Catholic group asks prove into circumstances of death
The World News, Oct. 4, 1978
VATICAN CITY (UPI)-The simmering controversy over the untimely death of Pope John Paul I boiled over yesterday when a conservative Catholic group demanded a full investigation into the «true causes» of the pontiffs death.
The demand by the traditionalist Civilta Christiana was made only hours before John Paul’s body was scheduled to be sealed in the three coffins in which he will be entombed after an outdoor funeral in St. Peter’s Square today.
Cardinal Terence Cooke of New York entered, the controversy, saying that he could understand the suspicion of some people «but we’re past the point of autopsies.»
«Certainly people are free to discuss the issue,» Cooke said. «I can understand that these matters would be discussed. I can understand that some people might feel uneasy because his death was so sudden. But heart attacks or strokes are killers all over the world.»
Mijor Italian newspapers, led by Corriere della Sera, have been running front-page articles since Sunday questioning the Vatican’s decision not to conduct an autopsy on John Paul’s body.
Pope John Paul died in bed Thursday night after an apparent massive heart attack at the age of 65.
The newspaper articles fed the suspicions of many Italians and rumors of foul play in the Vatican passageways spread throughout the nation.
Some Italians believe that the pontiff was «done in,» either by Curia officials displeased with his open, informal style or by communists disconcerted by his sudden popularity.
Civilta’ Christiana, an Italian movement linked to the rebellious French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, said that it «submitted a formal request to the Vatican that the prosecutor’s office open a judicial inquiry to ascertain the true causes of the death of the supreme pontiff.»
Corriere, which sparked the furor Sunday with an editorial titled “Why no autopsy?» took its case a bit further yesterday.
The daily noted that Chinese Cardinal Yu Pin collapsed during Pope Paul Vi’s funeral and died a few days later and that the Metropolitan Nikodem of Leningrad died less than a month ago at a private audience with Pope John Paul.
«A Russian, a Chinese and then the pope himself,» Corriere said. «Coincidences. But never in recent times have there been so many deaths of such a sudden nature and so close together in the Vatican.
«Suspicion is flowing through Rome, already so full of suspicions, and is entering the Vatican: not even the Throne of St. Peter is safe,» the newspaper said.
