In London last week Chicago Daily Newsman W. H. Stoneman reported:
"Russia, through Ambassador M. A. Kostylev in Rome, has submitted proposals to the Vatican for coordinated action between Moscow and the Holy See in the solution of Eastern Europe's postwar social and religious problems. . . . The proposals are understood to have been in a memorandum which Kostylev forwarded to the Pope through Palmiro Togliatti, [Italian] Communist (see above) and Alcide de Gaspari, [Italian] Christian Democrat leader."
Promptly the Vatican, which rarely affirms or denies, issued a statement which neither affirmed nor denied: "Nothing is known about the reports ....