THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

ESTABLISHED 1840 REGISTERED AS A NEWSPAPER

VOL. 173 No. 5156

LONDON, MARCH 4th, 1939

SIXPENCE

HIS HOLINESS POPE PIUS XII

EUGENIO CARDINAL PACELLI

HABEMUS PAPAM

The announcement of the election of Cardinal Pacelli as Head of the Catholic Church fulfils the most fervent hopes and prayers of millions of Catholics and, indeed, of many outside the Catholic Church. It had been universally recognized that the matter of the new Pope was one of the greatest possible importance, and widely felt that a man of exceptional strength and wisdom, as well as deep spirituality, was needed. It was known that Cardinal Pacelli had all these qualifications in abundance, and so his name was often mentioned. But it was felt that a quasi-tradition, whereby former Secretaries of State are not regarded as eligible for the Papacy, might bar him. Happily this was not the case, and at the third scrutiny of the very first day of the Conclave, he was elected to the Throne of St. Peter.

We may imagine that the world will busy itself with speculating on the future of this momentous Papacy in a highly political and materialistic fashion ; it will be