The Church and the "Exclusive.." An event which will be
noted by ecclesiastical jurists and students of the relations of
Church and State, the abolition of the Veto or Jus Exclusivae,
was solemnly decreed by Pius X. in 1904, and carried out in the
Conclave of 1914.
For some centuries past three Catholic powers Austria, France and Spain had claimed each to have the right to intervene in the election of a Pope by excluding one cardinal from being elected to the papacy. Save that it barred the succession of someone regarded as personally hostile, the intervention was generally ineffective, as the veto of the civil power was restricted to one cardinal, and this exclusion usually had the result of transferring to some other cardinal of like views and temperament the votes which had been given to the person excluded. Certain writers have supposed that the veto had its origin in the action of the emperors in the Middle Ages who at times confirmed the elections made by the cardinals. _ Later and fuller research has shown that the practice, at least in its direct form, dates only from the middle of the I7th century. Before that time the sovereigns of the nations mentioned frequently exercised influence upon the cardinals living within their dominions and urged them to form a coalition by which a given candidate, deemed to be obnoxious, might be prevented from having the two-thirds majority required for election. In 1590 the Spanish ambassador even pre- sented a list of candidates who alone would be acceptable to Philip II. So far, the veto was an attempt to sway the electorate, but towards the end of the I7th century it took the direct form of a communication to the Cardinal Protector of the nation concerned, or to the Dean of the Sacred College, expressly excluding a given cardinal, irrespective of the numbers who might be ready to vote for him. The conclave frequently took note of such representations and, as a matter of friendly dealing with the Catholic power from which they emanated, abstained from electing the person excluded, but it is held that the Holy See, while tolerating the practice, has never officially recognized this right of intervention, and has more than once warned the Sacred College to ignore it. In 1721 and in 1732 Cardinal Imperial! was successfully vetoed, first by Austria and then by Spain. In more recent times Austria sent its veto against Cardinal Mastai Ferretti (Pius IX.), but the envoy arrived too late, and the Pope was already elected. In the conclave which was held on the death of Leo XIII. in 1903 Cardinal Rampolla was on the verge of having the required number of votes when Cardinal Puzyna, to the great surprise and displeasure of the assembly, delivered in the name of the Emperor Francis Joseph the veto against his election. This step on the part of the aged emperor is known to have been inspired and carried out by the Foreign Minister, Count Goluchowski, who had been hostile to Cardinal Rampolla when he was nuncio at Vienna. To save the Holy See from diplomatic fric- tion, Cardinal Rampolla, under protest, withdrew his candidature, and his supporters, at his request, transferred their votes to Cardinal Sarto, who as Pius X. succeeded to the papacy. One of the first acts of Pius X. was to issue a solemn constitution (Commissum Nobis) in Jan. 1904 abolishing forever the Veto or Jus Exclusivae, declaring excommunicated by the fact any cardinal who in future would act as bearer of any such communication to the Conclave, and requiring from all cardinals taking part in the election of a pope an oath that they will disregard all such acts of intervention on the part of the civil power. In 1914 Benedict XV. was elected under this constitution, and the historic Veto has disappeared as an in- fluence in the elections to the papacy.
Organic Expansion. Next to the regulation of her relations to the civil power, and her diplomatic activities, may be con- sidered the organic work of the Church. Both are intended to clear the field and smooth the way to spiritual efficiency and progress in her diocesan and parochial centres. In this domain may be included the creation of new dioceses and spheres of missionary enterprise. To understand the statistics of the Church's expansion it may be noted that, while a missionary area has still to be evangelized, and is yet in the earliest stage of organization, the "Holy See marks out its territory, and places its missionary forces under a prefect-apostolic, who is not a bishop, but has ample powers of jurisdiction. Later on, when it has sufficiently advanced in the number of its churches and Catholic population, it is made into a vicariate under a vicar apostolic, a bishop who has delegated authority from the Pope, and has his episcopal title from some ancient or obsolete see, and is classed as a titular bishop, or what was formerly called a bishop in partibus infidelium. Finally, when the work of the Church has become stable and substantial, the vicariate is erected into a diocese, and its bishop, no longer a mere delegate of the pope, becomes an ordinary, invested with full canonical rights and title, and the see takes its place amongst the residential bishoprics of the Catholic Church. With these
three stages in mind, one may fairly measure the Church's organic expansion by the fact that, during 1910-20, there were erected in various parts of the world 29 prefectures apostolic, 41 vicariates apostolic, and 71 new dioceses altogether 141 terri- torial units added in the geography of the Church.
As to what are known as the foreign missions of the Church, the field is too vast for exact statistics. The following summary, taken from official sources published in 1918, and stated here in round numbers, may be taken as substantially correct for contemporary purposes.
The number of priests in the mission field is about 12,000, of whom more than 4,000 are natives. They have as helpers about 3,000 lay brothers and about 20,000 nuns. This forms a missionary army of nearly 35,000 workers. To these must be added a body of more than 34,000 catechists and native teachers. The number-of the Catholic people in these missions amounts to 17,000,000. Of these, 13,000,000 are in Asia; 1,000,000 in Africa; 13,000 in Australia; 200,000 in Oceania; 230,000 in North American missions, and 1,000,000 in the missions to natives in South America. It is estimated that in the Catholic mission field there have been founded about 1,700 schools, in which are being educated more than 800,000 pupils. These figures represent broadly the missionary work of the Catholic Church.
The work of the foreign missions was seriously affected by the World War of 1914-8. The contributions to their finances from the devastated and from the blockaded countries were naturally dim- inished, while many of the younger missionaries were recalled to the colours to take part in the contest. No little dislocation of work was caused by the removal of German or Austrian missionaries, as the Holy See, anxious to protect the cause of the missions from being prejudiced by any suspicion of political propaganda, entered into agreements with the Allies by which, in many cases, missionaries who were subjects of the Central Powers were replaced in India and in the conquered German colonies by others who belonged to one or other of the Allied nationalities. Nevertheless, on the whole, most of the missions were numerically stronger after the war.
Organic Reform. Simultaneously with this organic expansion of the Church abroad there took place a notable organic reform at her centre. In June 1908 Pius X. decreed an important reconstruction of the Roman Curia, which may be described as the ruling body of the Holy See. The Roman Curia includes about a dozen departments of Church government, called " Congregations." These are standing commissions charged to deal respectively with matters of doctrine, discipline, wor- ship, episcopal appointments, foreign missions, relations to Oriental churches, and other spheres of ecclesiastical admin- istration. Each is presided over by a cardinal-prefect, who is assisted by a number of other cardinals, and, under them, by a trained council of canonists, theologians and consultors of expert authority. Their decisions, which mostly take the form of answers to questions or petitions addressed to them from various parts of the Catholic world, are issued as decrees, and these, when ratified by the approval of the pope, become part of the authoritative law of the Church. The constitution of Pius X. (Sapienti Consilio) maintained the continuity of the congregations and tribunals, but effected changes in their structure and working greater than any which had been at- tempted since the days of Sixtus V. in 1587. With the con- stitution were issued 34 canons, which regulate more clearly the distribution of work and go to secure greater efficiency and promptitude in procedure (see 7.639).
Amongst the alterations thus introduced is notably one which deeply interests Catholics in the English-speaking world. After the Reformation, Catholics in England, Ireland, Scotland and in the United States and Canada were classed amongst those of the mis- sionary countries, and were placed under the charge of the Great Congregation of the Propaganda, which controls the missionary work of the Church in all parts of the world, and whose cardinal- prefect is, for that reason, sometimes styled " the Red Pope." Even when the episcopal hierarchy was preserved or restored in these countries, their business at Rome was transacted by the Propa- ganda, their bishops were appointed by apostolic briefs which it obtained for the purpose, and it was to it that they made the reports of their dioceses when they went to Rome on their periodic visits ad limina Apostolorum. By the new constitution all these countries (and with them Holland and Luxemburg) were withdrawn from the care of Propaganda and were transferred to the Consistorial, the congregation which deals with the Church in non-missionary lands, and are to have the same status and ordinary government as the Church in Catholic countries. Although in several of these nations the Catholic population is still in a minority, their bishops will deal with the Holy See through the Consistorial, and be appointed and
