Last Saturday Father Francis Xavier Wemz, a German Jesuit, was
elected General of the Society of Jesus by a majority of seventy-one votes. The new General was born in Wiirtemberg in 1842, is a distinguished authority on canon law, and is said to be filled with progressive ideas. As was natural, the French Press regards the election as a fresh proof of the intimate relations existing between the Vatican and the German Emperor. Even the Italian Tribuna draws the same moral, and calls the incident a "political demonstra- tion hostile to France." One result is confidently anticipated in France,—that patriotic French Roman Catholics will be a little disillusioned with the Vatican ; and it is assumed that on the whole the incident will do good, since if a Frenchman had been appointed he would have been chosen from the ranks of the extreme Ultmmontanes. We have dealt with the subject elsewhere, but may note here as a curious fact that while Father Wernz is the third German who has directed the Society of Jesus, that office has never yet been filled by a Frenchman.
