Denial of the report circulated in the European and American press that the Vatican has reached an agreement with Soviet Russia which would permit a broader functioning of the Catholic Church in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics was published today in the “Osservatore Romano,” organ of the Vatican.
The Vatican cannot consider an agreement with Soviet Russia before the religious persecution of the Catholic and Greek Orthodox Church, going on for the last ten years, is discontinued, the paper states. An agreement in the near future will be impossible, in view of the fact that the situation of the Catholic religion will then be worse than now. At present only one Catholic bishop and one priest remain in Moscow, the others having been deported, the “Osservatore Romano” states.
Rumors persist, however, that Cardinal Gaspari, Papal secretary of state, is privately negotiating with the Soviet ambassador in Rome, Kursky, and that the Soviet government is anxious to reach an agreement with the Pope.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
