On November 22, 1963, Pope Paul VI took the unprecedented step of inviting an American TV crew into the papal apartments

Pope Paul VI took the unprecedented step of inviting an American TV crew into the papal apartments so that he could express his sorrow and promise his prayers. The Pope recorded a message to be televised by the American Broadcasting Corporation. It was also broadcast over Italian Radio. In it the Pontiff said: "We are deeply bereaved by the tragic and sad news of the assassination of the President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. and the grave wounding of Governor Connally, and we are profoundly saddened for such a shameful crime which, through the person of its chief, has struck a great civil nation, and for the sorrow which it inflicts upon Mrs. Kennedy, their children and their family.