Word: villot
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Paul summoned French Cardinal Jean Villot, 72, the camerlengo (chamberlain) he had appointed to administer the church between his own death and the election of a new Pope. While the others in the room retreated to a far side, Paul spoke privately for five or six minutes with Villot, who is also the Vatican Secretary of State. The Pope's breathing grew more and more labored. At one point he said, "We have arrived at the end. We thank ..." Then his voice trailed off. A little later, he asked those around him to "pray for me." His last words were...
...Villot, following a centuries-old ritual, immediately called out the Pope's baptismal name (Giovanni) three times, then pronounced the formula vere Papa mortuus est (truly the Pope is dead). He dispensed with the former tradition of tapping the dead Pontiff's head three times with a small silver mallet. Minutes later a heavy chain was drawn across the great iron door of Castel Gandolfo, and church bells in Rome began their slow, measured death toll, signaling the news to the world...
...globe, summoning them to Rome. Sebastiano Baggio, head of the Vatican Congregation of Bishops, had to fly in from Colombia, where he was helping prepare an October meeting of Latin American bishops. On Tuesday, in the presence of those red hats who had arrived in the Eternal City, Villot raised a hammer and smashed the Fisherman's seal, inscribed with Paul's name, that had been removed from the papal ring. The purpose of this traditional ritual is to prevent forgeries during the interim. Also that day Villot sealed up Paul's private quarters, leaving his papers intact. (When Pope...
...these three Italians and two non-Italians: they are simply the early-form leaders in a very open race. There is, for example, a second rank of Italian papabili, led by the able Archbishop of Florence, Giovanni Cardinal Benelli, 57. As Substitute Secretary of State under French Cardinal Jean Villot for a decade, Benelli wielded more power than his boss, acting effectively as the Pope's chief of staff. Paul rewarded him last year with a red hat and the Archdiocese of Florence, but he is still quite young. What is more, his often bruising...
...embarrass Arrupe, Curia conservatives leaked several confidential dressing-down letters from the Pope to the Jesuit Superior General. The conflict erupted in public in the fall of 1973, when Villot's office prepared a letter about the forthcoming Congregation that Pope Paul sent to Arrupe. In it, the Pope urged Arrupe to end the permissiveness of recent years. He added: "We express once again our desire, indeed our demand" that the Jesuits remain "a religious, apostolic, priestly order, linked to the Roman Pontiff by a special bond of love and service." Soon Rome was rife with rumors that Arrupe...