The International Committee of the Red Cross in 1900, 1910, 1919 and 1939, published a general classified index covering the contents of its Bulletin International des Sociétés de la Croix-Rouge, the title of which was changed in 1919 to the Revue Internationale de la Croix-Rouge.

It was with deep regret that the International Committee of the Red Cross learned of the death of Pope John XXIII. Mr. Leopold Boissier, President of the ICRC, sent the following telegram to the Secretary of State of the Vatican:

I am profoundly moved by the demise of His Holiness John XXIII of whom I personally shall retain a vivid memory for his beneficent attitude and benevolent support to the humanitarian tasks of the Red Cross. The International Committee of the Red Cross pays homage to the great personality of Pope John XXIII, who worked so intensively for peace. I request you to receive and to convey to the College of Cardinals the expression of my most respectful condolences.

Mr. Léopold Boissier celebrated his seventieth birthday in July. The institution of which he is President had decided to award him its gold medal for that occasion. It was presented to him at a ceremony held on July 4, 1963. at which the members and staff of the ICRC were present.

In the following pages may be found the balance sheet of the ICRC drawn up as at December 31, 1962, a summary of expenditure and receipts for the year as well as statements covering the Special Funds, i.e. those of the Foundation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Augusta Fund and the Florence Nightingale Medal Fund. The accounts referring to the Empress Shoken Fund were published in the May 1963 number of the International Review.

During the year which preceded the celebration of its Centenary, the International Committee of the Red Cross found itself in the forefront of the news when the United Nations asked it for its help in controlling vessels bound for Cuba. It did not in the end have to undertake this mission which was outside its traditional humanitarian activity. The episode, however, was a striking manifestation of the moral authority and the confidence felt today in the neutral body which founded the Red Cross a hundred years ago. The Cuban crisis also gave the ICRC the opportunity of denning the contribution it can, in cases of grave peril, bring to the maintenance of peace.