42 GERALD P. FOGARTY
sador Dobrynin to say that Khrushchev would like to discuss the
proposal with him on December 14. Cousins met with Kennedy,
received his approval, and then departed for Rome on his way to
Moscow. In Rome, he was unable to see John XXIII, who was then
suffering from an illness that would soon claim his life. He did,
however, meet with both Archbishop Angelo Dell’Acqua of the
Secretariat of State and Cardinal Bea.32
Cousins’s visit coincided with a delicate problem that fell to
Bea to address. On November 22, several newspapers, includ-
ing La Croix, had published the draft of a statement from fifteen
Ukrainian bishops at the Council stating their regret that the
Russian Orthodox Church should have observers at the Council,
while Slipyj, metropolitan of Lviv, remained a prisoner in Siberia.
Willebrands used a press conference to downplay this first dis-
play of opposition, rather than welcome, for the Russian observ-
ers.33 But the question of Slipyj remained. He was then seventy
years old. Bea suggested that Cousins seek Slipyj’s release as a
sign of the Soviet Union’s desire to improve its relationship with
the West. Bea and Dell’Acqua also proposed that Cousins discuss
with Khrushchev the improvement of religious conditions within
the Soviet Union—not only for Catholics, but for all believers.34
In Moscow, on December 13, Cousins had a cordial meeting
with Khrushchev, who spoke of the similarities between himself
and John XXIII:
We both come from peasant families; we both have lived close to the
land; we both enjoy a good laugh. There’s something very moving to
me about a man like him struggling despite his illness to accomplish
such an important goal before he dies. His goal, as you say, is peace.- Cousins, Improbable Triumvirate, 20–29. On Slipyj’s release, see Karim
Schelkens, “Vatican Diplomacy after the Cuban Missile Crisis: New Light on the Re-
lease of Josyf Slipyj,” Catholic Historical Review 97, no. 4 (2011): 679–712. - Antoine Wenger, Vatican II: The First Session, trans. Robert J. Olsen (West-
minster, Md.: Newman Press, 1966), 174. - Cousins, Improbable Triumvirate, 29–31.