When a Future Pope Visited LI

Long Island has never hosted a papal visit, but the future Pius XII did stay at a North Shore estate less than three years before his election to the papacy.

Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, then the Vatican secretary of state, had come to the United States in 1936 on what was billed as a vacation. He stayed over at Inisfada, the Manhasset estate built by wealthy entrepreneur Nicholas Brady and his wife, Genevieve.

Today, it's the St. Ignatius Jesuit Retreat House. The center's director, Don Holden, says the estate was built between 1916 and 1920. Inisfada (pronounced in-ish-fah-da) is Gaelic for Long Island, he adds.

Inisfada served as the home base for Pacelli, who was hosted by the widowed Genevieve Brady during a month-long trip. As a number of authors have written, his trip turned out to be far more than a vacation. Pacelli had come to improve Vatican relations with the United States as political turmoil in Europe grew, Newsday staffer Tom Maier wrote in his book, "The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings." And President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted Pacelli to silence Father Charles Coughlin, the fiery radio preacher who denounced him as a Communist.

Even Genevieve Brady, the hostess, thought it was to be a social call, James Cooney wrote in "The American Pope: The Life and Times of Francis Cardinal Spellman." She was miffed that Spellman, then an up-and-coming bishop, didn't let her in on what was happening, according to Cooney's book.

Photo: Pope Pius XII in 1951. AP File Photo.