Word: aloisi
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Unchanging Ritual. John XXIII was one of the most modern of Popes; his death was marked by ceremonies that have scarcely changed in hundreds of years. Carrying the traditional gold-tipped staff, Benedetto Cardinal Aloisi Masella, the Vatican chamberlain and chief executive of the Roman Catholic Church until a new Pope is elected, took custody of the gold Fisherman's ring that the Pope used for sealing documents; it was later broken and the pieces buried with John's body. To those in the room, Aloisi Masella spoke the ritual words: "Vere Papa mortuus est [The Pope...
...Cardinal Aloisi Masella decided that the Pope's body should be carried through St. Peter's Square before it lay in state inside the basilica. On the day after his death, Palatine and Swiss Guards led the great procession through the square, crowded with upwards of 80,000 people. The Pope's body lay on a litter; behind it walked his sister and three brothers, in tears. Inside St. Peter's, the corpse was borne to a high catafalque beneath the ornate Bernini baldacchino that covers the main altar...