The Pope's Day

In Rome last week two dedicated men, each the irreconcilable adversary of the other, worked hard at their daily, history-making chores. One was Italy's Communist boss, Palmiro Togliatti (see FOREIGN NEWS). The other, here reported on by TIME Correspondent William Rospigliosi:

Eugenic Pacelli, Pius XII, Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of the City of the Vatican, rises punctually at 6:30 every morning. He throws open the window of his bedroom (on the third floor of the Vatican Palace) looking out on St. Peter's Square, and with hands crossed, prays. His is a busy day, so this first prayer is brief. He turns back to the room and opens the other two windows. Timing himself with a small Swiss pocket alarm clock, the Pope then does his physical exercises. At 71, he has discarded his rowing machine and limits his exercise to 15 minutes of Swedish drill, bending his knees and flexing his arms with wall-springs.

It is a quarter to 7 when the Pope enters the bathroom and turns on his own bath. The water can be electrically heated, but the Pope prefers it cold, even in winter. (He is a believer in the Kneipp system of fighting colds with cold.) After his bath, he shaves with an electric razor and dresses rapidly. Usually his vestments are changed from the day before. His indoor shoes are made of cloth (red, except on Good Friday, when he wears white) and are left every night to be cleaned along with the vestments.

At ten minutes past 7 appears stocky, pink-cheeked Giovanni Stefanoli, 57, the Pope's aiutente di camera, who has been his personal servant for years. Giovanni is the first person who sees the Pope every morning. He stands in silence by the door from the bedroom to the private chapel. No word is spoken until after Mass.

The Pope enters the chapel and kneels before the altar, which is decorated with white flowers (fresh every morning--from the Vatican gardens in summer and from hothouses in winter). The prayers in preparation for Mass take 20 minutes, then Giovanni helps the Pope put on the vestments for Mass. Mass is said in strictest privacy. Giovanni serves and the only others present are the members of the small community of Swiss nuns of the Congregation of the Holy. Cross of Metzingen, who look after the Pope's clothes and kitchen. At about 10 minutes past 8, Mass is finished. There follow 20 minutes of thanksgiving before the altar.

One Minute to 9. Breakfast is at 8:30. The Pope likes an Italian-style breakfast of coffee with milk and toast. Since the war, he has stopped eating butter. After breakfast, he sits on in his small private dining room, running rapidly through the morning papers. When the gold Swiss watch tells him it is 8:50, he rises from the table and goes to his private study. He makes a point of ringing the bell on his desk announcing that audiences are beginning, at exactly one minute to 9. Punctually on the hour, the first Cardinal, after genuflecting to kiss the papal ring, is seated at the Pope's desk.

Audiences fall into four categories: 1) Tabular* (from 9 to 11:15) for the Cardinals and high Vatican officials through whom Pius administers the ecclesiastical and political affairs of the Church; 2) Private (11:15 to 12:15) for diplomats and other bigwigs, in the Pope's own library; 3) Special (12:15 to 12:45) for not-so-bigwigs, in one of the library's anterooms, where they must wait for the Pope to come to them; 4) Public (12:45 to 1:30 or 2) for groups of pilgrims and miscellaneous visitors.

During the early years of his pontificate, Pius XII spent as much time as he could in the Public audiences. He would wave his entourage aside, and let the people throng around him. Once he lost his ring in the crush. Another time, a woman begged him to hear her confession then & there. (The Pope did, in a secluded corner of the room.) But the strain of the war years has told on him. He finds these long public audiences tiring, especially notices the fatigue after hours of gently helping to lift visitors from their knees.

Recreation. The Pope's lunch, too, is solitary. Following the tradition of his predecessors, the Pontiff has not eaten a meal with anyone since his elevation. He has a preference for rice soup, small portions of spaghetti and white meat. He likes vegetables, especially spinach, of which he eats sizable quantities. He drinks a small glass of white wine (red wine on very cold days). After lunch he takes one cup of strong black coffee, then rests for exactly one hour. Meticulously punctual, he goes back to work when the little gold alarm clock warns him that the hour of rest is up.

At 4, whatever the weather, the elevator takes the Pope down to the San Damaso courtyard, where a black Cadillac, driven by thin, tall Chauffeur Stoppa, is waiting to take him to the Vatican gardens. As the car drives through the various courtyards, gendarme after gendarme bends his knee to the ground and brings his hand to his visor in salute. In the garden, the Pope walks up & down the upper avenues, reading a book or a sheaf of papers. If it rains, he walks in the Passeggiata Coperta (the covered walk).

Shortly before 5, the Pope returns to his private apartment. After changing his leather "outdoor" shoes, he goes directly to the chapel, where he says the Rosary and part of the Breviary.

"Now for a Day's Work." At 6 o'clock sharp Pius enters his study and a new phase of great activity. He starts with an examination of the ecclesiastical or political issues which have been laid before him by the Cardinals in the morning's Udienze di Tabella. Eight o'clock is dinner time. The meal is lighter than lunch, takes less than an hour. After dinner the Pope goes to his chapel again for 20 minutes of prayer.

When he comes out of the chapel, shortly after 9, the Pope sometimes enjoys saying: "Now I can settle down to my day's work." Usually he studies again whatever matters the Cardinals have submitted to him in the morning's Udienze di Tabella, then prepares any speeches he may have to make. He jots down pencil notes which he later expands on the typewriter. When he is forced to use ink (he dislikes fountain pens), he uses a very fine nib.

One night last week, he devoted this period to typing out, on his famed white portable, a speech of welcome in Spanish--his pet language--to Uruguay's new Minister to the Holy See, Alfredo Carbonell Debali. But for the most part, Pius worked last week on a long, careful speech to be delivered at the beatification of Maria Goretti, constantly checking and consulting books and scriptures from the Vatican library to supply the many references and quotations.

At about 1:30, sometimes as late as 2 a.m., the Pope rises from his desk and goes back to the chapel to complete the reading of his Breviary and to say evening prayers. The long day is almost over. The papal bed is large but very plain, with a black iron head and brass knobs. Several of his predecessors used the bed and Pius XI died on it. There, for the next four hours or so, Eugenic Pacelli, Pope Pius XII, sleeps until the beginning of a new day.

*So-called from the Tabella, the program which is published early each October, which lists all such audiences for the official ecclesiastical year--Oct. 15 to Aug. 15.

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