MOVING TRIBUTE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 63, 15 February 1939, Page 10

MOVING TRIBUTE

TO POPE PIUS XI. BISHOP LISTOXS PANEGYRIC. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Feb. 15. '"May the welcome of God and the light ol Heaven he now the reward of the soul of Pius XL" With these moving words. Bishop Liston began his sermon at St. Patrick's Cathedral this morn ius during the observance of Pontifical Requiem Mass for the repose oi the soul of the late Pope. There was a packed attendance. In the course of an impressive tribute, Bishop Liston said: "Volumes will be written about the seventeen years of Pope Pius XJ, his activities and achievements. History will speak of him as the Pope of peace; tha herald of the reign of Christ, in the world; the crusader—maybe the greatest of all time —for Catholic missions to pagan lands; the indefatigable promoter of the Catholic layman's apostolata; the patron of the studios of art and science; the Pope who, by solving the Roman question, has opened Tip the way for the spiritual mission ot the Church both in Italy and throughout the world. With a masters hand he defined the constitution of States, the ideals of the family, and Christian education of the young. He has sustained and encouraged his own Catholic children and has been an intrepid defender of the Faith and of the rights of man in days when the State in some lands is placing itself above God and crushing the soul of man. "Yet his chief claim to greatness, it seems to me, lies in this, that whilst he has asserted and expounded the rights of God in a world so largely estranged from Him, he has thought with concern and love of the ordinary man who is oppressed by the great evils of injustice, war, and fear of war. These evils he has described with clearness, and just as clearly set forth remedies for them," "said Bishop Liston. "]t is difficult, not to say impossible, for peace to endure between nations if, instead of true love of country, there is found a spirit of hard nationalism that is competition instead of co-operation, "reedy ambition instead of respect for the rights of all, especially of the weak. We beg the leaders of nations to govern in justice and charity, not for destruction, and to remember that there is no power but from God. "Pope Pius has been our spiritual father, and this is a family sorrow, but he has taken to his heart the whole world of men, and streams of their admiration and affection have flowed into him May his brave, noble, fatherlV. priestly soul rest in peace, and plead with God for the world's peace," added ! Bishop Liston.