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The Sacred Purple. One of John XXIII's first acts as Pope was to call a consistory—and the name of Giovanni Montini led the list of new cardinals. A disciple of Pius, Montini became a close friend of John's—in France they called him "Le Dauphin de Jean"—and at the Pope's suggestion, he again began to take an active part in the church's diplomatic life. Among the foreign dignitaries he welcomed in Italy: France's Charles de Gaulle, in 1959. Invited to the U.S. in 1960 to receive, along with Dwight Eisenhower, an honorary degree at Notre Dame, he assured American bishops that a L'Osservatore Romano editorial on the church's right to guide Catholic political thinking had no application to the fortunes of Presidential Candidate John F. Kennedy (whom he did not meet). Afterward, he visited South America, and last year he made a three-week visit to Africa, reporting back to Pope John on the church's problems in the Dark Continent.
Ironically, for all his diplomatic savvy, Montini was also responsible last fall for one of the classic blunders in modern church history. Acting on bad advice from Milanese students, he sent a wire to Dictator Francisco Franco, protesting a death sentence that had been meted out to a young Spaniard. Franco cabled back, noting that Montini's telegram had been released to the press before it had reached Madrid, and that the sentence had been imprisonment, not death. The Generalissimo's message icily concluded: "I respectfully kiss the sacred purple."
Where Wisdom Leads. Pope John took a more than usual interest in Montini's fortunes, and showered attention on him. Montini reportedly had a hand in preparing the papal keynote speech that opened the Vatican Council. He was the only cardinal from outside Rome who was given a suite of rooms inside the Vatican for the duration of the first session. Just as John kept away from the debates, Montini kept his own silence at the council, speaking out only once to condemn the conservative schema on the nature and authority of bishops in the church. He was also asked to celebrate the Pontifical Mass commemo ating John's fourth anniversary as Pope, and was the only non-Curia cardinal to see the Pope during his final illness.
Shortly after his election last week, Paul VI told an old friend from the Secretariat of State that he hoped to follow the example of his three immediate predecessors: "Pius XI for his strong will. Pius XII for his knowledge and wisdom. John XXIII for his limitless goodness." There is no question of his willingness to pursue the course John took. At a funeral oration in Milan, he said: "Pope John has shown us some paths which it will be wise to follow. Death cannot stifle the spirit which he so infused in our era. Can we turn away from paths so masterfully traced? It seems to me we cannot."