Monday, Apr. 01, 1935

Wings for Missionaries

Though Pope Pius XI owns a helicopter, Vatican City is too small (109 acres) and crowded to permit the landing of other aircraft. Last week a truck brought into his little realm its first airplane. The Holy Father promptly walked out to peer at it through his thick spectacles, observe on its side the name of his predecessor: SANCTUS PETRUS. The plane, as Pius XI was gratefully aware, was the gift of a recently-formed German organization, the Missions Verkehrs Arbeit Gemeinschaft ("Mission Traffic Aid Society"). Founded by a onetime army aviator named Rev. Paul Schulte who now belongs to the Oblate Order of Mary Immaculate, the Society has provided seven planes, eight motorboats, 58 automobiles to carry missionaries to the remotest corners of the Lord's vineyard. The SANCTUS PETRUS will be sent to South Africa where it will fly among mission posts.

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