THE POPE AND ENGLAND.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 330, 17 October 1908, Page 12

THE POPE AND ENGLAND.

INTERVIEW WITH CARDINAL LEGATE. An Italian paper, the " Corriere d'ltalia," publishes an interview which one. of its representatives had with Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli, tho Papal Legate to the Eucharistic Congress at Westminster.

His Eminence, referring to previous congrosses, said:—"To speak only of those at which I have presided, I remember that at Tournai I was tho only Cardinal, and if I remember rightly, I had at my side only the Nuncio, Mgr. Vico, and six or seven Bishops. At Metz thero were two Cardinals—Cardinal Fischer, Archbishop of Cologne, and myself— and the' "Archbishops "and Bishops numbered about twenty-five. *-InyLondon we shall have nine Cardinals, 'and'thei'c will be over a hundred Archbishops and Bishops. Don't you think that'that is very good progress?" "Fifty years ago," his Eminence continued, "who could have"hoped that a Cardinal Legato of the Pope would land in England and bo awaited with sentiments of respect and homage, that eight other Cardinals and a hundred Bishops would assemblethere at the same time, and that a procession of tho Blessed Sacrament with festal regalia could (?o through the streets of London amidst tho applause of the people ? The change in English public opinion is truly marvellous. It does great credit to the English, for it shows that' they aro a serious, and an honourable people. Wherefore we are going to the London Congress not as conquerors nor to offer the shadow of an offence to English popular sentiment, but we go full of that respect for tho Protestants, our brethren, which they display towards us. We do not ask privileges from them, hut only that liberty which thoy offer us with so much courtesy.

"Tko Pope, in sending me to London, gave me his opinion about England. He regards the nation with special interest and affection, and not only rejoices at the remarkablo progress Catholicism is continually making in the land, hut also greatly appreciates the character and qualities of the English people. The presence of the Pontifical Legate in the British capital will clearly indicate the attitude of benevolence and sympathy which the Pope adopts towards England."