Religion: Cardinal in Asia

An alert, wire-bearded churchman strode off the plane from Hong Kong one morning last week as a19-gun salute boomed across Taipei's Sungshan airport. It was an ambassador's welcome for Gregory Cardinal Agaganian, the Vatican's proprefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, i.e., boss of the Roman Catholic Church's worldwide missions. The first man in that post ever to visit the Far East, Armenian Cardinal Agaganian came straight to the point in his airport press conference. Plainly referring to the 3,000,000 Chinese Catholics under Red rule, he said: "I pray that God will shower his blessings over the Chinese people—everywhere. I send them love and affection, and assure them of my continual prayers."

Agaganian's monthlong, 11,000-mile Far Eastern tour began fortnight ago in Saigon, where he presided over South Viet Nam's first Marian Congress. South Viet Nam's 1,150,000 Catholics, including President Ngo Dinh Diem, are a small minority (total population: 15 million), but they are the best-organized religious group in a nation of strife-torn Buddhists. As he moved coolly through blazing heat, the 63-year-old cardinal in scarlet robes and wide-brimmed shepherd's hat was a symbol eyed by the entire nation. Thousands of non-Catholics lined the flag-decked streets as he passed, and thousands of Catholics gathered around the city's churches every night to show their support of his mission.

When the cardinal celebrated Mass early one morning at Saigon's brown brick cathedral, the surrounding streets were jammed with curious onlookers who had slept all night on the pavements. As he held public prayers for Communist North Viet Nam's "church of silence" (430,000 Catholics under Red rule), refugees from the north streamed into the city for a look at the Pope's emissary. To kindle morale where it is under great stress—along the smoldering Chinese border—Agaganian tirelessly inspected Catholic schools, hospitals, refugee camps, convents, seminaries and nurseries. Said a Vietnamese priest: "He has strengthened our determination to free our enslaved brethren in the north. Above all, we are now secure in the knowledge that Rome thinks .of us, no matter how small and unimportant we may be." Last week Cardinal Agaganian plunged into a six-day tour of Catholic missions on Formosa and the Pescadores Islands. Already he carried in his portfolio an urgent request from Chiang Kai-shek's government for closer Vatican ties; in exchange, Agaganian may ask draft exemption for students for the priesthood and permission to build more schools for the island's growing Catholic flock (now 114,000). Next week, after celebrating Mass in Taipei's Armed Forces Stadium, the cardinal moves on to Korea and Japan—showing the cross throughout an area menaced by Communism.