THE PROBABLE NEXT POPE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1338, 12 November 1872, Page 2

THE PROBABLE NEXT POPE.

The most likely successor to the present Pope is, says the Gazctta ci' Italia, • of Florence, Cardinal Antonio Maria Panebianco, of the order of .St. Francis. . He was born at Terranuova, in Sicily, bii 14th of August, 1808, and was made ; cardinal by Pius IX. in the consistory of the 27th September, 1861.. He has always professed great admiration for Pope Sixtus V., whose life was his favorite study, and in whose cell he liveil. One day, while in ajreyerie^h.e suddenly heard a knock at his door, and a voice told him he would be a cardinal. This announcement did not surprise him ; he merely replied : " Lo sapevo," and he will, says the Gaeetta, doubtless say the same when he learns that he has beea. 1 . elected Pope.. Cardinal Panebianco once^ swore before Canova's monument to™ Clemfeiit XIV. that he would restore the Order of the Jesuits to its former greatness ; and this is said to be the great object of his life. He is the intimate friend of Father Beckx, the general; of . the order, but like model Sixtus V. he is * excessively reserved, carefully concealing from every one his intention for the future. Ho praises the Syllabus, and: defends the principle of infallilibity with extraordinary skill and theological know' . ledge. As for Piux IX. he has thoroughly believed in the Cardinal since a young. Italian girl prophesied some twenty years ago that the Pope would be a monk of . the order of St. Francis. " Mystical," concludes the Gazctta, "as Savonarola, ' Panebianco is the slave of a mfediseval Utopia which moves him to revive the church of . the thirteenth century ; and the Society of Jesus, which does, not believe in mysticism, regards him with anxiety, not knowing whether he is a friend or an enemy." > .