Rep. Mario Biaggi (D-R-C NY) has asked Pope Paul and Terence Cardinal Cooke of the New York Catholic Archdiocese, to speak out for Soviet Jewry because “it is a concern for all humanity.” In letters to the two church leaders. Rep. Biaggi said that 100,000 Jews in the Soviet Union are awaiting permission to rejoin their families in Israel.
“The Catholic Church of which I am a member has often spoken out in favor of the family unit,” he said. “The church is noted for its Compassion. Certainly, the situation in the Soviet Union cries out now for a statement by the Catholic Church.” Biaggi said that the Soviet authorities deliberately detain one member of a family allowed to emigrate to Israel to induce the family to return to the Soviet Union.
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