PAPER ATTACKS POPE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 684, 8 June 1929, Page 9

PAPER ATTACKS POPE

DUCE TO BE CRITICISED BY NO ONE FASCIST PRESS OUTBURST (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) Reed. 11 a.m. VATICAN CITY, Friday. The exchange of the ratifications of the Lateran Treaty was carried out this forenoon with picturesque ceremony, notably when Signor Mussolini, the first Prime Minister of united Italy ever to set foot in the Vatican, entered the palace of Cardinal

Gaspari, Papal Secretary of State, to deposit the State’s ratification. Directly this ceremony was over, the Pope’s Swiss Guards mounted sentry at the Vatican City approaches as a sign of sovereignty. Simultaneously, the bronze gates of the palace were thrown open, as a signal of peace between Church and State. But the difficulties are hot yet over. The Rome correspondent of “The Times’* states that so far only the Fascist newspapers “11 Tevere” and “LTmpero” have commented upon the Pope’s letter to Cardinal Gaspari, complaining of Signor Mussolini’s recent speeches about the Lateran Treaty of Concordat. Only the Roman Catholic organs published the letter in full, the others merely giving inadequate and partial summaries. “II Tevere” ignores most of the Pope’s points and describes his letter as “a solemn, foreseen affirmation of the point of view of the Church.” It concedes that the letter was completely consistent with Roman Catholic dogma. "L’lmpero,” on the other hand, violently attacks the Pope for daring to censure the Duce. It says:—“We have never offended the Church and the Church must not offend Fascism, which is not to be criticised, except by Fascists, and the Duce by no one.” It is evident from the Pope’s letter, says the correspondent, that the future is going to be full of difficulties for Italian Catholics. The latter also are convinced that the Fascists already are beginning to realise that the inner conflict which exists between their loyalty to the State on the one hand and to the Church on the other is still far from being resolved.