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News stories from Sunday August 6, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Pope Paul VI died after a heart attack at his summer home at Castel Gandolfo. Giovanni Battista Montini, the 262nd occupant of the Throne of St. Peter, was 80 years old. Elected Pope in 1963, he brought about many changes in the liturgy and organization of the Roman Catholic Church and closer relations with Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Christians.
The world mourned Pope Paul. He was remembered by political and church leaders as a man who worked for world peace and guided the Roman Catholic Church during a time of social and religious unrest. The solemn hymns usually heard during Lent were sung in some American churches. Plans were being made for special memorial masses. Who the next Pope will be is the subject of speculation among religious figures who see no clear favorites. But there are six or eight individuals who would attract attention when the College of Cardinals meets at the Vatican. Perhaps the biggest question is whether the new Pope will be the first non-Italian since 1525. [New York Times]
- About 2,000 anti-nuclear protesters held a demonstration in California at the controversial Diablo Canyon atomic power plant near Port San Luis. Law enforcement officer made no effort to block the symbolic occupation, waiting until the demonstrators were inside the fenced-in grounds before arresting them for trespass and defying a court order. [New York Times]
- President Carter is making an effort to improve the administration's strained relations with Congress as the House approaches its Aug. 16 recess with several major programs pending. More than 350 of the 535 Senators and Representatives have been invited to the White House in the last month for working breakfasts, luncheons, dinners, tennis games, and movies in the White House theater. [New York Times]
- Cornelia Wallace's campaign for Governor of Alabama has had a dismal start. Neither Mrs. Wallace's former husband, Gov. George Wallace, nor her uncle, James Folsom, a former two-time Governor of Alabama, support her. In retaliation, Mrs. Wallace hints of corruption in the state administration. Local politicians believe that her candidacy is a portent of the end of the Wallace-Folsom era. [New York Times]
- All big-city schools may benefit from the appointment of Robert Wood, an authority on urban problems, as Boston's school superintendent. His appointment is recognition that running a modern urban school district is a job that may require more than a background in elementary and secondary education, which has been the typical route to a superintendency. [New York Times]
- Congress was called "callous" and intent on sabotaging the social progress of minorities in a speech by Vernon Jordan, the National Urban League's executive director, at the league's convention in Los Angeles, [New York Times]
- Families near toxic landfill at Love Canal near Niagara Falls were moved to temporary quarters, and there were offers of more permanent places. Thirty-seven families forced to move for their safety will be relocated, Herman Haber, head of the relocation effort, said. [New York Times]
- Talks in Jerusalem between Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Prime Minister. Menachem Begin were described as "serious, good and useful," but a decision on reviving the stalled peace talks awaited Mr. Vance's meeting with President Anwar Sadat in Egypt. [New York Times]
- There were signs in Portugal that President Antonio Ramalho Eanes will be forced to appoint a Prime Minister of his own choosing as the deadline for a parliamentary solution to the latest government crisis passed. He told the country's political leaders that if they could not make up a coalition government, he would appoint a "government of presidential mediation" until the next elections in 1980. [New York Times]
- There were hopes in Lebanon that a regular army battalion would soon be allowed to move south toward the Israeli border. But the move will not be possible Monday, as had been reported. A military spokesman said diplomatic efforts were continuing, but denied that an agreement had been reached with the Christian militia units that control the border, and have been blocking the battalion's progress. [New York Times]
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