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VOL. 6, NO. 16 -^-ATLANTA, GEORGIA THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1968
POPE Paul VI gives traditional Easter blessing “Urbi et Orbi” (To the City and the World) from cenirai oaioony
of St. Peter’s Basilica. Some 100,000 pilgrims, tourists and other persons jammed St. Peter s Square to receive
the blessing and hear the Pope’s Easter message. The pontiff pleaded for peace negotiates to end fte Vietnam
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Pope Blesses City, World
war and deplored racism.
Pope Paul Pleas For End Of War
VATICAN CITY (RNS) -
Pope Paul VI, in his traditional
Easter message to the world,
made a dual appeal for an end to
the war in Vietnam and for the
replacement of racism,
nationalism and class hatred by
universal love.
Without mentioning Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., by name,
he spoke of the “inauspicious and
warning episode of the murder
which stirred the whole world.”
He said “it would be most
admirable if those great collective
egoisms...racism, nationalism,
class hatred and the dominion of
privileged peoples over the
weaker ones...were made to open
themselves up to the courageous
and generous adventure of
universal love.”
In making what was regarded
by many as his strongest appeal
for peace in Vietnam, the Pope
spoke before more than 100,000
tourists and pilgrims who braved
downpours of rain to attend an
open-air Easter Mass celebrated in
front of St. Peter’s Basilica.
He said the thoughts of the
whole civilized world
“turn...toward peace, toward the
difficult peace of that distant
region of Asia, where, it seems,
the war can never end, where the
collision of the greatest powers
keeps the world in suspense, with
the anguished fear of a gigantic
conflict which should overwhelm
all in frightful ruin.”
At the same time, the Pope
exhorted mankind to “turn away
from this nightmare of persistent
menace” and to “implore all the
interested parties to think
resolutely in terms of military
truce and honorable and fair
negotiations.”
“Eagerly,” he said, “do we
look, as all of you do also, upon
the promising symptoms of a
forthcoming understanding
between the peoples in conflict,
and we express the wish, made
acceptable by our absolute
neutrality and our heartfelt
affection for the nations
involved, and, above all, for the
suffering peoples, that these first
steps may soon lead to a happy
ending.”
Going on to voice hope that
“the show of strength” might be
“transformed into a competition
of generosity,” the pontiff
added:
“May victory go, not to a
presumptive justice of arms, but
to a justice which recognizes the
reciprocal rights to freedom, and
the common needs of work and
of peace; may the feeling of envy
and hate be turned into
resolutions of pardon and
brotherhood.”
Turning also to the Middle
East and Africa, Pope Paul spoke
of the “fearful shock”
experienced by the world because
of recent conflicts in these areas.
“May there now arise again,”
he said, “the great ideals of the
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 2)
Province Priests Meet Friday
Priests from the six-diocese
Province of Atlanta will meet
Friday at Holy Spirit parish
center to discuss their role in a
proposed national organization of
priests.
The meeting, hosted by the
Archdiocesan Senate of Priests,
will begin at 10 a.m. The
province includes Atlanta,
Savannah, Miami, Charleston, St.
Augustine and Raleigh.
The purpose of the meeting is
to discuss the National
Federation of Priests’ Council,
affiliation with the organization,
its constitution and the
credentials certification for the
national convention in Chicago
May 20-21.
Priests attending are scheduled
to discuss methods of mutual
cooperation on the provincial
level. Father Michael A. Morris is
the provincial representative and
is on the steering committee for
the national meeting.
The idea of a national
federation grew out of a
February meeting in Chicago.
The meeting attracted more than
300 priests from throughout the
United States. The priests agreed
to move toward a non-trade
union confederation linking 114
priests’ senates and associations
which represent 120 of the 141
dioceses in the country.
The nation’s bishops have
taken no official stand on the
federation, but it was endorsed
by Archbishop Paul J. Hallman
and Bishop Joseph L. Bernardin.
INSIDE
... of today’s Bulletin, Father
Anselm, a young Trappist priest
at Conyers, discusses his 95
theses, published 450 years after
Martin Luther’s. They weren’t
nailed to a church door, but were
printed in a Catholic quarterly.
(Page 3).
Bishop Bernardin talks ... An Episcopal bishop calls
about the Church in America and for a meeting of all Christians
his new job as general secretary under Pope Paul (Page 14).
of''the United States Catholic
Conference (Page 8).
... The lead editorial asks
“What’s so revolutionary about
open housing?” while Father
Kiernan salutes the Atlanta Police
Department (Page 4)