POPE’S EASTER MESSAGE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 142, 29 March 1948, Page 3

POPE’S EASTER MESSAGE

VIGILANCE DEMANDED FROM CHRISTIANS (Rec. 9.30 a.m.) ROME, March 2£. The Pope, giving his Easter blessing to a vast crowd in St. Peter’s Square, said: “The great hour of Christian conscience has come. At this time of anxiety and danger fraught with, perhaps, irreparable world decisions, a shadow of singular gravity has fallen over us. Rome is in a phase which demands the highest vigilance, continuous action and unconditional readiness from Christians. There is no place for blind incredulity toward those who 'freely protest respect for religion, hut afterwards deny all that is most sacred.” The Pope directed his hearers attention to Christ’s words: “He who is not with me, is against me.’/ The church recently had been the target of most unjust attacks. Social justice and peace couldn ever be realised if people heeded agitators who denied Christ. The ‘Pope, speaking in a strong voice, was interrupted repeatedly by the cheers of a crowd estimated at 400,000, and the roar of planes dropping leaflets. One leaflet bore the slogan: “Can you imagine Rome without the Pope?”