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Conclave June 19 VATICAN CITY—The Sa cred College of Cardinals will meet in secret conclave on June 19th, to elect a new pope. While there is much speculation as to who will be named, it is well to recall a Roman saying—“He who enters the conclave pope, emerges as a cardinal.” “I Am As A Victim On The Altar 99 Vol. 43, No. 38 As In Life-ChurclL, Council, Peace 10c Per Copy — $3 A Year SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1963 By James C. O’Neill and Patrick Riley VATICAN CITY, (NC)—His Holiness Pope John XXIII consecra ted his death for the causes to which he had dedicated his life— the Church, the ecumenical council and world peace. POPE JOHN LIES IN STATE IN VATICAN—Lying in state before a large, 16th-century tapestry, Pope John XXIII holds the crucifix he requested that he be buried with. The Pontiff, who died on June 3, after four days of suffering, was laid out in a large recep tion room in the papal apartments. His body was later moved to St. Peter’s Basilica where the funeral Mass was offered on June 6. (NC Photos) It was after he had received the Viaticum—Holy Communion of the dying—that he received (on Friday, May 31) represen tatives of the College of Car dinals to bid them farewell. He told them: “As I leave, I wish to thank the College of Cardinals. I am as a victim on the altar for the Church, for the council and for peace. I bless the en tire Sacred College.” Early Friday night, the 81- year-old Pope lapsed into a coma. But he regained con sciousness at 2:45 a.m. on Sa turday morning, less that sev en hours later. He was able to sit up in bed, drank coffee, and conversed with members of his family. But he was suf fering from great abdominal pain. Later, he dozed. Then he alternated between periods of consciousness and coma. But at one point during the night, he told those at his bed side: "I have been able to follow my death minute by minute, and now I am moving sweetly to ward the end.’’ And while the prayers for the dying were being said for him, Pope John uttered these words from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians: “I . . . desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ.” The great Bishop of Rome had entered his agonizing crisis at about midnight of Thursday, May 30. At 9 p.m. Friday, the Pope's three brothers, Alfredo, Za- verio and Giuseppe Roncalli, and his widowed sister, As- sunta were in the sick room. They had just arrived by train from northern Italy to be at their brother’s bedside. But he was then in a coma and was being given oxygen. Only the week before, one of the bro thers had told newsmen that Pope John was “the healthiest sus. Several times he told those around his bed that he was suf fering, but suffering with love. A press office bulletin describ ed the atmosphere in the room as “one of profound and Chris tian serenity.” A Yugoslavpre- late, Bishop Franjo Franic of Split, had entered the room shortly before noon. A steady stream of cardin als and other officials of the Church's central administra tive staff continued. Another visitor was Bishop Giuseppe Piazzi of Bergamo. Archbishop Angelo Dell’Ac- qua, Substitute Secretary for Ordinary Affairs in the Vati can Secretariat of State—who with Archbishop Antonio Sa- more, the Secretary for Ex- ’ traordinary Ecclesiastical Af fairs, was permanently on hand in the papal apartments—said at five o’clock that the Pope had recognized Bishop Piazzi. Pope John^ asked the Bishop to con vey a special blessing for his beloved sons of Bergamo, for the diocesan seminary, for the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart—which the Pope joined as an extern mem ber and also for a Bergamo college. By 6:30 p*m. Saturday it ap peared that Pope John was be ginning to slip back into the drowsiness of the earlier afternoon. Cardinal Bea on em erging from a visit said, “Hu manly speaking we can no long er harbor any hope.” He said he had received only a slight sign of recognition from the Pope during that visit. At 7 p.m. announcement said the Pontiff’s condition remained “stationary.” But his tempera ture had risen to 101.3 degrees, and his faculties were (Continued on Page 6) POPE JOHN XXIII Pope’s Death Raises Questions Concerning Future Of Council Pope John Buried In Grotto Below St. Peter’s By Msgr. James I. Tucek (N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE) The Pope is dead! Long live the Pope! The Church has a heart, but the Church is realistic. One of the most loved popes in the Church’s long memory is dead, but questions with an eye to the future must be asked. Will Pope John XXIII’s suc cessor reconvoke the council? Who will his successor be? To ask these questions is not to lessen the mourning for the loss of the beloved Pope John. They are questions of vital interest to the Pope’s loyal subjects. They were questions which had certainly occurred also to the dying Pope. As he lay on his deathbed he was reported to have expressed the wish that his successor would see the Second Vatican Council on to a successful conclusion. And even before that, the Pope had sug gested that he was hurrying the processes of the council through its preparation and actual con vocation with the hope that he might live to see its successful conclusion. Although it is true, according to the provisions of Church law, that the council dies with the Pope, there were many consid erations that made it appear almost certain that the next Pope would reconvoke the coun cil. If the dying Pope had actually adjured his successor to keep the council alive, it could not be taken lightly. The preparations and first session of the council had al ready created an accumulation of material that could not easily be scrapped. Hundreds of thou sands of man hours and much more in costs had already been expended to bring the council to its present state. It is highly probable also that Pope John’s successor will be a man who has already been intimately engaged in the coun cil and will have a fine appre ciation of its importance. A new pope will almost certainly be elected from among the mem bers of the College of Cardi nals, all of whom have been actively engaged in the council. It seems to be less a question “Will the council be reconvok ed?’' as “When will the council be reconvoked?’’ Before Pope John’s final cri sis the council was scheduled to reconvene on September 8. It is possible that that date could still be met without the coun cil's scheduled program break ing stride. Much depends on when the conclave to elect a new pope will be called, how long it will take to elect a new pope, and what date the new pope will choose for his coronation. The man who can answer these questions is known only to God. This leads to the next ques tion: Who will be the next pope? ‘'This is a guessing game being played by the man on the street, but only 82 men can play it effectively. The 82 members of the College of Cardinals will ultimately bring their decision down to one man, and by all odds he will be one of their number. Here again the council will enter in as a determining fac tor. The fact of the council would be foremost in the minds of the cardinals when they gather in conclave to elect a man to suc ceed the Pope who had convoked the Second Vatican Council. Certain tendencies brought into evidence by the council might also affect the choice. The union of Christian Churches in general and the reunion of the Oriental Churches in par ticular has gained in importance because of the council. The im portance of the missions has likewise become more real and proximate than ever before. The internationalization of the Church’s government, which has been in progress for sev eral decades, should continue to be a factor. The past half-dozen con claves have not gone outside of Italy for their choice of a pope, and it seems not too brash to expect that the choice of a pope will once more lie within Italy's boundaries. Even so, one might guess that all the factors could meet in one man within these limits. The dying Pope had certainly also given thought to his possi ble successor, for it is axio matic—as he himself had stat ed—that every cardinal named is considered to have the quali ties necessary to succeed to the papacy. The College of Cardinals, considering the fact of a council halted in mid-stream, so to speak, might also have in mind the choice of a man who could be expected to continue in the papacy with those personal qua lities and convictions which Pope John had brought to the papacy with such great success. Whoever the new pope might (Continued on Page 8) Bishop Mourns Death Of Pope The death of His Holiness, Pope John XXIII is a source of great sorrow, not only to Catholics throughout the world, but to all men of good will, to whom the Holy Father so often addressed his appeals for peace, justice, and mutual under standing according to the Will of the Creator of us all. To us, as Catholics, the Pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth, and surely, a love of Christ for all men everywhere was reflected in the comparatively short but tremendously fruitful pontificate of Pope John. Perhaps no Pope in the almost 2000-year history of the Church has captivated the hearts of so many people. And, indeed, this may have been his greatest contribution to the advancement of God’s Kingdom on earth. For never before has the world sought more intensely for that mutual understanding among all men which is a prerequisite for unity and truth under God. Certainly never before have men been so conscious of their responsibilities to God and to each other as His children, in spite of increasing gains being made by those who would destroy the influence of religion in individual, community, national and international life. This awareness on the part of so many millions of the relevance of religion not only in the lives of individauls but in society itself and the worldwide response to religious leadership in the search for international peace and justice is due in no small part to the Pope, who convened the Second Ecumeni cal Council and issued the two great encyclicals, Mater et Magistra and Pacem in Terris. In the providence of an all wise God, this beloved Pontiff did not live to see the fruition of his most heartfelt desire for unity in truth and peace under God, but most certainly he could meet his Divine Judge with the words of Him Whose life he imitated so well—“I have finished the work Thou gavest me to do.’’ Our prayers and the prayers of countless millions ascend to God asking eternal rest and happiness for a gentle, kind, and beloved pontiff and the consolation which only God can give for the grieving brothers and sister of Pope John XXIII. BISHOP OF SAVANNAH WEARY—Dr. Antonio Gas- barrini, one of three physi cians in almost constant at tendance on His Holiness Pope John XXIII, rubs his eyes as he is driven home from the Vatican. - (NC Photos) of us all.” Visitors to the bedside that evening also included Giovanni Cardinal Montini, Archbishop of Milan, Augustin Cardinal Bea, S.J., President of the ecu menical council’s Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity; and Ukrainian Rite Archbishop Josyf Slipyi of Lvov, who came to Rome last February after. 18 years of arrest and impris onment in the Soviet Union. The cardinals of Rome also moved quietly in and out of the dimly lighted papal bedroom. Dawn Saturday found more than 200 persons still main taining a vigil in St. Peter’s Square below the papal apart ment. Young priests were recit ing the Divine Office by the light of the lamps near the great obelisk in the center of the plaza. And on the far side of the apostolic palace, where the Pope’s bedroom window over looks the Via de Porta Angel ica, a swarm of sparrows nois ily scoured the air for their breakfast as the new sun burst through the dapples of gray and white clouds to bathe the bed room window. While he was awake, it was reported, the Pope continued to repeat the Holy Name of Je- VATICAN CITY (NC)—Pope John XXIII was buried in the Grottoes below St. Peter’s Bas ilica in a private ceremony. (June 6). The cardinals in Rome and the diplomats accredited to the Holy See had attended a Mass that morning in St. Peter’s Basilica for the deceased Pon tiff. The nine days of solemn mourning, as proclaimed by the cardinals in Rome, began Fri day, June 7th. At the same time, it was announced that the Sacred Con gregation of Rites had granted permission for celebration of a requiem mass, for Pope John during the octave of Pentecost in all the chapels, churches and oratories throughout the world. The congregation also granted priests who say mass privately the right to offer such a requiem during the Pentecost octave. Bishop McDonough offers Mass for soul of late Pontiff. Pope John’s Dedication Same In Death