The Cardinal & the Elections

A slight, dark Italian prelate arrived in Manhattan without publicity, journeyed to South Bend, Ind. to receive an honorary LL.D. from Notre Dame (at the same time that Ike got his), then visited Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington last week before taking off for Brazil. Everywhere he met U.S. cardinals and top members of the hierarchy; his reception ranged from Boston's outdoor banners and hi-fied hymns to a dinner given for him in Washington by the Most Rev. Egidio Vagnozzi, apostolic delegate to the U.S. The visitor: Giovanni Battista Cardinal Montini, 62, Archbishop of Milan, one of the most influential cardinals, whose trip (according to Vatican reports) was partly connected with the U.S. elections.

Among Montini's tasks in the U.S., went the Vatican talk, was to reassure the U.S. hierarchy that the recent editorial in L'Osservatore Romano (TIME, May 30), telling Catholics that the church "has the duty and the right" to instruct them on how to vote, did not really apply to the U.S., where Marxism is not an election issue. Vatican satisfaction with Roman Catholicism's growth of influence and acceptance in the U.S. seems to have been dampened by the possibility that Catholic Jack Kennedy's candidacy might provoke anti-Catholic sentiments. The Vatican would not like to see Kennedy become another Al Smith. As one Holy See official put it: "The Vatican thinks in long-range terms. It would rather wait another generation, if necessary, and see a Catholic President happily elevated to the presidency than have him installed sooner amidst a political and religious furor."

Evidently to avoid any chance of "furor" last week, there was a significant omission from the guest list at Apostolic Delegate Vagnozzi's dinner. Though it included Democratic Senators Thomas Dodd and John Pastore, as well as Democratic Representatives Peter Rodino Jr. and John Rooney, absent was Senator John F. Kennedy.

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