The people of Cagliari, Sardinia's rugged hillside capital, called it "the trial of God." Father Riccardo Lombardi, who last spring had launched a nationwide "Crusade of Love" (TIME, March 1), had been challenged to debate by Sardinia's No. 1 Communist, Velio Spano. The subject: "For Humanity's GoodCommunism or Christianity?"
The contest was arranged with the rigorous etiquette of a duel. The two contestants first chose their seconds: a local Catholic layman and a Communist poet. When Father Lombardi refused a public out-of-door contest ("I have no fear, but
I have proof that someone wants to kill me"), the...
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