Cardinals Once Complained

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 37, 24 February 1939, Page 37

Cardinals Once Complained

T is interesting to note in regard to the. choice of a successor to Pius XI, that ance complaint was made by American cardinals that it was almost impossible for them to make the journey to Rome for the election within the prescribed period. Here is a notable example of how modern transport facilities are assisting today in the execution of a church’s old and hallowed rites. Dying wish of Pius XI was that he should be kept alive one more day to be ‘present at the anniversary of -his accession. He was fulfilling a noble tradition of service, Almost the last words of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XV, it was revealed by American newspaperman Thomas B. Morgan in his "Reporter at the Papal Court," were, "There are many things to be done, and they are important and urgent." Morgan, who with great enterprise secured special privileges, was the ~- only newspaperman in the Vatican when Pope Benedict died.