Souls, States & Helicopters

(See front cover)

Eugenic Cardinal Pacelli, Secretary of State to His Holiness the Pope, arranged last week to telephone a Christmas greeting from the Pope to the U. S., via the Manhattan bureau of the United Press. Delighted U. P. officials made plans to be at their offices before breakfast, for Cardinal Pacelli's plan was to ring up about lunch time in Rome.

At the last moment came a hitch. The Pope wanted also to issue a Christmas message to all his cardinals. This was timed for Christmas Eve. The publicity given a message to the U. S. might detract from the effect of the message to the cardinals.

Nonetheless, so much agitation over international publicity, and such matter-of-fact consideration of a transatlantic telephone call, were significant. Pope Pius XI is enlisting all things modern to the advancement of his Church throughout the earth. Last week he ordered three helicopters for his messenger service.

Sway. When the College of Cardinals locked themselves up in the Hall of the Conclave to elect the 261st Pope, there was no medieval bickering and dickering for the office. All were agreed that the next Pope must be capable of vigorous action, a doer as well as a thinker, an executive as well as a mystic. The influence of the Church over the earth must be extended, its sway reestablished. The time. 1922, was propitious for both. Religions gain when peoples are spiritually disorganized and muddled, as they were just after the War and still are.

The cardinals might have chosen any Catholic male over 30 for Pope. But of course they would not. The late debonair Raphael Cardinal Merry del Val was seriously discussed as the Able Man. So too were a few others. But the preponderant choice after seven ballots, as everyone now knows, was Achille Ambrogio Damiano Ratti, Cardinal and Archbishop of Milan.

As Pope Pius XI he very soon appropriated large sums to the Congregation for the Propagation of Faith (missionary propaganda) and spurred it to its work among the peoples. He, his Secretary of State, his legates and his nuncios dealt with rulers. His outstanding work in this respect was his settlement of the Roman Question by the Lateran Treaties of 1929, and the establishment of Vatican City as an independent sovereignty.

Some other developments of the past nine years which Pius XI can view with satisfaction:

Austria has a dominant Catholic party, directed by a church dignitary, Monsignor Ignaz Seipel.

Hungary is more than ever expecting the return of its devout "Emperor"' Otto.

When Tsar Boris of Bulgaria married Princess Giovanna of Italy this autumn he agreed to the usual stipulation that all his children be brought up as Roman Catholics.

Third largest party in Germany, the Centrist, is Catholic.

In China natives have been made bishops, a far-reaching method of strengthening the church anywhere. The Pope's policy is to have a native clergy in all regions.

Australia had its invigorating Eucharistic congress two years ago. Australia's Prime Minister James Henry Scullin visited the Pope last fortnight.

A worldwide crusade of prayer for conversion of Latin American Indians began, by the Pope's orders, the end of last month.

The Church in the U. S. is soundly established in the East, the Archbishops in Boston, New York City and Philadelphia all being cardinals. The Eucharistic congress at Chicago (also a cardinal's seat) four years ago was a notable exhibition of piety. This year there was a strong pressure of Catholicism westward, Los Angeles, which like Alexandria of the 1st Century, has dozens of experimental creeds, this year dedicated a magnificent Catholic cathedral. Archbishop Edward Joseph Hanna of San Francisco has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the

Red Hat by potent U. S. laymen and ecclesiasts. The church canonized eight North American martyrs this year. Set-backs to the Church in Pius XI's time have been few: His Holiness started a crusade of prayer for atheistic Russia. It served only to emphasize the strength of Soviet atheism. Portugal still keeps Church separated from State, a condition forced by the 1910 revolution. The growing republican movement in Spain may mean the Church's weakening there; King Alfonso is a Most Catholic Majesty. Supremacy. The everlasting aim of the Roman Catholic Church is complete doctrinal direction, with the Pope as unquestioned chief, over every soul on earth.* But Pius XI has had an opportunity to stand firmly against any weakening of the Church's purpose by the modern spirit of concession and co-operation in religion. He refused to cooperate with the World Conference on Faith & Order at Lausanne in 1927. The late President Episcopal Bishop Charles Henry Brent of Buffalo, president of that conference, pleaded eloquently with eminent Roman Catholics. But Pius XI was adamant. As Supreme Head of Christendom, he eagerly welcomed all souls into Mother Church. But Mother Church would not compromise with them on doctrine. Modernity. Modernization of the Papal State to lead in the modern world has been thoroughgoing. A railway viaduct has been built into Vatican City. The station now is practically completed. Guarding the City (close to the station) are two enormous steel doors, moved by the latest-type electric motor. Senator Guglielmo Marconi, Papal Marquess, built Vatican City a radio station so potent that the Pope could address the entire Western world in person if occasion arose. Hernand Behn, Papal knight of St. Gregory, president of International Telephone & Telegraph Corp., revamped the Vatican's telephone system and made Vatican City's self-contained. It is a dial system. His Holiness' personal instrument is the new American French-type, made of gold and silver.* His Holiness, who likes mechanical contraptions, enjoys dialing his own numbers. The Ring of the Fisherman flashes as he manipulates a call. His own number is Vatican City 102. But no one may call him without his prior permission. Thomas Alva Edison, no Catholic, late last month gave the Pope a dictating machine, finished in ivory and gold (Papal colors). It speeds up his Holiness' mountainous office work. In return Mr. Edison got a Papal gold medal. The Marconi wireless masts occupy the ground His Holiness originally wanted for Vatican City's flying field. Standard planes cannot land there now. But, small dirigibles might, also autogiros and helicopters. Purveyor of helicopters to his Holiness is Corridino d'Ascanio whose machine needs a flying field only 16 yards in diameter. Also highly modern is Vatican City's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Christmas Day a new fortnightly publication was to appear, Illustrazione Vaticana. Its main purpose is of course propaganda --to mention things beneath the dignity of a Papal encyclical or letter. Last week were being minted the first Vatican City coins. The royal Italian mint was doing the work. First output is worth 1,000,000 lire ($52,631 at last week's foreign exchange rate). Of these, 750,000 will be silver one-lire pieces, the rest nickel and bronze fractional money. Total coinage is to be 5,000,000 lire. The purpose is to indicate Vatican City's sovereignty rather than to provide a currency. The result will doubtless be the virtual hoarding of the money--as curios, mementos, keepsakes and possibly scapularies. First issue will be New Year's Day.* The Man. Achille Ambrogio Damiano Ratti, self-named Pius XI, last week celebrated the 51st anniversary of his ordination as priest. He was 73 last May 31. Next Feb. 6 marks the ninth anniversary of his election to St. Peter's Throne. Age has not staled his sharp intellect but has somewhat impaired his stocky body. Outdoor life, particularly mountain climbing, gave him a good health foundation. He is now fully recovered from his indisposition of last summer. Every fine day his ornate limousine, containing an easy chair, takes him into the Vatican gardens, where he gets out for a walk. When he was Papal Nuncio in Poland (sent by his predecessor Benedict XV) he made a crony of Josef Pilsudski. a man who craves companionship. Marshal (later dictator) Pilsudski, a stalwart, used to be able to bend silver rubles with his mighty fingers, to crack nuts in his hairy fist Nuncio Ratti could not duplicate those feats. His hands were, and are, a scholar's soft ones. ' Joint diversion of the Marshal and the Nuncio was chess, at which both are adept. The bold Pole favored vigorous attack. The astute Italian shifted his play between defense and attack. The Marshal won sufficiently often not to resent his opponent's superior intellect. Pope Pius XI has all the distinctive attributes of mind--scholarliness, intellectuality, intelligence. The doctorates he holds in philosophy, theology and canon law he earned. When he attended the Lombard College at Rome, he and his comrade Alessandro Lualdi (later cardinal) were rated the most brilliant. Because he reorganized the Ambrosian Library in Milan and made it really useful to scholars, his friend King Vittorio Emanuele made him a Knight of the Outer of Saints Maurice & Lazarus./- His Significance. In the long list of Popes, Pius IX (1846-78) ranked as a great dogmatist. Far more important than the loss of the Papal States were his dogmas of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary and of Papal Infallibility. Leo XIII (1878-1903) was "worldly," a brilliant diplomat. Pius X (1903-14) was not much interested in world politics. He was "spiritual." Benedict XV (1914-22) tried to pacify the warring world, without avail. Pius XI (1922-) has had almost as great an effect on the Catholic world's religious life as Pius X. He surpasses Leo XIII's effect on the nations. He is a spiritual diplomat, in many respects the earth's most potent individual,

* *International T. & T. intelligently capitalized this gift by distributing press pictures of His Holiness seated before the I. T. & T. telephone. Numerical standings of the organized religions: Roman Catholics 331,500,000 Orthodox Catholics 144,000,000 Protestants 206,900,000 Total Christians 682,400,000 Jews 15,630,000 Mohammedans 209,020,000 Buddhists 150,180,000 Hindus 230,150,000 Confucianists, Taoists 350,600,000 Shintoists 25,000,000 Animists 135,650,000 Miscellaneous 50,870,000 Total non-Christians 1,167,100,000

*The Pope needs a good elevator to his private apartment. The present elevator is a simple square platform, dangerous were it not for its slow speed and the attendants who watch it on every floor. /-Marshal Pilsudski gave him the Polish order of the White Eagle, and the University of Warsaw made him an honorary doctor--because he doughtily remained in Poland during the Bolshevik Invasion.

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