Pope's Easter

HIS HOLINESS THE POPE VATICAN CITY

AS CATHOLICS WE ARE APPALLED BY THE SACRIFICE IN PRECIOUS HEALTH THAT THE VIA CRUCIS OF THE MOTHER CHURCH IS COSTING OUR HOLY FATHER. WE HUMBLY SUGGEST HIS HOLINESS CONSIDER RETIRING TO A TRANQUIL LIFE LEAVING HIS ARDUOUS TASK TO AN ENLIGHTENED AMERICAN PRELATE WITH FRESH VIGOR TO CONTINUE THE STRUGGLE FOR CHRISTIAN JUSTICE. YOUR OBEDIENT CHILDREN.

UNIVERSAL LEGION OF CRUSADERS FOR AN AMERICAN POPE

Upon investigation the Universal Legion which sent this cable from Manhattan to His Holiness last week, turned out to be mostly letterhead, its secretary being its founder and sole member, one Carlos Palacio, a Colombian. Partisans for a U. S. pope are not hard to find,* but Secretary Palacio had no particular man in mind, nor any other definite plan. He expected no answer to his cablegram, got none. In Vatican City Pope Pius XI, prayerful and thankful that he had been spared to pass his 79th Easter week, his 15th as Pontiff, had more important things to do than trade views with Senor Palacio.

Three weeks ago, it became known last week, the Pope gave audience to Aurelio Mistruzzi, Papal engraver and sculptor who fashioned the Golden Rose to be given this week to Italy's Queen Elena (TIME, March 15). According to Signer Mistruzzi, the hale Holy Father pointed to papers on his desk and said: "We have written a long letter which is most important and we are writing another which is equally important. When they are published the world will know a sick man could not have written them. When we write letters like this [pointing] we must feel well." The two letters, on which the Pope with perfect propriety could have commanded expert assistance, were his encyclicals on Communism (No. 29) and on Nazi Germany (No. 30) issued last fortnight (TIME, March 29).* Last week Pius XI, with the pleased loquacity of a man who has come through a long illness, released encyclical No. 31, dated Easter Sunday and dealing with a familiar but still pressing subject, Mexico.

Pius XI is presumably aware that, in considering the state of the Catholic Church in Mexico and Spain, not only liberal Protestants but many liberal Catholics are disinclined to blame it all on the "Reds." Last month the Catholic World, published by the Paulist Fathers, took a different line from most of the U. S. Catholic press regarding Spain: "Was the religion of the people of Madrid so superficial and their intelligence so benighted that a half-hundred aliens from the North could come down with a few pocketfuls of rubles and a supply of Marxian pamphlets and win over a population to atheism and Bolshevism in a jiffy? What were the priests doing? . . . There was something wrong in Spain. What was it?" To similar questions which have been asked about Mexico, Pius XI last week gave an indirect but revealing answer, namely that Mexico's clergy needs "sanctification." In more detail, like a father reminding his children that he has given warning before, the Pope recommended study of an encyclical he wrote two Decembers ago describing the qualities of an efficient priesthood, with special emphasis on the need to improve Catholic seminaries. Since U. S. bishops are now establishing a seminary for Mexican priests near El Paso, Tex., Pius XI singled out this work for praise.

Nowhere damning Mexico's Government as tyrannical--as he once was wont to-- the Pope seemed to be pressing a policy of hopeful moderation which he exhibited last month in appointing a friend of President Lazaro Cardenas, Most Rev. Luis Maria Martinez, to be Archbishop of Mexico, D. F. To Mexican Catholics the Pope's advice was: "Be good to the poor, to workers, to Indians; promote application of the principles of justice and charity; eliminate abuses, at the same time guarding against violent changes which only would cause harm instead of good."

For the Pope's observance of Easter elaborate plans had been made. A Vatican functionary detailed, in memoranda, the minimum religious acts which would be required of the Holy Father in public, and Vatican Physician Dr. Aminta Milani. unwilling to take sole responsibility, called a consultation regarding Pius XI's physical state. Vatican workers hung 50-ft. velvet curtains about the high altar of St. Peter's, erected wooden partitions on the basilica's outside balcony to cut off drafts. Within St. Peter's on Easter Sunday morning 50,000 faithful cried "Viva il Papa" when the Holy Fatrrer was borne in on his portable throne, walked a few steps to the altar throne. .During Mass, celebrated by Gennaro Cardinal Granito Pignatelli di Belmonte, the Pope knelt unassisted during the Consecration and Elevation of the Host. To the faithful who had not seen him. since the beginning of his illness last December, he looked thin, drawn, old. He blew his nose frequently, once shot a reassuring smile at Dr. Milani who stood nearby, looking nervous. After Mass, Pius XI was carried to the balcony below which, in St. Peter's Square, were jammed 150,000 people. Upon these, in a firm voice which was broadcast to the world, the Pope bestowed a Latin benediction, an apostolic blessing, in which he said to his people: "I thank you for the sustaining strength of your prayers during my long illness." Then he returned to his apartments, accepted a restorative cordial from Dr. Milani and wept tears of joy.

*Rev. John Schwartzmeier some years ago proposed George William Cardinal Mundelein. During the critical stage of Pius XI's late illness, talk in the Vatican was that a substantial party of cardinals favored de-Italianizing the papacy, trying out a U. S. pope in full knowledge that even a fiasco would make little difference in the Church's long history. In disregard of the fact that comparatively young, vigorous cardinals are most papabile, the U. S. candidate was supposed to be New York's frail, 69-year-old Patrick Cardinal Hayes.

*Angered by the Pope's charges that his concordat with the Reich had been violated, Nazis last week threatened to void or revise it. In Rome German diplomats boycotted Vatican Holy Week services.

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