King Edward and the Pope

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 18, 30 April 1903, Page 1

King Edward and the Pope

The cable, like Dame Rumor, ' sometimes carries truth, oft lies.' A message published in last. Monday's daily papers contains a judicious mixture of both, in the shape of two contradictories which are to be well shaken before being taken. 'It is officially announced,' says the cable, ' that King Edward will visit the Pope on Wednesday afternoon. The " Daily Telegraph " states that King Edward, in consenting to the visit, refused all propositions regarding the ceremonial to be observed, except that of leaving from the Embassy.' The end of the next paragraph eats up the tail of the paragraph just quoted. It runs as follows : ' The Pope, on learning his decision, expressed extreme satisfaction. Heretofore the Vatican has never consented to receive Sovereigns leaving the residences of diplomatists accredited to the Quirinal.' The sentence last quoted is quite untrue. In the case of States having diplomatic representatives to the Holy See, the Sovereign would naturally, and according to established etiquette, proceed to the Vatican from the residence of such represeiv

tative. In the case of all other States, their heads, whether crowned or uncrowned, visit the Holy Father, not from the Quirinal— even though they be the guests of the King of Italy— but from the residence of their various ambassadors. In this matter King Edward is following the well-known usage of the Vatican, established since the invasion of Rome by the Piedmontese in 1870. The residence of an ambassador is, in a manner, treated as the territory of the State he represents ; and Kin« Edward's visit, to the Pope from the British Embassy accredited to the King of Italy in Rome is, as nearly ,as may be, the same as if he passed direct to the Vatican from his own royal palace of Westminster.