CARDINAL DIES

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30038, 24 January 1963, Page 6

CARDINAL DIES

Archbishop Of Westminster ( N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, January 22. The Archbishop of Westminster, William Cardinal Godfrey, head of 4,500,000 Roman Catholics in England and Wales, died today, aged 73. He had been suffering from an undisclosed illness in the last few weeks and had .a heart attack on Saturday. He died at his Westminster home while the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Michael Ramsey, was on his way to visit him. Cardinal Godfrey was warm and human but also outspoken. He attacked the •‘immodesty of modern dress” and called for a ban on ‘‘immor-

/ality and indecency” in shows and films which he described as “poison for the souL”

He once said a psychiatrist was the wrong man to guide young people in matters of morals—the parents should do it He condemned unofficial strikes and asked Catholic trade unionists to give “an example of constancy and loyalty" in attending union meetings. Bom in Liverpool, the son of a haulage contractor. Cardinal Godfrey early showed signs of a vocation for the priesthood. After preliminary studies in England, he went to the English College in Rome where be took his doctorates in theology and philosophy. His reputation as an able administrator grew rapidly and he won the friendship of Pope Pius XI, who appointed him a domestic chaplain. The Pope sent him to Britain as counsellor of the Pontifical mission at the coronation of King George Vt In 1938 he returned ptrtr.ineatly to Britain as Apostolic Delegate—the first residential Papal envoy to Britain since the Reformation. He waa made Archbishop of Liverpool in 1963 and Archbishop of Westminster in 1956. Two years tater, Pope John XXIH made him a cardinal. .