Word: pius
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...slow to arrive at decisions, he partly made up for it by a relentless, austere capacity for hard work. Even at his summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, Pope Pius had a mania about wasting a second. Sitting under a red umbrella in the shade of a huge ilex tree (he could not bear strong sunlight), or walking briskly in his shaded garden, he kept his nose buried in documents he was studying. During his solitary, silent and frugal meals, Pius listened to the news broadcasts, but so chary was he of an unnecessary word that once when he sneezed...
Among the crowds that watched the motor hearse go by, there was already talk that some day Pope Pius XII may be canonized a saint. Several instances have been reported of unusual healing at his touch or prayer. Weight will be added to the arguments for his canonization by his reported vision of Jesus Christ just before his serious illness four years ago and his reported visions of the sun revolving in the sky (as it did to announce the famed apparition of the Virgin to three shepherd children of Fatima, Portugal, in 1917). But whatever future learned tribunals...
...Among them, Pope Pius X (under whom the young Pacelli served), Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, first U.S. citizen to be raised to sainthood...
...Italian v. non-Italian Pope. Under Pius XII's reign, for the first time in 500 years, non-Italian cardinals have come to outnumber the Italians, 37 to 18, but it is still considered probable that the next Pope will be Italian. The last non-Italian Pope was a Dutchman, Adrian...
...Political v. pastoral Pope. In Vatican history the two types have often alternated, and since Pius XII was a diplomat who never had a parish of his own, there may be pressure for a pastoral candidate. This may be offset by the desire of the Vatican's Curia cardinals to keep tight central control...