Camillo Card. di Pietro - Address to the Holy Father at the End of Mass with the Cardinal Electors

Most Holy Father, since our votes, inspired by God, have caused the selection for the great dignity of Sovereign Pontiff of the Catholic Church to fall upon your Holiness, we have passed from profound affliction to a lively hope. To the tears which we shed upon the tomb of Pius IX., a Pope so greatly venerated throughout the whole world, and so beloved by us, succeeds the consoling thought, that there arises rapidly a new dawn with well-founded hopes for the Church of Jesus Christ.

Yes, Most Holy Father, you gave sufficient proofs of your piety, of your apostolic zeal, of your many virtues, of your high intelligence, of your prudence, and of the deep interest you took in the glory and the majesty of our Sacred College, when you ruled the diocese intrusted to you by Divine Providence, or took part in the grave affairs of the Holy See; so that we can easily persuade ourselves, that, being elected Sovereign Pontiff, you will do as the apostle wrote of himself to the Thessalonians : For our gospel hath not been to you in word only, but in power also, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much fulness.

Nor, indeed, was the Divine Will slow to manifest itself, --that Will which, by our suffrages, repeated to you the words formerly spoken to David when he was declared king in Israel: Thou shah feed my people Israel; and thou shall be ruler over them.

To which Divine disposition, it is gratifying to us to see how suddenly the general sentiment corresponds, and how all concur in venerating your sacred person, as the tribes of Israel prostrated themselves in Hebron before the new pastor allotted to them by God. So we likewise hasten, on this solemn day of your coronation, like the elders of the chosen people, to repeat to you, in pledge of affection and of obedience, the words recorded in the sacred pages: Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.

May Heaven grant, that, as the holy Book of Kings adds that David reigned forty years,--quadraginta annis regnavit,--so ecclesiastical history may record for posterity the length of the pontificate of Leo XIII.

These are the sentiments and the sincere wishes that, in the name of the Sacred College, I place at your sacred feet. Deign benignantly to accept them, by imparting to us your apostolic benediction.