Osservatore Romano, official organ of the Vatican, commenting on a charge by a Rome newspaper that a priest had introduced the race question in a dispute with the newspaper, declared today that it was not improper to emphasize the “unsuitable presence” of Jews in a public debate on another religion.
The issue was raised by Paese Sera which asked the Italian Press Federation to take action against the priest-editor, Don Pisoni. In replying in the Catholic newspaper L’Italia to an attack on the Pope in Paese Sera, Don Pisoni noted that two members of the Paesa Sera editorial staff were Jews.
Osservatore Romano asserted “it is no crime of racialism to underline the unsuitable presence of Jews when an issue is debated which concerns another religion, particularly since Pope Pius offered Jews the solidarity and protection they deserved as persecuted creatures of God.” The Vatican publication added that “these inadvertencies” did not “diminish the gratitudes which Jews did not fail to express to the Holy Father for his deeds.”
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