November 15, 2013

What was in the news on Nov. 15, 1963?

Cardinals clash at the Second Vatican Council, and Pope Paul VI calls for a united Europe

Criterion logo from the 1960sBy Brandon A. Evans

This week, we continue to examine what was going on in the Church and the world 50 years ago as seen through the pages of The Criterion.

Here are some of the items found in the Nov. 15, 1963, issue of The Criterion:

  • Two cardinals clash in dramatic exchange over Holy Office role
    • “VATICAN CITY—Ecumenical council debate reached a high point during the sixth week of its second session as two outstanding Churchmen clashed sharply over the role of the Roman Curia. Throughout the week, the Curia—the congregations and offices at the Vatican which assist the pope in governing the Church—had come in for severe criticism. At the general council meeting of November 8, the debate came to a dramatic climax when Cardinal Joseph Frings of Cologne, Germany, vigorously objected to the practices of the Curia’s top body, the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. Defending it was its secretary, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani. The exchange between the two cardinals brought out into the open the battle between an old and a new order which, whatever its outcome, will alter the face of the Church in the future.”
  • Urges voluntary action: Pope in strong appeal for a united Europe
    • “VATICAN CITY—Pope Paul VI has warned foes of European unity that they had better reverse themselves lest a unity be forced on Europe ‘by external and material factors to the detriment of the inner spiritual inheritance’ of the continent. … It was the third time in his five-month reign that Pope Paul has spoken on the subject of European union, and it was his most definite statement to date.”
  • Campaign for clothing announced
  • Funeral Mass offered for Rev. Francis Early
  • 250 expected to attend Race, Religion parley
  • Predicts council to last three to five more years
  • Scottsburg slates cornerstone rite
  • Translating system balking
  • Interfaith session on race scheduled
  • Prelate says council making ‘leap forward’
  • Unity secretariate adds two from U.S.
  • Sees dramatic change in attitude to Church
  • Issues apostolic letter: Encourage vocations, pope urges faithful
  • Lutheran bishop sees an end to ‘polemics’
  • Racial pledge issued by interfaith leaders
  • First principal of Cathedral dies
  • Presents 3rd Order award to Martin Luther King
  • Four U.S. bishops hurt in accident
  • JFK urges prayers on Thanksgiving
  • Cardinal of Poland speaks out
  • Cites basic problem in U.S. race crisis
  • Council query: Should bishops retire?
  • Ballet Carnival booked at Marian

(Read all of these stories from our Nov. 15, 1963, issue by logging on to our special archives.) †

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