Pope’s Emissary Reaches Auckland

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 515, 19 November 1928, Page 1

Pope’s Emissary Reaches Auckland

CARDINAL CERRETTI A COMMANDING FIGURE The scarlet cloak of his Eminence Cardinal Cerretti made a brilliant splash of colour on the Aorangi this morning. The Pope’s personal representative to the Eucharistic Congress in Sydney is returning to Italy via America, and will stay in Auckland until the Aorangi sails tomorrow. This is the Cardinal’s second visit to New Zealand. He was here in 1915, when he toured the Dominion and consecrated Bishop Brodie, of Christchurch. His Eminence Cardinal Cerretti is a commanding figure, clad in his robes of office. His face is keen and alert, and his ready, genuine laugh, combined with an outstanding personality, puts everyone instantly at ease. This morning the Cardinal recalled the splendid reception he had received when he first visited New Zealand. But most of all he seemed to remember his trout-fishing expedition on Lake Taupo. “His Eminence caught more fish than all the rest of us put together,” Bishop Cleary explained, and the Cardinal laughed merrily.

“I still have some photographs of the fish,” he said. “By using all the superlatives I could think of I could not convey my impressions of the Eucharistic Congress and my trip to Australia,” replied his Eminence to a battery of questions. “That is good; yes?” he smiled, for the Cardinal speaks perfect English. The Australian Congress was unsurpassed in many features, the Cardinal continued. The procession was a spectacle almost impossible to describe. Never in his life had he seen such an impressive sight as that of over three-quarters of a million people kneeling in veneration in Hyde Park. “I hardly ever expect to see again such an attitude of devotion and reverence,” continued the Cardinal, who went on to speak of the inspiration it was to the Church and the people. He said that he had received the greatest courtesy from everyone, particularly the civil and Government authorities. A special tribute was paid to Mr. T. R. Bavin, State Premier of New South Wales.

Speaking of his first trip to New Zealand, Cardinal Cerretti said he remembered with the greatest gratitude the reception he had received from every section of the community. He recalled the kindness of the late Sir Arthur Myers, then Mayor of Auckland, and spoke of a conversation he had had with Sir Arthur on the subject of “Faith.”

After thO immense improvement that the Cardinal'had /seen in Australia he expected ,t,o see the same change and progress in New Zealand. “You are a new country and you must go ahead,” he remarked. “With youth, too, you must- go - ahead,” and his Eminence smiled one of these disarming smiles which milst have made him friends in all parts of the world. Cardinal Cerretti paid many tributes to the wisdem and .foresight of the Australian people.

“You know there are cultured people in Europe who still think New Zealand and Australia are peopled mostly by savages,” he said. “The Congress will do much to dispel that idea. The Australian peoples are most progressive and most cultured.”

Neither did the Cardinal forget that cne of the subjects dearest to the heart of Australians and New Zealanders is wool. He made another smiling reference to that and the riches it brought to the Dominion.. He spoke, too, of the admiration of the French people for the Australian and New Zealand troops. Cardinal Ceretti spent some time in France and said that whenever the Colonial troops were mentioned it was always associated with feelings of gratitude and admiration for “a beautiful type of man.”

Bishop Cleary, Bishop Liston, Mr. E. L. Hearn, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Monsignor Ormond and Father McKeefrey met the Cardinal on the Aorangi and welcomed him to Auckland. There was a large gathering on the wharf to greet his Eminence. TO-DAY’S FUNCTIONS

Cardinal Cerretti will lay the foundation stone of the new wing of the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Mountain Road this afternoon, and he will be given an official welcome in St. Patrick’s Cathedral at eight o’clock this evening.

To-morrow the cardinal leaves Auckland on the Aorangi on his return to Rome.

The new hospital wing is designed to accommodate 57 additional patients, and the estimated cost of the work is £40,000. As the result of knowledge gained from abroad, the building will be built on the latest hospital design, and will embrace all the most up-to-date features. Every facility that modern surgical knowledge approves has been included in the plans.