Italian Press Conspiracy of Silence
—SAYS " LE TEMPS" French politicians believe there is a conspiracy afoot in Italy to persuade the people of that country that Vatican relations with France stand for very little.
Le Tenips of Thursday, September 16, contained an interesting leading article on
the Holy See and the Rome-Berlin axis, evidently reflecting the views of the French Government. In particular the writer complained that the Italian Press refused to make known to its readers the cordial relations subsisting between the Holy See and France. The Italian papers were discreetly silent concerning the warm reception accorded to Cardinal Pacelli in the summer. When a well-known Left-wing politician approved, in a newspaper article, of the present relations between the Vatican and France, one Italian paper went so far as to accuse him of base political manoeuvring.
At the same time, the article continues, the press in Italy was doing its hest to minimise the struggle at present taking place between the Vatican and Germany.
The object of this Press policy, the article concludes, is to persuade Italians that the Church prospers only under an authoritarian regime, and that French democracy is drifting rapidly towards Communism; and is therefore not on good terms with the Holy See.