Dec. 15, 1962 - The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool, Dr. John Heenan, said today that Pope John XXIII (pictured with Jacqueline Kennedy in March) is “a very sick man but so very brave.” Dr. Heenan recently returned from the Vatican, where he attended the Ecumenical Council. In London, the mass-circulation newspaper News of the World asserted the 81-year-old Pope has cancer. The paper said the Pope himself knows that he has little time to live. It added: “If he lasts a year, his doctors will be surprised. His Holiness has been informed of his doctors’ opinion and is calmly preparing for the end of his stewardship.” Celebrating his 81st birthday Nov. 25, the Pope said in a talk to prelates and seminarians, “Will I arrive at the end of my 82nd year? I am not excessively concerned. Any day is a good day to be born, and any day is a good day to die.”
