CARDINALS AND THE VETO.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1348, 27 January 1912, Page 9

CARDINALS AND THE VETO.

A LONG STRUGGLE ENDED. Tlie words, "to lend no lielp or countenance to any intervention of the civil power in 1 tho election of the Pope," which appear in the oath of.fealty to the Supremo Pontiff, taken by the new Cardinals constitute a continuation of the attitude of the Holy See with respect to the Veto. They are a complete safeguard against [ the . efforts of States to exercise any kind of authority at future Conclave. Thus a long struggle has e'ideil in the perfect emancipation of tho Church from the interference of Governments 011 the occasion of Papal elections. The history of this intervention goes back to the year 4G7. From ,that time temporal rulers endeavoured to establish tho custom that the Pope should not be acknowledged as such unless they had continued the election. Even after Popo Alexander 111 had reserved tlie right of electing the I'opo exclusively to tlie Cardinals the heads of States ceased hot their endeavours to hiuder the choice of ecclesiastics to whose opinions they were unfavourable. As a rule spiritual interests were prejudiced when worldly influences were'thus brought to bear u|ion ; them, and the news of Cardinal Han)- i x polla's dignified protest against tho use;. "• of the Veto by Austria at the last conclave, and of the manner in whicli his . Eminence's' view was subsequently sustained by Pope Pius X was received with-' deep satisfaction throughout the Catholic world.—"Catholic Times."