"STIRRED BY WELCOME.”

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 79, 2 March 1938, Page 2

"STIRRED BY WELCOME.”

DELEGATE’S REPLY. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Mar. 1.

“My heart is deeply stirred by the touching words of your welcome,” said the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Pancio, when he rose amid a storm of applause and cheering to reply to a reception tendered him in the Town Hall last night. The Apostolic Delegate paid a tribute to the people’s loyalty and allegiance to the Holy Father. On the eve of his departure from Rome, he added, the Supreme Pontiff had spoken feelingly of the people in New Zealand. He had said the Apostolic Delegate was going to a land which was far removed from the Chair of Peter, but although they were so far from him they were very close to his heart. His Holiness had asked him to tell the people of New Zealand that he knew of their attachment, devotion and admirable generosity in support of all his works. A personal message of congratulation to New Zealand Catholics on the occasion of their centenary, received from Mr de Valera on behalf of the Government and people of Ireland, may be kept in the archives of the Church and reproduced a century hence. This is the hope of Bishop Liston, who read the message. Mr de Valera said that Irishmen recalled with satisfaction that its first missionary priests were sons of France. They came in response to the urgent ’ appeal of pioneer Irish settlers and'their first church was an Irishman’s home.