CARDINAL GIBBONS AS POPE.
The Baltimore Sunday Herald of Dec. 15, 1901, has the following startling suggestions. This may be one of the ways in which the two-horned beast will enforce the worship of the beast. By this we do not refer to persons, but the great system of Church and State union for which the pope stands. Here is what the Herald says:— It is generally believed in France that the pope is dying, and the question of his succession is being actively discussed on all sides. There are many who believe that Cardinal James Gibbons stands a strong chance of becoming his successor—a change which would be viewed with disfavor by all French adherents to the Roman Church. The Chicago Tribune, in a recent issue, has the following to say concerning the matter:— “What is dreaded is that the American nation would sustain a pope from America with the vigor shown in every line of action, and, in consequence, would practically control Europe. “It is conceded that Italianism constitutes a danger to the church, and it has been fervently hoped in France that the next pope would not be an Italian; but now, when there is a feeling that an Italian may not be named, a still greater fear is manifested lest the successor of Leo XIII. be an American. “It is not necessary,” says the writer of the article in question, “to be an astute politician to understand that if the next pope be chosen outside of the circle of Italian cardinals, his actions would be infinitely freer, and he would also be sustained by influences far more powerful than those of to-day, which, in fact, do not exist as far as Leo XIII. is concerned. This explains why Mgr. Gibbons, of Baltimore, primate of the United States, is cited as one of the cardinals having a chance to succeed Leo XIII. “The sole fact that this prelate of the New World is considered as a ‘palpable’ indication that the church is turning toward a new orientation and new destinies. “Supposing that Cardinal Gibbons is elected,” continues the writer, “it is evident that neither the European Freemasonry nor the powerful Jews would dare treat the citizen of free America as they treat Leo XIII., who is isolated and without powerful support. “Think what the authority of this new chief of the church would be with all the profound masses of Catholic American democracy behind him! a pope who would be sustained by the moneyed aristocracy of America, where it is easy to find fortunes rivaling those of the Rothschilds. “The press informs us of the anger President Roosevelt’s action in receiving a negro at his table aroused. If Gibbons were elected pope, this same anger would change into tempests of joyous delight, into explosions of national pride, the day Cardinal Gibbons sits upon the throne of St. Peter. “This day—is it near? The President of the United States—will he be the pope of to-morrow, as people well informed on the situation are convinced?” “We can only note these affirmations; but one thing is certain, and that is that, with an American pope, a new era for the papacy and the church would begin. With an American pope even the most antagonistic would have to put a little water in the violence of their anti-clericalism; for to touch the pope would then be to have to deal with America, which would lose no time in intervening in European affairs. In reality, in fighting against the pope, the Italians have done nothing but betray the Latin race to the profit of the Anglo-Saxon race.”