Religion: Indiscreet

“Pope Pius XII is sleeping on the floor so that he may participate more deeply in the world’s suffering.” So last week reported a “reliable Vatican source” to the secular press. Presently “authoritative Vatican circles” declared that they “deny and resent” such rumors. True it was that austere, saintly Pius XII was shocked and grieved by the destruction of Catholic Poland, whose Primate, Augustus Cardinal Hlond, arrived at the Vatican during the week. The Pope was profoundly apprehensive of the future of eastern Poland, occupied by godless Russians. But, said a Vatican voice, “even if the Pope fasted and performed self-mortification, he would not be the man to flaunt it in public. One should keep in mind his habitual disposition to piety and mortification. . . . But beyond that, it is not permitted to go without falling into a play of the imagination that may become indiscreet.”