This Changing World

The Communist Party and the Roman Catholic Church were bowing to each other. Even the Kremlin and the Vatican were nodding in each other's general direction.

Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communists, ostentatiously attended High Mass at a Naples church and conferred with Monsignor Giovanni Montini, acting Papal Secretary of State. Afterward, Togliatti said: "We respect religion and we ask that the Church respect us on the basis of mutual tolerance. . . . The Communist, Socialist and Christian Democrat [Catholic] parties have mass followings. . . . There is no reason why Italy's three great mass parties cannot be mutually accommodating."

The Vatican was interested. A pontifical commission for the improvement of Soviet-Vatican relationships showed new activity. For its part, Moscow set up a Council on Affairs of Religious Bodies. Its job: to maintain contact between the Soviet Government and various religious groups, including the Roman Catholics.

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