ITALY: Father Palmiro's Party

The Romans could not have been more surprised if bronze St. Peter, stepping down from his white marble pedestal, had crossed the nave waving the Red Flag and crying "Sovietti da per tutto!" (Soviets everywhere!).

Palmiro Togliatti, who as boss of Italy's Communists believes there is no God but Stalin, came down in a fiery oratorical chariot to rescue the Catholic Church. By the grace of Togliatti, the Italian Assembly last week put into the Republic's Constitution this clause: "The Roman Catholic apostolic religion is the only religion of the State." Approval...

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