THE “BLACK” POPE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 9, 28 August 1914, Page 7

THE “BLACK” POPE.

The death of Father Francis Xavier Wernz, the head of the Jesuit order, who was known as the “black” Pope, as reported in the cable news recently, was almost simultaneous with that of Pius X. Father Wernz was born at Rottwell, Wurtemburg, Germany, on September 4, 1842, and was educated at the college of Maria Laach. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1857, and was appointed Professor of the Gregorian College in Rome in 1863, becoming the rector of the college in 1904, a position held by him for two years, when ho was appointed general of the Jesuits. He was also Consulator to the Sacred Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, of the Index, of the Consistory, and of the Holy Office, and was an authority on ftpiion law, about which he published a work of four volumes. There is no significance, as fas as the order is concerned, in the title of “black” Pope. It is a name supposed to have been bestowed upon the office by rea son of the great authority which the occupant exercised as the general head of a very extensive order. The successor to Father Wernz will bo elected by a congregation of representative fathers of the society in all the provinces of the world, two being selected from each province for this assembly. It is not imperative that the election should take place in Rome. Father Martin, the predecessor of Father Wernz, was elected in Spain. The news of the death of Father Wernz came as a great surprise to the local members of the Jesuit order, as it was not known even that he had been iff.