BRITAIN AND VATICAN

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 March 1933, Page 5

BRITAIN AND VATICAN

HARMONIOUS RELATIONS

[BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.]

RUGBY, March 10

Mr Baldwin, in the Commons, said he was happy to say there were no longer any subjects of controversy at issue between the British Government and the Holy See. It was hoped that the appointment of a Minister would facilitate the early settlement of any question which might require treatment.

HOLY WINDING-SHEET.

ROME, January 28

The King of Italy has given permission for the Holy Sindone, or windingsheet of Christ—a relic which is the property of the House of Savoy—to be publicly exhibited in a ceremony at Yurin during the forthcoming Holy Year.

This linen shroud, which measures 13ft. in length and is 38in. wide, bears a visible imprint which is venerated as being that of the body of Christ. It is one of the chief relics of the Passion.

FASCIST RELIGION.

VATICAN CITY, January 28.

The “Osservatore Romano” reproves the tendency to regard Fascism as a religion and the practice of erecting “altars” to Fascist “martyrs.” At Pallanza recently the local Fascist authorities knelt before one of these- lay “altars,” dedicated to the memory of a young Blackshirt named Montini, who was killed in 1922 by Communists. “Abuses of this kina, even when they are not of such blasphemous vulgarity,” writes the Vatican, organ, “are by no moans rare, and rhetorical exaggerations often pass into actual parody.”

THE POPE AND HOLY YEAR.

VATICAN CITY, January 30.

The Pope this morning visited the Vatican Library, and was gratified to learn that the rebuilding necessitated by the collapse of thereof at Christmas, 1931, will be completed, contrary to expectations, in time for the inauguration of Holy Year on April 2.

In this connection it is learned that the possibility of His Holiness leaving the Vatican is slight, and it seems certain that he will not participate in any procession through the streets of Rome. He will, however, almost certainly officiate in the Holy Week ceremonies to be held in the Sistine and Pauline chapels. Moreover a Papal Mass in St. Peters itself is expected for Easter Sunday, to be followed by a general benediction of the populace.