1963 State Papers (page 1)

Secret files reveal dispute surrounding pope’s death

THE question of whether or not to mark the death of Pope John XXIII in May 1963 presented a major problem for the new Northern Ireland government of Captain Terence O’Neill, Cabinet files which have remained secret until now reveal.

In the event, the new prime minister used the occasion to make an unprecedented gesture to the Catholic community.

But the Stormont government felt unable to observe the protocol adopted in Britain despite a royal command.
Documents show that on the previous occasion of a pontiffs death – that of Pius XII in 1958 – senior officials had considered it inadvisable to issue any message of sympathy from ‘official circles’ in Northern Ireland.

Two reasons were given: that any message from the British government “must be regarded as covering Northern Ireland as part of the UK” and that “in his capacity as spiritual leader” of the Roman Catholic church, any message of sympathy should properly come from the churches in the north.

The issue was rekindled in 1963 with the death of Pope John XXIII. On May 30, S H Burley of the Home Office sent an official letter to the Cabinet office at Stormont Castle: “1 am directed by the secretary of state to inform you that by the Queen’s command, in the event of the death of His Holiness, the Pope, flags are to be flown at half-mast on all government buildings…”

However, in an accompanying private note, the Whitehall official made it clear that “governors of territories outside the UK” were being given the directive “to adopt to local conditions”.

“We have agreed,” concluded the official, “that, as in 1958, this discretion applies in Northern Ireland.”

However, as the file reveals, prime minister O’Neill went a step further than his predecessors when he sent a telegram of condolence to the Vicar Capitular of the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Rev Dr William Conway, DD.

This conveyed the sympathy of “the government of Northern Ireland… on the great loss which your Church sustained” and paid tribute to Pope John’s “qualities of kindness and humanity”.

A memo in the file throws new light on the prime minister’s gesture. An official wrote: “This was a departure from previous practice but it was felt desirable to take this step in view of the change in public opinion and also as a gesture to show that the change was recognised, even though at this juncture it was not possible to go as far as half-masting flags.”

However, the decision of the lord mayor to half-mast the union flag on Belfast City Hall on June 4 prompted a protest march led by the Rev Ian Paisley.
• More secret files in Monday’s Irish News