Part 17

‘I came to Rome,’ the Holy Father pursued calmly, ‘without other hope or ambition than to record my vote for the most worthy member of the Sacred College. Even had I wished to be Pope I should not have been presumptuous enough to put myself forward as a candidate for the Chair of Saint Peter.

‘It appears that there were others, with more worldly motives, who entertained ambitions of the kind. For my part, when I learned that some Cardinals had recorded their votes for me I had no feeling but one of surprise and chagrin. I suspected that I was being used as a stalking-horse on behalf of others. I could not dream that a layman had dared to interfere in the election at the bidding of a usurper who is outside the pale of Christian fellowship, under the curse of the Church!’

I trembled as I perceived that some one had been beforehand with me, and had narrated my proceedings to his Holiness, no doubt with a gloss which had caused Pius X. to take the worst view of my action.

‘Fortunately your rash and evil designs were overruled for good. Unknown to yourself, you were an instrument in the hands of others. While you were watching you were watched. Pious and vigilant men, the faithful soldiers of the Church Militant, who had no object of their own to serve, and who only sought the good of the Church, were aware all along of your proceedings, your true employer, and his secret aims. You sought to place in the Chair of Peter an obedient tool of the House of Savoy. The watchful guardians of the Church resolved that you should be instrumental in the elevation of one who, however unworthy, is at least free from the passion of worldly ambition.’

I would fain have spoken, but the Holy Father imposed silence on me by a stern gesture.

‘The candidature of his Eminence Cardinal Salvatierra was a ruse, to which the zealous persons I speak of were obliged to resort, in order to throw dust in your eyes. From the first they had determined to ensure my election, if it could be brought about without using improper means of influencing the Sacred College. They checkmated you, without your perceiving it.

‘Now you may go and tell the rash young King who used you as his agent that his designs have miscarried. I sit here, neither his nominee nor his creature, but the duly chosen Head of the Roman Church, and I call upon him to retire from the territories bestowed upon the Church by Constantine.’

I listened with feelings of stupefaction and despair. The story which had been told the Pope was so nearly true that I had no scope for contradiction; it had been so skilfully coloured that I realised that any attempt at explanation or denial would fail of its effect.

In fact I had been guilty of very nearly what I stood accused of. The reproaches of Pius X. were an echo of the whispers of my conscience. I had elected a Pope, but my presumption in doing so had made that very Pope an enemy of the sovereign whom I had served too well.

‘Will your Holiness condescend to hear me?’ I implored. ‘The Jesuits----’

‘Silence!’ his Holiness commanded. ‘I will not listen to a word against those devoted men, whose value, and whose loyalty to the Holy See, I now understand for the first time. If your master, the King of Sardinia,[2] desires to learn the conditions on which he may obtain his pardon from the Holy See, I advise him to apply to--Cardinal Salvatierra.’

Cardinal Salvatierra! I recalled the Cardinal’s parting words--‘You have chosen the White Pope; it remains to see how you will fare at the hands of the Black Pope.’

Saddened and subdued, I quitted the audience-chamber of Pius X., and repaired to that of Victor Emmanuel II.

‘I have carried out your Majesty’s instructions. Cardinal Sarto is the new Pope. And now I can only render one more service to your Majesty, and that is----’

‘And that is?’ the King exclaimed.

‘To advise you to make your peace with the Black Pope!’

I prefer to say no more. It would be imprudent on my part to embarrass a situation already bristling with difficulties, by indicating the steps which still remain to be taken before peace can be restored between the two mighty powers represented by the Vatican and the Quirinal.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: As I have stated already, whenever in the course of these disclosures I repeat a private conversation, I do so in the interest of the other party to it, if not in every case with his express permission.--A. V.]

[Footnote 2: The title of King of Italy is not recognised by the Vatican.--A. V.]

* * * * * * * * * *

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