Council may open in 1962

THE POPE CALLS FOR WHIT NOVENA
THE Pope has issued an .apostigic Wier railing for,. Novena of prayer to precede Whit Sunday, May 21, for the success of the Second Vatican Council.
In the letter the Pope announced that he will on Whit Sunday consecrate a number of bishops "destined to preach the Gospel in distant lands." Three of the new bishops will be those named on April 1 for work in Formosa.
Urgent
In his letter, the Holy Father says that 'since the preparatory work of the council is becoming more intense and since one feels a need to multiply prayers more urgently, we wish the forthcoming feast of Pentecost to be preceded, as is customary, by a solemn novena of prayers lo be celebrated throughout the whole Church in union with Us with fervent entreaties to the holy Ghost that He may help in a special way those people who are working diligently for the preparation of the council, that the Divine Paraciele, the living source, fire and charity, may enlighten their minds and fill them with supernatural grace.
Archbishop Felici, secretary of the Central Preparatory Commission for the council has told journalists that if the preparatory work goes on at its present pace and there are no unforeseen factors, the council will open in the autumn of next year.
Denied
lie went on to deny that the various commissions have already been called upon to give formal assent to preparatory decisions Imposed on them by higher authority.
"II is," he said, "the tirm desire of the Pope that the discussions take place in complete freedom. I may add that even when these discussions take place in the Holy Father's presence, there are sometimes twenty in favour of the motion and as many against. The council, even in its preparatory phase. must express the free wishes of the Bishops. The Pope is very definite on this point."
Fr. Bernard Leeming, S.J., of Heythrop College, Oxford, will be one of the speakers at a Christian unity meeting of IOU theologians which will bring priests from Europe and the United States to Grayntoor, the American headquarters of the Franciscan Society of the Atonement. There too will be Mgr. Willebrands, secretary of the Rome Secretariat for Christian Unity, and Fr. Charles Boyer, S.J.