COLLAPSE FOLLOWS HEART ATTACKS

Southland Times, Issue 23740, 11 February 1939, Page 7

COLLAPSE FOLLOWS HEART ATTACKS

BODY TO LIE IN STATE AT VATICAN (United Press Association —Telegraph Copyright) (Received February 10, 11.55 p.m.) VATICAN CITY, February 10 ; Pope Pius XI is dead. His Holiness, who was 81, withstood a series of heart attacks from early yesterday morning until the late afternoon, when he collapsed. His condition was then reported to be extremely grave, but he lived until 4.31 a.m. today (Greenwich mean time). The Pope’s last audible words were: “Peace, peace.” He tried to speak at 4 a.m., and those at the bedside realized that the end was near. High Church dignitaries were summoned to the private apartments, and Monsignor Camillo de Romas, Sacrist of the Vatican City, administered the Last Sacrament 11 minutes before death. The Pope’s own confessor, Cardinal Lauri, arrived a few seconds too late. After his last words the Pope’s lips moved slowly, and Dr Rocchi said that occasionally it was possible to discern that his Holiness was trying to articulate a Latin prayer. Half a minute before his death the Pope feebly raised his right hand and attempted to make the sign of the Cross, thus imparting the last apostolic blessing of his reign. The watchers at the bedside fell on their knees and several wept in silence as the death was proclaimed throughout the Vatican. , The city gates are closed and the body will lie in state in the Vatican Hall. The Papal Secretary of State (Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli), who is temporary head of the Catholic Church, has convoked the cardinals from all over the world to meet on February 28 to elect a new Pope.