Has the United States Recognized the Papacy?
“Is the papacy recognized by the United States?” queries the Milwaukee Free Press. Messages from the State department to Rome, it says, raise the question of diplomatic relations between the two powers. As showing the basis of this query, it quotes the following dispatch from Washington, dated July 20:— The recent sending of a message of inquiry, then one of condolence, by the state department to-day to Cardinal Rampolla, raised the question as to whether the United States government has not recognized the papacy as much as any of the powers that maintain diplomatic relations with it. The president's cablegram of inquiry as to the pope's condition is considered official, and not personal, inasmuch as it was sent through the department of state. At the death of Pope Pius IX, in 1878, the secretary of state, as well as the president, refrained from any notice of the event. Solemn requiem will be held by the Rev. T. S. Lee, pastor of St. Matthew's, at ten o'clock Sunday, to which the officials of the government and the diplomatic corps will receive invitations. John Hay, the sender of the message of condolence, is secretary of state in the United States, and Cardinal Rampolla, to whom the message was sent, is papal secretary of state. Thus the act has at least the outward significance of a recognition of the papacy. It is certain to be claimed as such by papal leaders.