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Archdiocese of Atlanta
IN MEMORY OF
POPE JOHN
XXIII
BULLETIN
SERVING GEORGIA'S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
I VOL. 1 NO. SPECIAL EDITION
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
MONDAY JUNE 3, 1963
$5.00 PER YEAR
Pop
e
John
Old In Years, Young In Spirit He
Pushed Church Into 20th Century
John Will, old in years,
young in spirit, will be remem
bered as the Pope who pushed
the Catholic Church squarely
into the 20th century. As “the
universal shepherd" — a title
in which he took special pnde-
he set the stage for far-reach
ing adjustments in the Church's
life and stance designed to cope
with the revolutionary scien
tific, political, social and eco
nomic changes sweeping the
modern world.
An intuitive judge of man
kind's hopes and needs, Pope
John meanwhile did more than
any man of his time to heal the
wounds of a divided Chistendom.
THE GREAT, overshadowing
event of his pontificate was the
Second Vatican Ecumenical
Council (first in 100 years).
Convened primarily to bring
about an inner renewal of the
Catholic Church in the light of
modern needs, it was intended
as well to further the cause of
Christian unity. From it came a
surge of mutual goodwill and
understanding between Catho
lics and other Christians un
paralleled since Reformation
times.
Two other accomplishments
helped to place the mark of gre
atness on the reign of the hum
anitarian John XX111. One was
his social enclyclical, Mater
et Magistra, which set forth
Christian solutions for the com
plex political, social and eco
nomic problems of the new age.
The second was the encyclical
Pacem in Terris (first ever
addressed to non-Cutholics as
well as Catholics) which em
bodied a brilliant and challen
ging codification of the Church's
teachings in the field of inter
national peace.
Both encyclicals made front
page news in all parts of the
world and won enthusiastic pr
aise from leaders of all faiths.
Even Communists on both sides
of the Iron Curtain joined in
welcoming the Pope's call in
Pacem in Terris for disarma
ment and a nuclear test ban,
although conspicuously ignoring
his remarks on freedom and
human rights. Commenting on
the encyclical, President Ken
nedy told the American people:
“As a Catholic, 1 am proud of
it; as an American I have learn
ed from it."
HIS personal charm made
Pope John perhaps the most
universally beloved pontiff of all
time. With his human warmth
and genial good humor, he com
bined a humility and plaincom-
monsense that won universal
respect ami admiration. His
many audiences to leaders of
other faiths —Protestants, Ea
stern Orthodox, Jews, Mos
lems, Buddhists, and others —
were extraordinary in themsel
ves. But they were also power
ful factors in underscoring the
Pope's frequent insistence on
the brotherhood of all men un
der God, and in putting a tru
ly ecumenical stamp on his
pontificate. A United Church of
Canada editor called him “the
best Pope the Protestants ever
had." Ecumenical Patriarch
Athenagoras, top figure in Eas
tern Orthodoxy ,publically hailed
him as a “brother.” And no
less a personage than Soviet
Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev
astounded the world by sending
him greetings on his 80th birth
day in 1961,
Pope John himself astonished
the world in March, 1963, by
granting a private audience to
Premier Khrushchev's athiest
son-in-law, Alexei Adzhubei.
This was after the Pope was
formerly notified he had been
named to receive the 1963 Bal-
zan Foundation Peace Award.
When it was reported that
Mr. Adzhubei had suggested
the possibility of establishing
diplomatic relations between
the Kremlin and the Vatican,
complaints were heard in some
quarters that the Pope was go
ing “soft" on communism. But
this suggestion was vigorously
repudiated by Vatican authori
ties, who pointed to the forth
right condemnations of comm
unism in many of Pope John’s
utterances. His first encycli
cal repeated condemnations of
communism made by his pre
decessors, Pius XI and Xll,
and contained a strong appeal
l\' A i
POPE John greets Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan four weeks ago in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.
for prayers for the persecutei.
Church in the Red-ruled coun
tries.
Nevertheless at the core o
Pope John’s thinking was th ?
realization that in the thermo
nuclear age men must learn to
live together lest they perish
in a universal inferno. He made
it clear that this meant nego
tiation, mutual concession ane,
an understanding of the com
mon interests that unite all men.
THE most accessible, not to
mention tradition - shattering,
figure ever to occupy the Chair
of Peter, JohnXXlll was, more
over a Pope of Paradox.
The paradox was in a man
of advanced age (76 at the time
of his election) infusing into
the papacy a youthful vigor and
dynamic initiative that amazet
and even startled observers at
times. For pace and drama,
there were few pontificates of
modern times that could out
match that of John XX111. A
testimony to his impact on the
world was his nomination by the
editors of Time magazine as its
“Man of the Year" in 1962.
When the son of a humble Ber
gamo farmers was elected as
the 260th successor of St. Pe
ter, he turned what many had
thought would be a mere care
taker papacy into a perpetually
headline-making one. Only mo
nths after his coronation, he
electrified the world not only
by announcing he was planning
to summon an Ecumenical Cou
ncil, but by creating a new Vat
ican body — the Secretariat
for Promoting Christian Unity -
that was to help immeasurably
in tearing down the wall of con
fessional isolation, not to men
tion distrust and suspician, that
had existed between Rome and
the rest of Christendom during
the post-Reformation centuri
es.
THE council, the Pope de
clared in his first encyclical
letter, “will be a wonderful
spectacle of truth, unity and
charity. For those who behold
it, but who are not one with
this Apostolic See, we hope that
it will be a gentle invitation
to seek that unity for which Je
sus Christ prayed so ardently
to His Father in Heaven."
Pope John lacked the encyc
lopedic culture of his immed
iate predecessor, Pius Xll. He
did not have his phenomenal
memory, his extraordinary lin
guistic ability, his stately dig
nity, his aristocratic bearing.
He was not an ascetic like Pius,
nor did he have the same ama
zing capacity for work. Fur
thermore, although a scholar
in his own right (he was the
author, among other works, of
a six volume commentary on
the life of St. Charles Borro-
meo, his favorite saint) he did
not command the same bril
liant style in writing or the
same oratorical skill.
Nevertheless, the new Pope
was to be heard speaking as
frequently as his predecessor,
if in a less technical and more
personal vein. His talks were
often interspersed with autobio
graphical remarks and marked
by a warm and deep human in-
derstanding. A Pope who made
no secret of his love of people,
he was never at a loss for the
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 8)
Archbishop’s
Statement
The news of Pope John’s death leaves
the world saddened, and the Church be
reaved. For this beloved father spoke not
only to us, his children, but to all men
because he loved the whole human family.
His thoughts were never narrow and doc-
trinnaire; they stretched out to all the con
fusing issues of a weary world. His heart
beat not only for the anxieties of Catho
lics, but for the longings of men of every
religion.
As Catholics of the Archdiocese of At
lanta, we gratefully note the prayers of
men of every faith, especially of the Pro
testant, Orthodox and Jewish bodies of our
community. To these prayers we add our
own petition, sadly but confidently, that this
man from God, whose name was John, is
now with God, his great heart resting in
heavenly love.
We are all richer, and our world is
fresher, because of the four and a half
short years that he was Pope. He sought,
not power, but understanding; not pride, but
love; not pomp, but respect. He left a pat
tern of humility not only for prelates, but
for princes and presidents, scholars and
scientists, parents and pastors. He lived
to the full the exact meaning of the word,
“Catholic - universal, comprehensive,
embracing the world.’*
Dead
Last Plea
For Peace
ROME, June 3— Pope John XXIII is dead. He died at 1:49
P.M. Eastern Standard time in the austere surroundings of the
Papal bedroom.
With the Pontiff as his life ebbed away were his three brothers
and his sister, all who had flown from their home in Northern
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Official
A Pontifical Requiem Mass will be offered for Pope John
XXIII at the Cathedral of Christ the King at 6:30 P. M. on Wednes
day, June 5. The faithful of the Archdiocese are invited to at
tend. The Office of the Dead (new Psalter) will be chanted at
6:00 P. M.
In each parish, a Requiem Mass for the Pope should be ar
ranged at a convenient time. The Imperata, Pro Defuncto Summa
Pontifice, is to be said for seven days. All churches are to be in
mourning during this period.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Italy. They had arrived Friday after the Pope's condition had
taken a turn for the worse.
His collapse came after he had first rallied almost miracul
ously from a stomach cancer which had resulted from continual
hemorrhages.
Among his last recorded words were: "I give my life for the
Council, for the Church, and for peace."
His doctors had kept the bedside vigil since Friday and had
marvelled at the fortitude of the 81 year old Pontiff who, despite
intense suffering, showed a serenity and peace of mind which
brought tears to his relatives and ecclesistical collabroators.
Pain relieving drugs had been administered intermittently until
this morning when he sank into a deep coma and expired in the
shade of a Rome evening.
Messages of condolence were received from leaders all over
the world, including President John F. Kennedy and Premier
Khrushchev of the Soviet Union. The Vatican also received
thousands of telegrams from ordinary people throughout the world
of all faiths, who considered Pope John the leader in the fight
for world peace and Christian unity.
More than 100,000 persons crowded into St. Peter’s Square
shortly before the announcement of the Pope's death. A Mass
was being offered on the steps of the Basilica as the Pope lay
dying.
A great pontificate has ended.
Pope John XXI11 is dead in the (82nd) year of his life and
the (fifth) year of his regin. Never was a pontiff more widely
mourned.
Bom Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli in Sotto 11 Monte (Under the
Mountain) in northern Italy on Noverber 25, 1881, this eldest
son and third of 13 children bora of a poor farmer was called
to range the continent of Europe in important service of the
Church before he was chosen to fill the Chair of Peter on Oct
ober 28, 1958.
ALMOST 77 years old at the time of his election, this 260th
successor to St. Peter, it was freely said, would be a “care
taker" pontiff. That is, he would innovate little, disturb little,
chiefly keep the status quo for a successor who would have a
longer life expectancy.
As it turned out, the pontificate of John XXIII was one of the
most eventful in the nearly 2,000 years of the Church's history.
He upset precedents, made innovations, revived customs long
unused. He literally captured the imagination, and to a very
large extent the affection, of the world. No other pontiff was
ever listened to so attentively by non-Catholics.
Born of an obscurepeasantfamily, inanobscure place, Angelo
Giuseppe Roncalli became a teacher, a preacher, an adminis
trator, a soldier in the ranks of the Italian army, a priest, a
chaplain, a bishop, a diplomat admired in sophisticated capitals,
cardinal patriarch, a pope.,
He served the Church for more than 60 years, but after his
ordination he spent very little time in Rome until he became
pope.
ALWAYS one to get things done, to accomplish weighty and
intricate tasks with great simplicity, he became a whirlwind of
activity once he received the triple tiara of the papacy. Here are
highlights of his reign: He
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