The Beloved Pope Pius X Returning to the Vatican

( Originally Published 1907 )

This is really a magnificent enclosure, although we can see very little of it because we stand so near that marble staircase. Above the staircase rises in fact the lofty arch which we saw above the roof of the long library wing when we were at Position 33.

We see the Pope just returning from his walk in the garden. He has given his red cloak to an attendant and his face is turned full upon us. As we get a still nearer view we mark the shrewdness, force and determination expressed alongside the benevolence which has always been his characteristic. He wept when elected Pope and would have declined the nomination but that the Cardinals appealed to his sense of duty; a close look of his strong and forceful countenance shows that he will make a determined and successful ruler. His whole bearing proves how securely power rests upon his shoulders.