The Coming Vatican Council

Rome has never fascinated me more than during the two months which I spent there this spring during the final preparations for the coming Second Vatican Council. If the success of the Council depended solely on the personality of the Pope, success would be assured. No Pope has ever been more popular with Protestants who fully appreciate the fact that his attitude is not that of a Pontiff calling on erring children to return to the fold but of a great Christian ready to admit that Catholics must accept their share of responsibility for the tragedy of a divided Christendom. Everybody is impressed by his unassuming humility. He visits the sick in Roman hospitals, the convicts in prisons. He prohibits applause in St. Peter’s and has simplified the ceremonial in his personal contacts. The Daily Mirror, a left-wing daily paper with a popular appeal, headed an article “John the Jolly.” The first time he met the press he sat down, not on the throne but on a chair at their level and talked informally about the importance of not distorting the truth.

The Pope is generally believed to have been favorable to the apertura a sinistra. An English Archbishop said to me, “Well, anyhow an apertura a destra would be fatal. Italy is far behind England in social services.” On the other hand, the correspondent of one of the most famous European papers felt that the apertura a sinistra was unnecessary since the elections did not show any real movement toward Communism and that it was a mistake to give any unnecessary prestige to the Socialist leader Pietro Nenni who is really a fellow traveler. Anything which strengthens the extreme Left was, in his view, a mistake. Communism, though not at the moment advancing, is still formidable. The Italian Communists are rich because all trade between the East and West has to pass through a company which they own. Unitas is brilliantly edited; its sporting photographs the best in Italy. Togliatti is the world’s ablest Communist. The line at the moment is to appear very moderate and friendly to the Church.

SL

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Sir Arnold Lunn

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Rome has never fascinated me more than during the two months which I spent there this spring during the final preparations for the coming Second Vatican Council. If the success of the Council depended solely on the personality of the Pope, success would be assured. No Pope has ever been more popular with Protestants who fully appreciate the fact that his attitude is not that of a Pontiff calling on erring children to return to the fold but of a great Christian ready to admit that Catholics must accept their share of responsibility for the tragedy of a divided Christendom. Everybody is impressed by his unassuming humility. He visits the sick in Roman hospitals, the convicts in prisons. He prohibits applause in St. Peter’s and has simplified the ceremonial in his personal contacts. The Daily Mirror, a left-wing daily paper with a popular appeal, headed an article “John the Jolly.” The first time he met the press he sat down, not on the throne but on a chair at their level and talked informally about the importance of not distorting the truth.

The Pope is generally believed to have been favorable to the apertura a sinistra. An English Archbishop said to me, “Well, anyhow an apertura a destra would be fatal. Italy is far behind England in social services.” On the other hand, the correspondent of one of the most famous European papers felt that the apertura a sinistra was unnecessary since the elections did not show any real movement toward Communism and that it was a mistake to give any unnecessary prestige to the Socialist leader Pietro Nenni who is really a fellow traveler. Anything which strengthens the extreme Left was, in his view, a mistake. Communism, though not at the moment advancing, is still formidable. The Italian Communists are rich because all trade between the East and West has to pass through a company which they own. Unitas is brilliantly edited; its sporting photographs the best in Italy. Togliatti is the world’s ablest Communist. The line at the moment is to appear very moderate and friendly to the Church.