The Daily Question
The International Balzan Foundation was created in Lugano, Switzerland in 1956 thanks to the generosity of Lina Balzan, who had come into a considerable inheritance on the death of her father, Eugenio. She decided to use this wealth to honor his memory by establishing the Balzan Prize.
The Balzan Prize’s aim is to foster culture, the sciences and the most meritorious initiatives in the cause of humanity, peace and fraternity among peoples throughout the world. The Prizes are awarded in the subject areas: literature, moral sciences, and the arts; physical, mathematical and natural sciences and medicine; humanities, peace and fraternity among peoples.
Who in the Vatican was awarded the Balzan Prize For Peace?
1. Pope John Paul II
2. Pope Paul VI
3. Pope Pius XII
4. Pope John XXIII
2. Pope Paul VI
3. Pope Pius XII
4. Pope John XXIII
Your answer was: Pope John XXIII
You are correct!!
Answer: On May 11, 1963, Pope John XXIII (Angelo Roncalli) entered the Quirinal Palace in Rome to attend the Balzan Awards Ceremony. It was the first time since 1870 that a Roman Pontiff had crossed the threshold of the former papal palace, now the official residence of the President of the Italian Republic but which for more than three centuries had been a papal summer residence.
The Pope was received by the President Antonio Segni who during the ceremony proceeded to award the four Balzan Prizes: to Karl von Frisch (Biology), Paul Hindemith (Music), Andrei Kolmogorov (Mathematics) and Samuel Eliot Morison (History).
The presence of the Pope John XXIII was an historic and quite unexpected event, since the Balzan Prize for Peace, Humanity and Fraternity had already been awarded to the Pope the day before (May 10) in St. Peter’s, by Giovanni Gronchi, Chairman of the International Balzan Foundation and former President of the Italian Republic, with this motivation: "For having contributed to maintaining peaceful relations between Nations, encouraging mutual understanding among peoples and establishing contacts outside the Christian community".
This was also the last public engagement of Pope John XXIII, who died at the age of eighty-two, just a few days later, June 3, 1963. (Source: International Balzan Prize Foundation)
Awarding The Balzan Prize For Peace to Pope John XXIII
360-361 (1963)
The Pope was received by the President Antonio Segni who during the ceremony proceeded to award the four Balzan Prizes: to Karl von Frisch (Biology), Paul Hindemith (Music), Andrei Kolmogorov (Mathematics) and Samuel Eliot Morison (History).
The presence of the Pope John XXIII was an historic and quite unexpected event, since the Balzan Prize for Peace, Humanity and Fraternity had already been awarded to the Pope the day before (May 10) in St. Peter’s, by Giovanni Gronchi, Chairman of the International Balzan Foundation and former President of the Italian Republic, with this motivation: "For having contributed to maintaining peaceful relations between Nations, encouraging mutual understanding among peoples and establishing contacts outside the Christian community".
This was also the last public engagement of Pope John XXIII, who died at the age of eighty-two, just a few days later, June 3, 1963. (Source: International Balzan Prize Foundation)
Awarding The Balzan Prize For Peace to Pope John XXIII
360-361 (1963)