THE MICHIGAN DAILY THURSDAY, OC1%
Pope PiusCalled Himself 'Fighter for Pea
2-2t5 3 NO 2-3136

OBER 9, 193
ce

servatore Romano, quoted one of
the Pontiff's "devoted collabora-
tors" as saying the Pope exclaimed
on Dec. 2, 1954: "This morning I
saw the Lord."
However, the paper said Pius
was "displeased" that his experi-
ence had been revealed to the
world.
Series of Illnesses
Never robust, the thin and as-
cetic Pope was troubled frequently
with bronchitis, but he did not
suffer a really serious illness until
the early part of 1953, when he was
77 years old. Then he had an
attack of influenza and bronchial
pneumonia that put. him to bed
and restricted his activities for
several weeks.
A year later gastric disorders,
struck and he was ill for two
months. However, he still managed
to keep in touch with vital church
matters by daily contacts with a
few of his highest aides. Gradu-
ally he worked back into a sched-
ule so strenuous it worried those
around him.
Early in December of 1954, the
Pontiff suffered his first severe
collapse. Romans gathered in St.
Peter's Square and knelt on cob-
blestones to pray for his recovery.
But, feeble as he was, a few days
later the Pope broadcast a bene-
diction by microphone from his
sickbed to. the people of Rome.
Attacked Communism
Pope Pius lashed out at com-
munism on many occasions, al-
though for a long time he re-
frained from calling communism
by name in his speeches, encycli-
cals and exhortations against it.

His influence had been brought
to bear forcibly on the 1948 par-
liamentary election in Italy in
which the Communists lost what
was considered their best chance
to seize power legally. ,
He urged his people to exercise
their franchise and called on the
clergy to instruct Catholics in
community as well as religious,
duties. He called voting "a grave
moral responsibility."
Urged Spiritual Crusade
In a 1952 address, he called for
a spiritual crusade to turn the
world from "paths which sweep
on to ruin' and to save the human
race from "frightful" disaster.
He said a general condition ex-
isted that "may explode at any
moment." It origins, the Pontiff
continued, were in "the religious
lukewarmness of so many, in the
low moral tone of public and pri-
vate life, in systematic efforts to
poison simple minds, to which
poison is given after their under-
standing of true liberty has, so to
speak, been drugged."
"The realization of our respon-
sibility before God obliges us to
attempt everything in order to
spare the human race so frightful
a disaster," he continued.
Every man, the Pope went on,
must reexamine "what he can and
must do personally as his, own
contribution to the'. saving power
of God."
Liked To Meet People
Pope Pius niet more people than
any other Pontiff in the long his-.
tory of the Roman Catholic
Church.

He met millions - rulers and
masses -- in private and special
.audiences and in the greatest
general audiences ever held by a
Pontiff.
As the human tide surged
around him again and again,
reaching an all-time high mark in;
the Holy Year, the tall, frail Pon-
tiff made it. clear that the "en-
counter," as it is called, was one
he sought. as eagerly as those wto
sought to see him.
Nearly all the four million Holy
Year pilgrims who went to Rome
in 1950 were received in general,
special or private audiences. Sev-
eral times. St. Peter's basilica, the
world's biggest church, was unable
'to hold the throngs, and the Pope,
carried on his portable throne,
passed thrpugh the square to bless
them.
A celebrated scholar, he was well
versed in many fields. He could
speak on a variety of scientific
subjects. Astronomy particularly
interested him. Already able to
speak seven languages fluently and
acquainted with nine or ten more,
he took up 'the study of Russian
and Arabic in his 70's.
Pope Pius XII was born Eugenio
Pacelli on March 2, 1876 in Rome.
The men in his family had served
for generations in the civil service
of the Papal States in the days
when Popes were temporal sov-
ereigns of Central Italy.
The Pacelli family represented
the comfortable, well-to-do middle
class, profoundly Catholic, closely
bound to the Vatican and ennobled
by Papal titles in 1853 'and 1858.

POPE PIUS XII
. as Nuncio in 1920

"The secret about the episode
was kept until now and only the
affectionate indiscretion of one of
those knowing it enabled us to
learn and tell of the marvelous
episode . . . The Holy Father is
perfectly sure he saw Jesus-it
was no dream; in that moment he
was fully awake and clear-
minded."
It was from that moment, Oggi
continued, that the Pope "started
to improve in such a sudden man-
ner that many people considered it
a miracle."
A few days later the Vatican
press office said it was true the
Pope had a vision. Subsequently,
the Vatican City newspaper, I'Os-.

I


CARDINALS TO GATHER:
Successor to Pope Pius Not Obvious

The successor to Pope Pius XII
may not be immediately obvious.
Once the Cardinals retire in
solemn conclave to the Sistine
Chapel, Vatican sources empha-
size, it would be foolhardy to try
to guess who will emerge as Pope.
In the past, many ballots often
were needed before a new Pope
was named.
It is thought here another Ital-
ian likely will get the necessary
vote of two-thirds-plus-one of
those present. North Americans
are given little chance.

There *has been no Pope from
outside Italy in 400 years. And
this will be the first time in 600
years that Italians are not in a.
majority for an election in the
College of Cardinals.
One of the possible non-Italian
candidates brought to prominence
in recent months is gray-bearded
Gregory Peter Cardinal Agagian-
ian.
First, he was named Pro-
Prefect of the Vatican's Congre-
gation for Propagation of the

Faith, as successor to the late
Samuel Cardinal Stritch, of Chi-
cago.
Then the Pope named Cardinal
Agagianian a member of the Con-
gregation of . The Holy Office,
headed by the Pontiff himself,"
and first-ranking of the congre-
gations governing the affairs \of
the Catholic Church.
Cardinal Agagianian is patri-
arch of Armenia and his election
mightserve als a bridge across the
seas between the Roman Catholic
Church and the orthodox rites of
the east, including Russia's.
Another non-Italian candidate

is. French-born E~igene Tisserant,
Dean of. the Cardinals and Secre-
tary of the Vatican's important
Congregation for the Church in
the Orient. He is 74 years old.
Among Italians mentioned in
speculation on a Papal succes-
sor is Msgr. Giovanni Battista
Montini, 61 years old, now Arch-
bishop of Milan and once a close
associate of Pope Pius XII as a
Pro-Secretary of State for the
Vatican.

II


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