Protests stir Rome

PROTESTORS clad in concentration camp uniforms greeted President Kurt Waldheim on his trip to the Vatican last week. Former inmates of the camps stood in St Peter's Square and chanted "hangman" as the President was driven past on his way to meet Pope John Paul II.
The visit, which lasted 35 minutes, was described by Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, head of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, as "a terrible blow to the future of Jewish-Vatican relations".
The controversial president's past, which includes a spell as a German officer during the war, was mentioned only "marginally" during his private meeting with the pope, reports stated.
The visit was widely condemned by members of the Jewish community, including Israeli Prime Minister Yitshak Shamir, who lamented, "we might have expected better of the Vatican." Old wounds were reopened in Catholic-Jewish relations, according to some, and it was noted that the trip provided President Waldheim with his first foreign success.
Comparisons were drawn with the concordat of 1933 between the Vatican and the Third Reich, which was the first major diplomatic success scored by Hitler.
The pope was said to be "surprised and pained" at the hostile reaction the visit had elicited, and a Vatican official described the furore as "a very embarrassing situation".
More embarrassment might emerge when the papal trip to Austria takes place next year. There are already reports of a new wave of anti-semitism in the country, and some allege that they have been greeted with Nazi-style salutes on their way into synagogues. JULIAN Filochowski, the Director of CAFOD (left), joined the Minister for Overseas Development, Christopher Patten MP and their host Cardinal Hume for the launch of CAFOD's Silver Jubilee Appeal. The appeal has as its own goal the raising of £4 million destined primarily for rehabilitation projects in areas previously stricken by famine such as Eritrea in Ethiopia.