild and respectful but persistent, from the ends of the earth that the Supreme Pontiff increase the number of his Senate to at least 80.

Moreover, there exists the ever pressing problem of eventual reconciliation between the Italian State and the Apostolic See. Might not this too long delayed rapprochement be appropriately achieved by a Pope from another land?

The hopes of the more liberal element of the Church for such a rapprochement were feelingly expressed to newsgatherers last week by Cardinal Vannutelli, on the eve of his 90th birthday, in earnest quavering speech: “Mussolini is the man chosen by God to direct Italy to her glorious goal. I pray for him daily. . . . Negotiations for the reconciliation of the Church and State are making gratifying headway, and we are confident that a settlement may be reached on a basis of justice to the Holy See.” Such well-meant words are little more than wasted breath so long as the potent Pietro Cardinal Gasparri continues Pontifical Secretary of State, and voices now and then his unalterable opposition to a compromise with the Civil Power (TIME, Feb. 8). Cardinal Gasparri, realist, is conscious of the value of that dramatic martyrdom which surrounds His Holiness as the “Prisoner of the Vatican.”

Soon after the “Dean of Cardinals” had voiced his vain hope, there came a crisp announcement from the Holy Office. His Holiness will not raise the plenum of the Sacred College at present. Moreover only two new Cardinals— both Italians—will be created.

One is Monsignor Lorenzo Lauri, who succeeded Monsignor Achille Ratti as Apostolic Nuncio to Poland when he (the present Pope) was elevated to the Cardinalate in 1921. The other Italian whom His Holiness slated for elevation last week, is Monsignor Giuseppe Gamba, whom he appointed Archbishop of Turin in 1923. The investiture of the former will be performed by President Moscicki of Poland at Warsaw by the especial request of His Holiness who thus confers upon Poland an honor hitherto accorded only to France, Spain and Portugal.

*William Henry Cardinal O’Connell, 67, Boston; Dennis J. Cardinal Dougherty, 61, Philadelphia; Patrick Joseph Cardinal Hayes, 59, New York; George William Cardinal Mundelein, 54, Chicago. Of these Cardinal Mundelein is perhaps most prominent, since his organization of the recent Eucharistic Congress (TIME, May 31), but is said to be an individualist without desire for further honor.

†Joaquin Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cardinal Cavalcanti of Brazil).

** Francis Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster; and Francis Aidan Cardinal Gasquet, Librarian of the Church, resident at Rome, little known in England, some-times called “the most learned man in Christendom.”