Foreign News: Call for the Saint

In a discussion with his old friend Italian Vice Premier Giuseppe Saragat, Florence's cheerful, chirpy little Mayor Giorgio La Pira once argued that bankers should divide their funds with the poor. "They would go to prison," replied Socialist Saragat. Christian Democrat La Pira, whom Florentines sometimes call "the Saint," shook his head. "Oh, no," said he, "they would go to Paradise."

In the five years since he wrested control of the Florence city government from the Communists, Sicilian-born Giorgio La Pira has conscientiously followed this simple approach to public problems and private funds. With a cheerful disregard for legality, the onetime professor...

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