APRIL 5, 1952
POPE AND POLITICS: Rome – According to an article in the official Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, on April 2, the struggle between Christianity and Communism is a relentless one and it warns Catholics not to submit to the temptation presented by camouflaged forms of Marxism. «Communism aims to take over the world. The struggle between it and Christianity is not a superficial one, nor is it restricted to any particular principle. It is a determined struggle based on strong contrasts between the two world views,» it said. The article was inspired by a statement in its pages by five Italian youths who said they had cut all ties with the Communist Party and returned to the Catholic faith. They also said that they were former leaders of the Christian Left and had become Communists when their party was dissolved. They said they had already decided to abandon Communism in 1951, but had waited to make the announcement until after the Pope Pius XII’s Christmas message accusing Communism of a doctrine «destructive to human dignity and freedom.» The already defunct Christian Left had accepted many of the economic principles of Communism but claimed that it did not fully share the ideology of orthodox Marxism.
