In the death of Cardinal Riario Sforza, Cardinal Archbishop of
Naples—who died this day week, in his sixty-seventh year—Rome has lost probably the best candidate whom the Conclave could have chosen, if they had intended to try the experiment of a popular and democratic Pope. The late Cardinal was a man of profound piety and great devotion to the people, which he has proved by freely hazarding his life in the various severe visitations of cholera to which Naples has been subject, in order to carry the consolations of the Church to the bed- side of the dying. He also held that the present Pope was mistaken in advising the faithful to abstain from participation in the Italian elections, and thought, on the contrary, that the Catholics should take a lively part in the elections ; and so soon as universal suffrage was made the municipal franchise, this advice was taken in the municipal elections of Naples, and had, we believe, a great success. If it had been held to be wise to make a great appeal to the Catholic people of all countries in the name of the Church, Riario Sforza would have been just the man to do it ; and as our readers are aware, we have always held that such a policy as this is still one of the greatest cards in the hands of the Church, and one which, if played by a man of genuinely popular fibre and hearty faith and piety, might for a time produce great results.
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