Pope to Quirinal

Sixty-nine years ago, on a September day, the armies of Vittorio Emanuele II marched toward the gates of Rome. The city's weary old ruler, Pope Pius IX, ordered his Papal zouaves not to fire upon the invaders. He shut himself up in the Vatican, there to remain to the end of his days. The House of Savoy moved into the Quirinal, which had belonged to the Popes. Pius IX and four of his successors, unceasingly protesting their "despoliation," remained in voluntary imprisonment until the Lateran Treaties of 1929. They and their partisans -- to Roman society, "Blacks" as opposed to the "Whites" of the Court -- would no more have thought of visiting the Quirinal than of going to a Methodist prayer meeting. Until last week. Then, as part of a beautifully staged "reconsecration" of the Lateran Treaties, Pope Pius XII paid a history-making call on the present tenants of the Quirinal.

Fortnight ago, Vittorio Emanuele III and Queen Elena visited the Holy Father in the Vatican, as they had his predecessor. Last week the King bestowed the Supreme Order of Santissima Annunziata upon Luigi Cardinal Maglione, Papal Secretary of State. This decoration, which makes its owner an honorary "cousin of the King," has long been held by Pius XII. Next, the Holy Father gave Foreign Minister Count Ciano a moderately good decoration, the Order of the Golden Spur. The Vatican whispered that this week Il Duce is to pay a formal call on Il Papa (although the Pa lazzo Venezia was not so sure), and that this spring the Pope will again break precedent by making a tour of Italy's cathedrals.

With the Roman populace well aware of these happy auguries, the Roman-born Pope left Vatican City one morning last week. It was raining. He wore a red hat and cape, insisted that his car, in a procession of 18, be open so that his people could see him. At the Quirinal, Pius XII doffed his wet garments, proceeded to the grand staircase where Vittorio Emanuele and his Court awaited him. As the King began to kneel, the Holy Father graciously motioned him up, restrained him from kissing the Ring of the Fisherman. At the head of the stairs, the Queen and Royal Princesses knelt, kissed the ring. Moving in meticulously arranged procession through the palace, the party ended up in the throne room, where for half an hour the Pontiff and royal family conversed alone. Then the Court entered and Pius XII made an address. Said he:

"The Vatican and the Quirinal, divided by the Tiber River, are linked together by peace and by a common religion of their fathers and ancestors. The Tiber waves have overthrown and sunk the unhappy past so that on the Tiber shores olive branches are now blossoming out. Today the hand of a Roman Pope is lifted for the first time after several decades to bless [this place] as a mark of peace; Italy looks on and exults; the Catholic world looks on and exults; and even the two Princes of the Apostles,* sitting at the en trance of this royal palace, seem also to exult as if happy to see the dawn of new times. . . . We pray to God and the Vir gin Mother to extend their protection to the august sovereigns, to the royal princes and princesses, and the illustrious chief of the Italian Government and his ministers and all those present. . . ."

*Statues of SS. Peter and Paul above the Quirinal's doorway.

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