M. COTY SEES THE POPE

'No politics and no concordat.' —says 111. Pinenu PRESIDENT Coty of France was received in audience by the Holy Father on Monday. It was the first time a French President had ever visited a Pope.
The visit has given the greatest One rumour, now entirely discredited, was that the President would invite the Pope to attend the centenary 'celebrations at Lourdes next year. Last week 'flu, Times prophesied that President Coty would raise the question of Algeria, and said France hoped to secure the support of the Vatican for her policy there.
There were rumours, too, of a Concordat.
Afterwards, howes er, M. Pineau, the Foreign Minister, who was also received in audience, told reporters: "There is no, absolutely no. question of a concordat." He added that there had been no political discussions with the Pope: merely discussions on protocol with different prelates in Rome.
LONG AUDIENCE
The President's audience was unusually long: 45 minutes. Before it began, he was greeted by Swiss Guards and Vatican officials at the very edge of the Vatican iself— the first Head of . State ever received there. Usually, the official welcome takes place in the Square of St. Damasus, well inside the Vatican's walls.
President Coty wore round his neck the Gold Cross of the Supreme Order of Christ, the highest Papal award. possessed by Only six other men. He had just received it.
His gifts to the Holy Father included etchings of the verses of the "Miserere" psalm done by the French artist Georges Rouault, and a set of gold pyxes.
The Holy Father gave the President a collection of plates reproducing the famed Raphael frescoes of lh Sistine Chapel, a gold medal freshly struck and a signed miniature of himself.
Afterwards, President Coty paid the traditional visit to St. Peter's, where he was received by Cardinal Tedeschini, who is Arch dent paid a special visit to the shrine of St. Petronilla, believed to have been the daughter of St. Peter. There is widespread devotion to her in France, the "Elder Daughter of the Church."
When the President returned to the French Embassy it was his turn to receise Cardinal Tedeschini. who, this time in his capacity as a Cardinal Palatine. came to repay formally his visit to the Pope.
For five of the six days he spent in Italy. President Coty sties the guest of President Gronchi of Italy. When diplomatic relations betweca France and the Holy See were restored after the First World War, it was agreed that Heads of the French State would also visit the Pope whenever they visited the Head of the Italian State.
This has provided a certain amount of cold comfort to the old guard French anti-clericals, who are not overjoyed at President Coty's visit. They are able to point out that the visit has not infringed the principle of a secular State; it simply follows protocol.
However, the President is a practising Catholic, and nobody can deny that relations have improved immeasurably since the occasion, 54 years ago. when President Loubet visited the King of Italy and ignored the Pope.