The Popes and I
With all of the media coverage about the death of the Pope, I paused for more than a moment when I read a comment that a 72-year-old Italian man said that he had lived through six popes. I thought to myself that I am 70 – and wondered how many popes I could recall. My wife Judith and I started naming them off and came off with five: John Paul II, John Paul I, Paul VI, John XXIII and Pius XXII.
Was there a sixth pope in my (and Judith’s) lifetime? I searched the Internet and found that Pius XI was pope from Feb. 6, 1922, to Feb. 10, 1939. So I was not quite four and a half years old at the time of his death. Judith was two and a half years old.
The other popes and their tenure during my and Judith’s lifetime, according to data I found on the Internet:
Pius XII – March 2, 1939, to Oct. 9, 1958.
John XXII – Oct. 28, 1958, to June 3, 1963.
Paul VI – June 21, 1963, to Aug. 6, 1978
John Paul I – Aug. 26, 1978, to Sept. 28, 1978 (33 days!)
John Paul II – Oct. 16, 1978, to April 2, 2005
When I was growing up, there was only one pope, Pius XII, and only one president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Pope Pius XII lived longer into and past my childhood than did President Roosevelt.
What is the point of all of this?
I actually saw a pope. Twice! In July of 1958. I was on active duty in the Navy, serving on board the aircraft carrier USS Wasp in the Mediterranean. The ship was in Naples, Italy, and those of us who wanted to could take a three-day tour to Rome. As it turned out, the ship’s chaplain, who was Roman Catholic (and I was not), was going on the same tour as I was, and he arranged for us to have a papal audience in St. Peter’s Basilica. That was the most emotional experience up to that time of my life. I cannot explain how I felt, and as I have stated, I am not a Catholic. I was overcome! The only other time in my life that this emotion has occurred was the morning of Friday, Jan. 4, 1974, when I was in the delivery room for the birth of our son Eric.
It is difficult to explain the emotional experience of seeing a pope. The basilica, to begin with, is a huge structure. The pope was carried in on what I think is called a gondola – not the kind in the water at Venice but something like a throne on a platform with a man at each of the four corners holding it into the air. The procession was from the entrance off St. Peter's Square to the main altar. People were standing in sections that were separated by a wooden barrier to the front as well as the sides so that the pope's procession went up the aisle without people being able to touch him or the throne. But he was only a few feet as he passed us. (I do not think that such a procession is held anymore because of fear of assassination.) What I remember is that the people burst into applause, which seemed so strange to me inside a church. With the recent news coverage, though, I heard that it is an Italian custom to applaud as a sign of respect.
The morning after the audience in St. Peter’s, we were there in St. Peter’s Square when Pope Pius appeared for his traditional Wednesday greeting at the window in his papal apartment. I think that was his last appearance in the Vatican, for he went to his summer residence at Castel Gandolof. He was reported to be in ill health, and he stayed there rather than returning to the Vatican, and it was there that he died on Oct. 9, 1958.
Soon after our tour group returned from Rome, the ship abruptly left Naples for the eastern Mediterranean for what turned out to be the “Lebanon Crisis of 1958,” which is now a footnote in history. I found the following information on a naval history Web site:
On July 15,1958, the Wasp put to sea to patrol waters off Lebanon. The ship’s Marine helicopter transport squadron left the ship five days later to set up camp at the Beirut International Airport. They flew reconnaissance missions and transported the sick and injured from Marine battalions in the hills to the evacuation hospital at the airport.
The Wasp continued to support forces ashore in Lebanon until Sept. 17,1958, when the ship departed Beirut Harbor, bound for home. The Wasp reached Norfolk, Va., on Oct. 7, unloaded supplies, and then made a brief stop at Quonset Point, R.I., before arriving in the ship’s homeport of Boston on Oct.11.
Back in Boston, I soon left the ship for two weeks at home in Minneapolis and by the end of the year was released from active duty.
Was there a sixth pope in my (and Judith’s) lifetime? I searched the Internet and found that Pius XI was pope from Feb. 6, 1922, to Feb. 10, 1939. So I was not quite four and a half years old at the time of his death. Judith was two and a half years old.
The other popes and their tenure during my and Judith’s lifetime, according to data I found on the Internet:
Pius XII – March 2, 1939, to Oct. 9, 1958.
John XXII – Oct. 28, 1958, to June 3, 1963.
Paul VI – June 21, 1963, to Aug. 6, 1978
John Paul I – Aug. 26, 1978, to Sept. 28, 1978 (33 days!)
John Paul II – Oct. 16, 1978, to April 2, 2005
When I was growing up, there was only one pope, Pius XII, and only one president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Pope Pius XII lived longer into and past my childhood than did President Roosevelt.
What is the point of all of this?
I actually saw a pope. Twice! In July of 1958. I was on active duty in the Navy, serving on board the aircraft carrier USS Wasp in the Mediterranean. The ship was in Naples, Italy, and those of us who wanted to could take a three-day tour to Rome. As it turned out, the ship’s chaplain, who was Roman Catholic (and I was not), was going on the same tour as I was, and he arranged for us to have a papal audience in St. Peter’s Basilica. That was the most emotional experience up to that time of my life. I cannot explain how I felt, and as I have stated, I am not a Catholic. I was overcome! The only other time in my life that this emotion has occurred was the morning of Friday, Jan. 4, 1974, when I was in the delivery room for the birth of our son Eric.
It is difficult to explain the emotional experience of seeing a pope. The basilica, to begin with, is a huge structure. The pope was carried in on what I think is called a gondola – not the kind in the water at Venice but something like a throne on a platform with a man at each of the four corners holding it into the air. The procession was from the entrance off St. Peter's Square to the main altar. People were standing in sections that were separated by a wooden barrier to the front as well as the sides so that the pope's procession went up the aisle without people being able to touch him or the throne. But he was only a few feet as he passed us. (I do not think that such a procession is held anymore because of fear of assassination.) What I remember is that the people burst into applause, which seemed so strange to me inside a church. With the recent news coverage, though, I heard that it is an Italian custom to applaud as a sign of respect.
The morning after the audience in St. Peter’s, we were there in St. Peter’s Square when Pope Pius appeared for his traditional Wednesday greeting at the window in his papal apartment. I think that was his last appearance in the Vatican, for he went to his summer residence at Castel Gandolof. He was reported to be in ill health, and he stayed there rather than returning to the Vatican, and it was there that he died on Oct. 9, 1958.
Soon after our tour group returned from Rome, the ship abruptly left Naples for the eastern Mediterranean for what turned out to be the “Lebanon Crisis of 1958,” which is now a footnote in history. I found the following information on a naval history Web site:
On July 15,1958, the Wasp put to sea to patrol waters off Lebanon. The ship’s Marine helicopter transport squadron left the ship five days later to set up camp at the Beirut International Airport. They flew reconnaissance missions and transported the sick and injured from Marine battalions in the hills to the evacuation hospital at the airport.
The Wasp continued to support forces ashore in Lebanon until Sept. 17,1958, when the ship departed Beirut Harbor, bound for home. The Wasp reached Norfolk, Va., on Oct. 7, unloaded supplies, and then made a brief stop at Quonset Point, R.I., before arriving in the ship’s homeport of Boston on Oct.11.
Back in Boston, I soon left the ship for two weeks at home in Minneapolis and by the end of the year was released from active duty.
posted by Norman Larson @ 5:32 PM
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