EUCHARIST CONGRESS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 436, 15 September 1908, Page 4

EUCHARIST CONGRESS.

The nineteenth Eucharistic 1 Congress of the Roman Catholic Church was inaugurated in Loudon on Wednesday last. At the service at Westminister Cathedral Cardinal Vanuutelli was received in state by Archbishop Bourne and was conducted under a lofty canopy of white silk and gold to the High Altar, attended by a procession of richly-habited cardinals and prelates. Apostolic letters appointing Cardinal Vanuutelli Papal Legate were read. In these, his Holiness the Pope paid a tribute to an Empire famed for the liberty extended to its citizens, and to whose authority and laws so many millions of Catholics render faithful and dutiful obedience. The Legate then entered the pulpit. Speaking in Latin, he acknowledged Britain’s hospitality, and offered an expression of respect to the wise ruler of her destinies, and his acknowledgements to those in authority. The Pope, he said, trusted that good results would follow the Congress, and that the Divine Eucharist would te the ultimate means of uniting all in one faith. The delegates include eight cardinals, fifteen archbishops, seventy bishops, twenty-two abbots, and many other dignitaries from all parts of the world. The congress will close on Sunday afternoon when there will be a procession of the Blessed Sacrament, which will probably attract an immense gathering of Catholics, which should be a record as far as London is concerned. It is this latter procession that is arousing indignation from Protestants and King Edward has been petitioned to follow the example of his mother, Queen Victoria, whose royal proclamation of June 15, 1852, forbade the holding of Roman Catholic ceremonial processions in the streets, thereby preventing the creating of a precedent for the beginning of religious strife. The “Daily Telegraph’’ states that the Home Secretary and the Commissioner of Police have sanctioned the procession. The “Standard” appeals to Mr Gladstone to politely intimate that the procession must be abandoned. A hint to the promoters would be sufficient. The “ Morning Post ” and “Westminster Gazette” consider the Act of Catholic Emancipation definitely forbids processions, and they see no reason why the law should not be observed. Loth papers condemn the promoteis. Apart from extremists, many consider the proposal regrettable.