Jester & "Aunt B"

Catholic Italy is not like Catholic Malta, whence last week Pope Pius XI received a sharp rebuff. In Milan one Eugenio Bassani, shopkeeper, recently spoke his mind. Last week he was convicted of "speaking ill of the Pope," was fined 1,000 lira ($52.39), sentenced to six months in jail.

Criminal Bassani was proved by the Crown Prosecutor to have "uttered several vulgar phrases" when two women entered his shop to buy white and yellow cloth. He had jumped correctly to the conclusion that they intended to make a Papal banner and by his words "grossly insulted these inoffensive females."

In his defense Eugenio Bassani pleaded: "I confess that I used the vulgar words these women have repeated in court, but I spoke in jest. By the Blessed Name of our Holy Mother, I swear that I spoke in jest!"

Duly impressed by this powerful oath, the Court suspended both sentences.

Vulgar Eugenio Bassani was the first Italian sentenced under the Lateran Treaty, which makes it as much a crime to speak ill of Il Papa as of Il Duce or Il Re. In practice one may speak ill of the Pope or the King with virtual impunity throughout Italy so long as one employs suave and gentlemanly terms. But even to utter the word "Mussolini" aloud in a public place causes consternation. Members of the English-speaking colony at Rome take no chances that an Italian might misunderstand them to be speaking ill of Il Duce. Shrewd, they generally refer to Benito Mussolini in public conversation as "Mr. Smith" or "Aunt B."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.