NEW BURIAL PLACE TOR PONTIFFS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 62, 13 March 1916, Page 2

NEW BURIAL PLACE TOR PONTIFFS.

POPES TO BE INTERRED AT ST. PETER’S IN FUTURE.

To overcome the grave difficulties connected with the removal of the bodies of Pontiffs across the city of Rome to the Lateran Bascilica, which is the true cathedral of the Popes, a new burial place is being prepared for the reception of the present and future Popes in the Chapel of Presentation in the left transept of St. Peter ? s.

A kind of catacomb is now in the course of construction in the right wall, the lower part of which will contain niches for coffins, leaving the upper portion free for monuments, so designed as not to clash with the harmony of their surroundings. Pope Lao XIII. ’s wishes will, nevertheless, be respected, and his body conveyed to St. John’s at Lateran as soon as a public funeral can bo conveniently arranged. Cardinal Merry del Val, as president of the Special Commission, has selected the spot temporarily occupied by Pope Leo’s remains in the wall outside tlic choir chapel for the new monument to Pius X.’s memory. The design for the monument will be definitely chosen at the Easter reunion of Cardinals, from a large number of projects presented by Catholic artists in various countries.