GAS-PROOF SHELTERS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 62, Issue 4430, 26 May 1941, Page 3

GAS-PROOF SHELTERS

PREPARATION IN VATICAN CITY. To protect Pope Pius XII from any bombs that may be dropped on Rome, 100 tons of steel are being built into a gas-tight air-raid shelter, said the Cork Weekly Examiner recently. Vatican prelates say the Pope has declared that he would not leave the Vatican City for “any reason.” The Pontiff’s hopes for peace now rest only in Divine intervention, associates say. The Pope’s air-raid shelter is nearing completion in ground floor rooms of the Papal Palace. During an alarm the Pope, ,if he went to the shelter, would be ,escorted by two Noble Guards. The refuge would be sealed immediately by gas-tight iron doors. Once in his shelter, the Pope would find everything to pass the hours comfortably. The shelter is heated, lighted and equipped with a small kitchen, bedroom, and corner reserved for prayer. There is also a miniature library. Shelters for ecclesiastical and lay — residents of Vatican City already have been prepared, and the inhabitants instructed in their Use. When there is an alarm, lights are immediately cut off from a central control and the residents, with dimmed flashlamps, hurry to the shelters, which then are sealed against gas. Priests, followed by all present, intone the rosary. Should Rome be bombed, . some Vatican prelates say, the Pope " —a Roman who often declared that he considered his native city sacred ? —probably would “raise high his voice in protest.” Before the war began, France - promised the Pope that it would not bomb Rome, but the British Govern- 7 ment replied that, though it had no ■ intention of bombing the city, its • action would depend on that of Italy. ■ Up to now the Eternal City has not been bombed. Since Italy entered the war, Rome has had several air raid alarms, but the only casualties were those caused by shell splinters from • Italian anti-aircraft fire.