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Show New1 Mtgr. Cardi-nal- e, the Pope's chief of protocol .Aid g As a result, it seems that I am not to be a parish priest as I had wished. They have called me to the Papal Secretariat of State." The College Point boy whose only desire had been to be a parish priest had been recognized for what he was. one of his Church's most nrnm- -- -- ismgyoungJeaders. Soon after those first postwar letters, the American friends of the young priest-diplom- at began getting correspondence from Cairo. Igino had been sent there as a Vatican attached Not long afterward, the postmark on the mail was Rome again. The young clergyman was secretary to the secretary of Monsignor Giovanni Montini now Pope Paul. This early meeting of the two is one reason why those close to the Vatican feel that Monsignor Cardinale soon will be recognized as one of the new Pope's chief advisers. Monsignor Montini in those days was acting of State of the Vatican, one of Pope Pius XII's two main aides. Very likely, that will become Monsignor Cardinale's responsibility now. Co-Secret- ary Expected to Be Progressive But in his present post as chief of protocol (the one who arranges the visits of dignitaries to the Vatican), Monsignor Cardinale already has a key role. He is one of the insiders who will help decide the main issues facing the Holy See. All who know the Monsignor believe his influence will be on the side of the progressive trend which Pope John symbolized and which Pope Paul no doubt desires to carry on. Mrs. Mary Plunkett, College Point housewife who is the Monsignor's cousin, visited him in Rome earlier this year. She noticed that her host had the unusual privilege of a chapel in his apartment, where he can say Mass in private. She saw, too, that there were curious souvenirs of many lands, reflections of the world horizons which have opened to the boy who once talked of little but Ruth and Gehrig, Dempsey and Tunney. But Mrs. Plunkett is not much of a Roman. She got so lonesome for College Point that she headed back home in three weeks instead of the planned stay. "I'm so sorry it was such a bad time for me," the Monsignor told her. Pope John had just died, and the Vatican's chief of protocol needed 48 hours in every day. "But, come, at least let me show you the Vatican gardens." Mrs. Plunkett noticed how doors were flung open as they moved about, but she never knew why her cousin met with such deference. "He never told me anything about what he does," she said. "He never even told me his title." Outside the Vatican, Monsignor Cardinale is little known. The files of one great New York n newspaper boast a clippings on almost on the world's great. everyone and four-wee- k half-doze- shoe-boxesf- ul d WHO GREW UP 'vj But there is only a York-reare- IN AMERICA! one-paragra- ph clipping on Monsignor Cardinale. Yet those who are "irT the know" are aware of him. I asked Robert Moses, head of the 1964 World's Fair, whetHer he knew of his College Point neighbor who is now such a key personality at the Vatican. It is Moses' job to know who's who at the Vatican and elsewhere. And after fair's most striking single exhibit will be loaned from the Vatican, Michelangelo's all, the Pieta. Did he know Monsignor Cardinale? Indeed he did, he assured me. Did the Monsignor help get the Pieta for the Fair? That didn't seem a proper question, so I didn't press it But more and more it is the Monsignor whom Americans inevitably seek out when they need help. When American-Vatica- n relations hit a low point in 1950 after the end of the Myron Taylor Presidential mission, it was Monsignor Cardinale who got private calls from American embassy attaches and handled suggestions and requests in a side-dosort of way. When American tv and radio networks despaired of getting good coverage of the historic Ecumenical Council which began last year and resumes this month, Monsignor Cardinale was the one who convinced traditionalists that he should control such arrangements and unprecedented good coverage was the result When I was president of the foreign correspondents' association in Italy, I tried to lift the traditional ban against cardinals of the Curia facing the give and take of questioning at a luncheon. It was Monsignor Cardinale press-clu- b who urged Pope John to give permission, and Vatican press history was made as a result Cardinal Bea, head of the religious reunion work, gave us probably the most informative press conference ever held there. or . Vital Questions Must Be Faced In the years ahead, darkly handsome, Mdnsignor Cardinale will stand beside Pope Paul while he faces many monumental questions : 1. What is to be done about Latin America, of the world's Cathwhich already has one-thiolics and may soon have half of them? There is an alarming clergy shortage : only one priest for 4,500 Church members, compared with the desired proportion of one for 1,000. And communism is making frightening inroads there. 2. How can the Church cope with the anti-whifeeling in Africa and Asia, areas where white missionaries no longer are as welcome as they once were? Pope John increased the number of Negro African bishops from 20 to 61 in less than five years, and the number of Asian bishops from 63 to 91. He created the first Japanese, gray-templ- ed rd te Filipino, and Central African cardinals in his- tory. Is the trend to continue? 3. What is to be done about . the Vatican? Dutch, German, Austrian, and Belgian Catholics, and, to some extent, American Catholics," favor more internationalization of the Roman Curia and, eventually, of the Papacy itself. Pope Paul, like every Pope since the 16th but he commented becentury, is Italian-borfore his election: '"This may be the time for a The current is running that way. ing n, non-Italia- n." 4. Finally, what greater new role are Ameri- cans to play at the Vatican? There had never been an American attache" at the Vatican Secre- tariat of State until 1924 when Francis Spell-ma-n, now New York's cardinal, was named to the post There never was an American cardinal in the Roman Curia until the past decade when Chicago's Samuel Cardinal Stritch and the Aloysius Cardinal Muench served briefly before their sudden deaths. Will there be a greater American role ? Da-kot- as' Is an American Pope Possible? Looking at these questions in reverse order, it is certain that the 45,000,000 American Catholics who are among the Church's and most vigorous members will play a more steadily important role and that the present will be reversed. Pope Paul Italianization heavy was wrong in thinking that a foreign Pope might be elected in this year's conclave. But one of his successors in this century is almost sure to be a perhaps even an American (though the tradition against Popes from politically involved great nations is sure to lessen the chances of even such eminent American Catholic clergymen as St Louis' Joseph Cardinal Ritter, Chicago's Albert Cardinal Meyer, Atlanta's Archbishop Paul Hallinan, or Pittsburgh's Bishop John Wright). .As for Af ricajmd Asi&teMukMmtism)L liberal prelates are Cardinale, and certain to press the policy of consecrating more nonwhite bishops. In Latin America, a steady decentralization of Vatican power is sure to build up the authority of regional conferences of bishops which will be able to act more quickly in seeking to roll back the present array of threats to democracy and the Catholic faith there. The happy tradition of Pope John will live on. The work of ending centuries-ol- d feuds between the religions will be hastened. A happier inter-fait- h era is assured. Among the architects of that brighter future will be studious, gracious Pope Paul, whom I have been lucky enough to know personally, and Monsignor Cardinale, his assistant from College Point who is slated for even more important roles in the ecclesiastical firmament best-educate- d, non-Italia- best-finance- n, like-thinki- ng Family Weekly. September 15. 19M 7 d, |