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3 unusual facts about Supreme Order of Christ


Supreme Order of Christ

They suspected that the snub was revenge for his inadvertent causing of a diplomatic incident between Pope Pius XII and Joseph Stalin in 1950, when he revealed Pius's private belief that communism was likely to collapse and his views on Stalin, during a press conference after a papal audience.

While the Bull in itself does not explicitly grant to the Pope the right to issue the Order, successive popes since Pope John XXII have done so.

Controversially Popes Pius XII and John XXIII had refused to award the honour to his predecessor, Seán T. O'Kelly, to the fury of the Irish government.



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