The magnificent ceremonial to celebrate the Jubilee of the present
Pontificate passed off on Tuesday without a hitch. The Basilica of St. Peter was filled with a dense throng of seventy thousand worshippers, mostly strangers to Rome; and the crowd of Roman Catholic dignitaries made a grand show, which as the Pope was borne above them all in his sedan became for a moment a thrilling one. The Pope, though frail, scarcely looked his ninety-three years ; and though the ceremony exhausted him, it is doubtful if the consequent reports of his illness have any better foundation than the keen interest felt in any possible devolution of the Papacy. The world has grown so accustomed to the comparative reasonableness of Leo. XIII., that there is a certain alarm at the thought of any change. It will be hard to discover a Cardinal with his peculiar form of ability, and a fierce Pope or an incompetent Pope might still, even in a sceptical period, cause endless mischief and disturbance.
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