Religion: The Cardinal's Ordeal

Everyone could see there was something wrong with the normally spry old man who disembarked at Naples last week. The American Export Liner Independence was flying the white and yellow flag of the Vatican state, and 20-odd archbishops, monsignors, priests and politicos thronged to welcome the first American in history to be appointed to the potent Curia, headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. But throughout the hubbub of greeting, Samuel Alphonso Cardinal Stritch, 70-year-old Archbishop of Chicago, seldom spoke and did not once offer his ring to be kissed. He was wearing it, some noticed with surprise, on his left hand.

Soon the truth was out. While still at sea on his nine-day trip from New York, the Cardinal had developed an ache in his right arm. At first it had been ascribed to recurrence of the "writer's cramp" he had apparently suffered in Chicago, the result of his characteristic thoughtfulness in writing personal replies to thousands of letters of congratulation on his appointment. But the ache had grown to pain, and the pain to agony.

In Rome, Cardinal Stritch was rushed to Sanatrix Clinic. Telegrams poured in from all over the world. To consult with the Italian doctors, two U.S. physicians flew to Rome without waiting to get their passports in order. At the Cardinal's bedside, they concurred in the diagnosis: a block—probably a clot—in a major artery of his right arm. This week the doctors agreed on a drastic recourse: amputation of the Cardinal's arm.