The Meeker Herald

ARCHBISHOP
OF
MILAN IS POPE
NAME OF PIUS XI IS TAKEN BY
SUCCESSOR OF POPE
BENEDICT XV.

RATTI IS ELECTED
CATHOLIC CHURCH ELEVATES
ITALIAN CARDINAL TO
HIGH HONOR.

(Western Newspaper Union News Service.)

Rome.—Cardinal Achille Ratti, archbishop of Milan, was proclaimed elected pope in succession to the late Benedict XV. He has taken the name of Pius XI.

The thousands waiting in front of St. Peter's for the wisp of smoke which would tell of the election of a new pope or the failure of the sacred college to reach a decision, gave a mighty shout when a thin wisp of smoke came from the chimney leading from the Sistine chapel. It was then known that the Catholic church had once more a duly elected pontiff.

As soon as the two-thirds vote for Cardinal Ratti had been verified, Cardinal Vannutelli, as dean of the sacred college, arose and proceeded to the throne of the chosen one, accompanied on either side by Cardinals Logue and Bisleti, respectively deans of the cardinal priests and the cardinal deacons. He was asked in Latin by Cardinal Vannutelli, in accordance with custom, if he accepted the election to be supreme pontiff, and the new pope answered with the formal: "Since it is the will of God I must obey."

The new pope was then escorted to the ante-room within the Sistine chapel, where he discarded his cardinal's robes, assisted by the conclavists, and the papal vestments, which had been held in readiness since the opening of the conclave, were placed upon him.

The pontiff, fully vested with the papal garb and accompanied by his cardinals, thereupon returned to the throne he had occupied in the Sistine chapel. There the cardinals, according to their rank, and headed by Vannutelli, made their first act of adoration to his holiness, kissing first his feet and then his hands, after which the pope received them in embrace and bestowed upon them his first apostolic benediction.

Pope Pius XI, after waiting for some moments in the Clementina hall, left for St. Peter's, accompanied by the members of the sacred college. Arriving at the balcony at the entrance inside the cathedral, he raised his hand and bestowed upon the multitude his first public benediction. He then returned to the Vatican, where, although reigning, the popes have remained virtual prisoners until their deaths.

New Pope Became Cardinal Last June.

Rome.—Cardinal Achille Ratti, archbishop of Milan, was for several years papal nuncio in Poland, where his discharge of important ecclesiastical functions when the Polish question became acute earned for him the esteem of Benedict XV and the gratitude of Vatican authorities. It was because of this service that the red hat was conferred upon him on June 16, 1921, when a similar honor was bestowed on Cardinal Laurenti. Cardinal Ratti was born in Italy on Oct. 12, 1857. For many years he was librarian of the Ambrosian library and archives at Milan. Later he became librarian of the Vatican.