the eight loopholes, is walled up by the masons; but one door is left so that it may be opened by the late coming cardinals or to let out any one who may be expelled, or who for any good reason may be obliged to go out. Any one who leaves cannot return. This only door has a combination lock, to be opened by the key of the prince marshal outside and of the cardinal chamberlain inside.

The food for the cardinals is introduced by a turn, so well known in convents of cloistered communities.

The next day, after Mass of the Holy Ghost, the balloting begins, and continues until some one receives the necessary two-thirds. The ballots are cast into a chalice on the altar.

There are now 63 cardinals in the Sacred College. Some may, on account of distance—as Cardinal Moran of Australia—or on account of age or infirmities, be prevented from being present. If they were all present it would require 42 votes to elect. It would seem from the present aspect of the Sacred College that a good many ballots may be taken before the requisite number is secured.

In the last Conclave Cardinal Pecci was so pre-eminently a leader that it took but one ballot practically to settle the question of his election. In all probability it will take more than one to settle the choice in the present Conclave. It is ordinarily very foolish to prophesy, but it is especially so when the subject matter of the prophecy is the outcome of the Conclave. There is an old Roman proverb which says, "He who enters the Conclave as Pope comes out of it as Cardinal." It does not always happen that the verdict of the Cardinals ratifies that of public opinion or of the public press. In fact the more prominent cardinals, who are well known to the world at large, are generally the leaders of parties, and are for that very reason the less likely to draw unto themselves the suffrages of two-thirds of the Sacred College. They are the ones who have positive characteristics and practically stand for definite policies, and for that reason they have awakened opposition to themselves. Moreover leaders are not always necessary in the Papal Chair. Leo XIII. has been so pre-eminently an aggressive character, and his brilliant mind has illuminated so many departments of church work, and his organizing hand has co-ordinated so many church activities, that a quiet, placid, conservative man might easily maintain the status quo for many years to come. The meek and humble Cardinal Chiaramonti, who became Pius VII., was far better fitted to withstand the eagle-like aggressiveness of Napoleon the First than Cardinal Consalvi would have been, or a dominating spirit like Sixtus the Fifth would have been. If the latter were pitted against a Napoleon, there would have been wreck and ruin throughout the Church.

Moreover, in discussing the papabile, one is often deceived in the qualities of a cardinal's character. Cardinal Pecci was ranked among the liberals, and it was expected that he would establish a policy of agreement with the Italian government; but the very first act of Leo XIII. was to affirm irrevocably the attitude of protest against the usurper who ruled in the civil principality of the church. There is always a reserve in the ecclesiastical world in Rome that the outside world rarely penetrates, and consequently it knows little of the great moving forces in the Sacred College.

These things have been said in order that too much weight may not be placed on any conjectural list of would-be popes. Still it is allowable to discuss the chances various candidates may have and the characteristics that would seem best fitted to the times and the difficulties before the church.

The question of the Christian Democracy is one of the great burning problems. Socialism is a growing quantity in Germany and elsewhere. It can be met in the best way by diffusing a deep and wide-spread knowledge of the truest socialistic principles among the people. Hence the propaganda of Christian Democracy was instituted by Leo XIII. The next Pope must