THE NEW POPE.

West Coast Times, Issue 2787, 8 March 1878, Page 2

THE NEW POPE.

The following has appeared in the London Times : —

Giovacchino Pecci wis born ou the 2nd of March, 1810, at Carpineto, near Anagni of an old patrician f unily. He was in favor with Pope Gregory XVI., in whose household he was for some time as a prelate and private referendary, and who employed him as his Delegate, first at Benevento. then at Spoleto and Perugia, where he did good work iv ridding 'some of those districts or the prevailing scourge of brigandage. Pocci was subsequently sent as Nuncio to Brussels, created Archbishop of Perugia aad was one of the candidates for whom the old Pope reserved the honor of the purple when he died in 1846. Pecci remained, however, a Cardinal in petto in spite of the good offices of the King of the Belgians, who solicited the new Pope, Pius IX., to fulfil the benevolent intentionsof bis predecessor. Seven years elapsed before Pius IX. came to the resolution to do justice to the candidate of Gregory's choice, and this delay was owiag to the ill-will of Cardinal Antonelli, who dreade-1 the influence of an able man over the Pope's mind. At last, on the 19th December, 1853, Pecci received the Hat, but for many years be was left in the cold at his fcee of Perugia, the Cardinal Secretary of State standing in the way ot any preferment which might bring a dreaded rival too near the Vatican. In 1 874, we :ire told, upon the death of Cardinal Barnabo, Prefect of the Propaganda, an English prelate suggested Pecci to the Pope as a man competent to fill the vacant place. " Pecci," pleaded the Englishman, "is so learned a man and so good a Bishop." " Just so," broke in the Pope, "an excellent Bishop, and we will leave him to take care of hia diocese/

More recently another opening occurred. , Upon the office of Pro-Datario becoming vacant by the d2ath of Cardinal VannicellCasoni, Pecci relied on appointment, and leaving Perugia, he took up his quarters in > Rome in tlie Falconieri Palace ; but he was again unsuccessful, the place being given to Cardinal Sacconi ; and it is only now, since the removal of Antonelli by death, that Pecci obtained free access to the Pope, who has chosen him as CardinalComerlengo. There are but rare instances and recent of a Camerlengo — who is looked upon as a Pope-maker, and who exercises the whole authority of a Pope during the interregnum— qvqv obtaining the votes of the Sacred College on his own behalf. One of the special functions of the Camerleugo on the death of the Pope is to make arrangements for the Conclave, and to regulate the proceedings. He has also to perform the duty of announcing the selection to the people.

The papers represent Pecci as a thin man, with a cold impression of countenance, a fine habitual smile, almost ironical, and a mixture of pride and acuteness, with a very deliberate and somewhat abrupt style of address. They give him credit for a deep knowledge of the world and great dexterity in the management of its affairs.