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Italian Communists and the Catholic Church

By Watch Tower missionary in Italy

THE tug of war between the East and the West is being keenly felt in Italy, the land that has the strongest Communist party outside the Soviet bloc. The theory of Marx is capturing the Italian mind as well as its vote, despite the priestly denunciations and papal excommunications. In this propaganda war a losing side cowardly seeks to “save face” by blaming others for her plight. This the Italian episcopacy did on February 1, 1954, when it told the world that “Protestant propaganda . . . goes to the evident advantage . . . of atheistic communism.”

But is that not begging the question? Anticlericalism existed in Italy long before the communistic ideology was ever heard of, and long before non-Catholic religions began to spread their teachings in Italy following World War II. And as to who takes the course that aids communism, La voce repubblicana of Rome says that it is the religious persecutors, not the persecuted, who really give the Communists material for their propaganda. It pointed out that by expelling people of minority religions (in this particular instance, Jehovah’s witnesses), “freedom of religion is put away in the attic, to the deep satisfaction of the communists and the Fascists.”

Religious officials have argued that the Communist exponents and press “do not hide their sympathy and support for this disuniting Protestant propaganda.” But is this the case? Great strides toward freedom of worship have been made in Italy, but this has not been without difficulty. And when procommunist newspapers report in their columns the abuses and unfair treatment of religious minorities, their concern is not with right doctrine, nor with sympathizing with or supporting other religions, but with making political capital out of the fact that undemocratic and unconstitutional actions have been taken against these minority groups. The facts show that the Communists are not seriously interested in spiritual matters, either Catholic or non-Catholic. Their main interest lies in the material things of this earth. The Communists ridicule those who believe in the promises of God’s kingdom under Christ, calling them cowards and parasites.

The Communist press ridicules the Bible and smears the Christian ministers who are teaching God’s Word. As an example, note the following report from the Communist newspaper La Verità of Brescia, Italy. Calling Jehovah’s witnesses “American spies disguised as ‘missionaries,’” it said: “They go from house to house and with the ‘Holy Scriptures’ preach submission to war prepared by the Americans,” and it further falsely charged that these missionaries were paid agents of New York and Chicago bankers and were endeavoring to “gather information of every kind regarding the men and the activities of the [Communist] organizations.” The writer concluded that “the duty of the workers, who know how to defend their country well . . . is therefore to slam the door in the faces of these vulgar spies disguised as pastors.”

Many Italian Communists do not object to having their wives and children attend the Catholic church. They feel that since some kind of religion is desired by the women and children it might as well be the same old religion that their fathers taught them. Their argument is that there is no harm in the religious teachings of the Catholic Church, but it is the wealth of the church that irritates them and the church’s siding with the capitalistic countries. Yet the Catholic religion is Italy’s largest—a fact that the vote-seeking Communists well recognize. As their repeated public statements prove, the Communists would much prefer the Catholic Church as a partner rather than some other religion in Italy.

The Communists are determined to get control of Italy, and this they can do only by winning over to their side a greater number of Catholics, not non-Catholics. Above all, this means convincing such nominal Catholics that communism certainly is not favoring any other religious faith. The Communists are very much interested in the votes of the Catholic peasants, the class that has been tied to Catholic tradition for centuries, and in the words of Italy’s Communist leader they “do not ask the Catholic world to cease to be a Catholic world,” but “tend towards a mutual understanding.”

The Catholic Hierarchy may say what she wishes about the “damaging” effects of non-Catholic propaganda within the borders of Catholic Italy, but when she accuses religious minorities of aiding Italy’s communism, and of being favored, sympathized with and supported by the Communists, then she is leaving herself wide open for criticism and her charge boomerangs. The religion that for more than fifteen centuries did not provide the people the strength of sound knowledge is now reaping her harvest of materialism, anticlericalism and godless communism. She cannot pass the blame on to others, or try to save face by endeavoring to pull into her warfare those true Christians who pointedly remain separate from it and who now are really providing many earnest Italians with the knowledge of God’s Word, the strength of the apostles, and the power to resist the false claims that communism makes.