Blessed John XXIII - Part 3: Pope of peace ...

(Vatican Radio) It was 1962 and the Cuban missile crisis raised a spectre of a nuclear war. A Roman Pontiff had been working behind the scenes to avoid this confrontation, his name John XXIII.
He voiced his concern for peace through the microphones of Vatican Radio. The date was the 25th of October and speaking in French the Pope highlighted the responsibility of world leaders to avoid a war that would have unpredicatble and horrific effects .
He appealed to them to listen to the cry of anguish reaching out from the four corners of the earth, a cry for peace.
The world leaders he was appealling to were the first Catholic President of the United States John Fitzgerald Kennedy and communist Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
It's hard to imagine this gentle Pope known as Good Pope John as having really had such an instrumental role in helping world leaders back away gracefully from terrifying confrontation.
Historian, Jesuit Professor Norman Tanner sheds light on the role attributed to John XXIII in influencing this crisis situation.
A programme produced by Veronica Scarisbrick aired to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the death of Blessed John XXIII on the 3rd of June 1963.
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