Caption: POPE JOHN CELEBRATES FIRST CHRISTMAS MASS AS PONTIFF -- Pope John XX111 elevates the Host as he celebrates Christmas Eve mass at midnight (Rome time) in the Paoline Chapel of the Vatican. In celebrating his first mass as Pope, he resumed a custom abandoned 15 years ago -- that of celebrating it in the presence of the diplomatic corps to the Holy See. Scores of diplomats from all over the world were present for the ceremony. Hundreds of thousands of other persons watched the ceremony on television.
The front and back of this photograph are pictured below:
