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New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVII, Issue XXV, 19 December 1896, Page 202

Pope Leo XIII has always been a true though cautious patron of dramatic art, and has believed in the mission of the legitimate theatre quite as much as did the early English Bishops in the mysteries and miracle plays. Still, the world will hear with surprise, says the New York Tribune, that his holiness has given orders to have a small theatre constructed within the precincts of the Belvedere gardens for the edification of his Vatican household. The theatre will be under the direction of Signor Arturo Durantini, and there will ba given, besides plays, whose nature has not yet been decided upon, concerts of various orders. Whether women will be seen upon the stage of the Vatican theatre remains to be known, but they will undoubtedly be admitted to the auditorium, just as certain guests of the Pope have always been privileged to bring their wives and daughters with them to ordinary entertainments that have been held in the gardens of the palace. It is said that the Pope is minded to establish by the new playhouse a criterion for Roman Catholic drama ; but, however this may be, one is assured that the repertoire will be submitted to a most rigorous censorship in point of diction, morals and politics.