6 OCTOBER 1900, Page 19

The Roman correspondent of the Morning Post states that the

Italian Government under the new regime, though it acts very sternly in regard to actual disaffection among the Bishops and clergy, is doing the Church a real service by improving the condition of the poorer priests. The stipend of parish priests are being raised in all cases to £36 a year, and ultimately to £40 a year. It is calculated that ten thousand priests will benefit by this arrangement. Naturally these measures are very popular with the clergy, and will do a great deal towards rendering it difficult for the Vatican to maintain much longer its present attitude of sulking, nay, un-Christian, irreconcilability.