Word: felici
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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White smoke was still billowing Tom the makeshift Sistine Chapel chimney when Pericle Cardinal Felici stepped out on the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. After the first wisp of smoke had appeared, signifying election of a new Pope, crowds streaming toward the historic square had snarled every street in Rome west of the Tiber River. Now more than 100,000 people waited expectantly below the balcony. "I announce to you a great joy," Felici intoned in sonorous Latin. "We have a Pope!" The crowd roared, then hushed to hear the name...
Savoring the suspense, Felici drew out the announcement and the syllables of the name. "Ca-ro-lum ..." Some priests gasped. They thought he meant Carlo Confalonieri, 85-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals. "They've gone crazy!" cried one of the priests...
Thoroughly enjoying himself, Felici went on: "... Cardinalem Woj-ty-la."* The crowd froze. "Chi è?"? Who's he? ?Italians asked one another. Possibly an African!? A group of Japanese tourists thought it might be one of their countrymen, though there are no Japanese Cardinals at the moment. An Italian TV announcer uncertainly said, "Polacco" (the Pole), and many viewers thought he had said "Poletti," the name of Rome's vicar general...
...Felici finally concluded: "... who has taken the name of [pause] John Paul." This gesture of respect to John Paul I, the gentle Venetian who had died after a 33-day reign, reinforced the cheers that were beginning to roll across the stunned square. Now it seemed to hit everyone at once. "E il Polacco!"?It's the Pole?said one onlooker. "Un Papa straniero!"?a foreign Pope?shouted others. The realization was beginning to sink in that the supposedly hidebound College of Cardinals had done not merely the unexpected but the nearly unthinkable...
...sympathize with his position have apparently supported him only as a gesture of conservative opposition. But Siri can not hope to add the additional 50 or so votes needed for election. This time Siri's less strident supporters may choose to try their luck by supporting Pericle Cardinal Felici, 67, an engaging but tough Curial conservative who managed the business of Vatican II without ever being caught up in its spirit...