IT was 11:30 a.m. on the Eastern Seaboardthe hour of shopping at the supermarket or of getting ready for a business lunchwhen word flashed from Rome that a new Pope had been chosen. It was 9:07 a.m. on the West Coasttime to make breakfast or to drive to workwhen the flickering radio signal carried the voice of Cardinal Canali announcing, in his soft, Italianate Latin: "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnumhabemus papam." The press, whose attention for days had been focused on the smoke signals from the Sistine Chapel, promptly provided both great clouds and...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
