MOURNERS PASS BIER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 38, 15 February 1939, Page 7

MOURNERS PASS BIER

LAST RESPECTS TO POPE i I AN ALL-DAY PROCESSION [CROWDS WAIT IN THE RAI i j i (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyrighi ROME, Feb. 13. I It is estimated that over 1,000,00 ; people passed the Pope’s coffin in S Peter’s to which the public was ad ,'mittecl at 7 o'clock yesterday morning ■ Rain fell all day but did not diminis 'the number of those waiting.

ROTARY’S TRIBUTE

AUCKLAND MEMBERS STAND IN SILENCE LIFE DEVOTED TO PEACE [ Per Press A c -<?<-Giion.l AUCKLAND, Feb. 14. Before the ordinary business at the luncheon meeting of the Auckland Rotary Club the New Zealand district governor, Mr. G. W. Hutchison, paid a tribute to the memory of the Pope, and, at his suggestion, members stood in silence for a few moments as a mark of respect and sympathy. Mr. Hutchison said: "It is an axiom in our organisation that Rotary knows no religious denominational adherence and yet we have in our ranks men of every religious creed. Among these in large numbers of the Roman Catholic Church, and it is fitting that to them Rotary should express its deep sympathy at the passing of the Pope. "Not only are we stirred by our sympathy for these fellow Rotarians and all people of their faith, but we grieve also that there should be lost to a world stricken with uncertainty a steadfast leader whose life was devoted to peace. One one occasion I was privileged to attend a ceremony in St. Peter’s in Rome performed by the Pope, and one could not but be impressed by his seraphic personality. "His term has been marked by many trials and there have been occasions when his state has been the subject of attack by atheism, yet, when he has felt constrained to voice his protest he has done so more in sorrow than in anger and always with impressive dignity. At a time when man’s greatest need is peace, men must mourn that a prince of peace has passed away.’*