Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 February 1878 — The New Pope, Leo XIII. [ARTICLE]

The New Pope, Leo XIII.

The Rome correspondent of the New York Herald, in a letter to that paper written before the election of a successor to the late Pope Pius IX., wrote as follows of Cardinal Pecci, since elected to the Papacy: > - “Joachim Pecci was born at Carpenetto, in the Diocese of Arragui, on March 2, 1810, and is sixty-eight years of age. He was created Cardinal on Dec. 19, 1853. He is Archbishop of Perouse and Chamberlain of the Pope. His Eminence is a likely candidate for the Papacy, although a “Moderate” —a “Moderate.” ; although a Chamberlain, and a Chamberlain, although an enemy of Antonelli. He was to have been created Cardinal at the request of Protestant, King Leopold 1., of Belgium, to whom he nad been sent as Nuncio by Gregory XVI., but, on the death of the latter, Piux IX., yielding to the vindictiveness of Antodelli, allowed seven years to elapse before he gave him the hat- * “Of high intellect, of a well-tried and energetic nature, His Eminence has made not only an excellent Bishop, but has realized the tvpe of a perfect Cardinal. As an Avrainistrator he managed to clear Beqevento of smug-

gling and brigandage, as well as of the undorhand intrigues of the party of th? nobility. As a man of intelligence he does not regard with such a pessimist eye as his colleagues the reciprocal sensations of the Church and society. He has evidently found a solution iu his own mind for existing and eventual difficulties. “ His Eminence is tall and thin. His features have an aristocratic stamp, and are characterized .by great finesse. He Has a resemblance at once to Voltaire and Richelieu. The voice strikes one disagreeably at first, it is so nasal in its tones, but one soon gets accustomed to this peculiarity, owing to its fullness and resonance. Although simple in manners, His Eminenco is of all the Cardinals the one who carries himself with most Pontifical majesty, resembling in this Pius IX., who, in his early days, passed for incomparable.”