THE SACRED COLLEGE. T HE whole atmosphere that hangs about the
Court of Rome is at all seasons so systematically filled with mist, that the smallest gap in its density cannot fail to be an occurrence of interest, even though it merely afford a passing peep at the men and objects else jealously shrouded from vulgar sight. In the wake of that turn of fortune which, in spite of himself; has contrived once again to invest a Pope with general importance, Cardinals are also beginning to emerge from their oblivion, and, in virtue of their prerogatives of creation, to draw attention to the fact of their existence. It is quite natural that from the moment the world has acquired a sharp experience of the presence of a Pope in the shape of an effective stumbling-block, its curiosity, quickened by a .sense of his mortality, should turn to investigate the elements of his origin, in the hope of getting rid of the obstinate obstruction. The inveterate doggedness which has come over the present occupant of St. Peter's Chair, would of course be borne with less impatience, if there were any reasonable grounds forthcoming for a belief that the successor who, in a few years at latest, must naturally be called to follow him, were likely to be of a different temper. It is in connexion with similar speculations, which are irre- pressibly suggested by the critical position of affairs in Rome, that a peculiar interest attaches itself to such occurrences as have brought before the public the name of Cardinal / And rea.
/ This prelate has been always one of the most respected members of the Sacred College. He has borne a character for uprightness and honourable independence. His career has been free from those imputations of personal motives which are so generally, and with truth, ascribed to the herd of ecclesiastic adventurers who throng the Court of Rome. Possessed of private fortune, he did not enter upon the service of the Church with the view merely of grasping pre- ferment, nor did he consider, as many others, the ceremony of ordination to be an adequate equivalent for learning. Cardinal Andrea, although not a profound erudite student, is yet a prelate who can fairly claim to be superior to many of his colleagues in acquirements. Indeed, the office which he held of President of the Sacred Congregation of the Index, indicates that his qualifications were generally con- sidered to be literary. What may have been his pre- cise attitude during the many years in which he presided over this congregation, we have no means of ascertaining. Cardinal Andrea is not a man who has sought public notice and courted attention. It is, indeed, confidently asserted, that in private he has, on various occasions, expressed to the Pope his disapprobation of the policy pursued by the Secre- tary of State : but such expostulations were strictly confined within the limits of confidential communication. Cardinal Andrea never lent himself to overt acts of opposition, from the natural indisposition of a Catholic Churchman to in- criminate his superior. It was therefore the more startling to the public to learn that this hitherto retired prelate had taken the resolution to make so distinct a protest against what he considered to be an unjustifiable encroach- ment upon the privileges of his congregation as is involved in resigning its presidency.
The publication, as it is affirmed surreptitiously, in Flo- rence of the letters exchanged between Cardinals Andrea and Antonelli on the occasion, have now made public all the cir- cumstances of the case. It appears, then, that an obscure point of doctrinal controversy, in reference to which the Jesuits charged the theological faculty of Louvain with he- resy, had been referred for judgment to the Tribunal of the Index, which, after mature deliberation, submitted to the Pope for confirmation its distinct opinion against the views of the Jesuit accusers. The Pope, however, did not see fit to sanction the decision; but of his plenary authority ordered a proceeding to which recourse has been had only once since Benedict XIV. gave the congregation its present constitu- tion, and then, too; at the instigation of the Jesuits who were pursuing Gioberti. The point at issue was referred to a new inquiry conducted not by the Congregation of the Index, but by it in conjunction with the Tribunal of the Holy Office. Considering the unambiguous opinion expressed by his col- leagues—sixteen out of eighteen members of the board hav- ing distinctly concurred, while the two others, Jesuits by profession, abstained from attending—Cardinal Andrea felt the credit of the Tribunal to have been signally impugned by the highest authority in the Church, and therefore deemed it incumbent upon himself to resign its presidency. The reason for this step he explained in the letters before men- tioned, which are written with a remarkable dignity and temper. In this conflict the point of general interest lies in the fact that a member of the highest ecclesiastical body in the Church has found himself called upon publicly to resist an affront put upon his character as a prelate and his dignity as a func- tionary, by the Sovereign Pontiff in pursuance of a line of action which is counselled by the influence now in absolute ascendancy at the Vatican. The Step taken by Cardinal Andrea is a protest from within the precints of the Sacred College itself against the spirit of the present government of the Church, a protest certainly not less telling in con- sequence of its complete freedom from redundant denun- ciation. As such it has been felt and keenly resented by the Pope, who has visited Cardinal Andrea, for what he considers an act of unnatural rebellion, with sovereign dis- pleasure and undisguised disgrace. Thus the Court of Rome, by making this prelate the victim of its intemperate viru- lence, has helped him into a position admirably calculated to invest him with the influence of a popular leader in opposi- tion, if he be inclined to assume the responsibility. It would be certainly premature to presume that Cardinal Andrea is ready for a part which must demand in a prelate of his standing no ordinary boldness and no ordinary disregard for annoyance and obloquy. But without venturing to speculate upon the limits to which he may be carried under the pro- vocation of ill-treatment, and by the tide of further contro- versy, we are decidedly justified in holding it to be an occur- rence of some moment at this conjuncture that a dignitary of such rank and authority in the Church should have openly declared himself not to concur in the views and principles which have been adopted with such unrelaxing purpose by Pius IX and Cardinal Antonelli.
Of course, the possibility of any practical result coming from a discussion of this kind in the Vatican must depend solely on the extent to which secret sympathies may there exist in favour of views different from those which actuate its present policy. To ascertain this with any degree of certitude is, however, an almost hopeless task. For every Roman ecclesiastic, on embracing his profession, forthwith studiedly effaces every outward feature of individual charac- ter, and passes over the whole inner man a veil of the same meek and diffident deportment, so that the entire body offers to the eye a uniformity baffling all distinction. To the highest adepts of hierarchical initiation alone—and to these even but in rare and unguarded moments—is it granted to look upon the naked humanity of those ecclesiastical natures so impenetrably veiled from the gaze of the profane. It might as well be expected of a Roman ecclesiastic to exhibit him- self in public without his clothes as to show himself desti- tute of deferential deportment,—an indulgence reserved for the seclusion of the innermost closet. It is, therefore, out of the question, as is admitted even by those who are attached to the Court of Rome, to define with any distinct- ness the peculiar characters of the members of the Sacred College. It is a constituency of appalling darkness. Still there are some few clues which can afford glimpses here and there into its constitution, and amongst these are such as indicate a certain amount of dissatisfaction with the administration of Cardinal Antonelli, and a certain dis- position to favour an understanding with the Government of Turin. The feeling that actuates this section of the Sacred College proceeds probably rather from a sense of alarm at the dangers of the season than from any native instinct towards liberal opinions. We need not, however, quarrel with its soured if only it will steadily tend to the end. It is admitted that the death of Cardinal Santucci has been a serious loss for those who would be disposed to favour a new policy. He was a man of energy and boldness who did not shrink from expressing his opinions to the Pope, and was well calculated in a Conclave to canvass and direct a party. The action of such an individual would have been most im- portant with men who have not arrived at any clear compre- hension of what they want, and are, above all, afraid of assuming the responsibility of initiation. We do not know who is likely to make good the gap he has left behind him, but we believe that with a little proper direction the elements are forthcoming in the Sacred College for a movement towards reform, in the event of this body being called upon to elect a new Pope. There are to be found many members of the Sacred College who are especially impressed with a sense of the dangers that menace the Church through the perseverance of the Court of Rome in its present attitude. We believe that when Father Passaglia urged his scheme for coming to terms with the Italian Go- vernment, eight if not nine, cardinals conveyed to him the expression of their concurrence in his views. Such a number would form a formidable nucleus in a Conclave, which, if properly animated and directed, might exercise a large in- fluence on the next Papal election. It is also satisfactory to know, that there is no reason for supposing that any of the prelates have since indicated a change of opinion. On the contrary, the impressions of those who have the best means of obtaining some insight into this dark subject, is to the effect that liberal opinions are gaining rather than losing ground amongst the cardinals, many of whom are affected with a keen sense of personal grievances similar to that which Cardinal Andrea has experienced from the Pope and Secretary of State. Indeed, it is in the great extent to which the present Sacred College may be considered open to the influence of personal passion and personal resent- ment, that lies the main obstacle to any safe estimate of its possible action. Probably at no time has this august body been so destitute of men of tried character and emi- nence. Since the advent to power of Cardinal Antonelli, he has dispensed his patronage to men of inferior standing, in the hope of excluding, possible rivals. The individuals thus raised by the powerful Minister as his instruments, are not, however, satisfied with the part he has assigned them. Unable to compete openly with his ascendancy, they harbour the spite of mortified vanity against the colleague who has monopolized the whole power of the State, and left them but the shadow and title of authority. The cardinals, as a body, have no voice in the government. Their part of late has been merely to figure in the pageantry of state. The fact that this is probably quite as much as most of them are fit for, has not had the effect of making them acquiesce in the arrangement. The natural result has been much heart-burning and secret caballing against the Secretary of State—hitherto attended with no result—except, perhaps, to render him stronger for the time, but which may have very serious consequences in a Conclave. Then Cardinal Anto- nelli is likely to find himself poor in friends, and not impro- bably the all-engrossing Minister may have to pay the pe- nalty of his too tenacious grasp of power in suffering humilia- tion at the hand of those who once were fawning minions, but have since become rancorous enemies.
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