Rome-Moscow Truce?

For the first time, the Moscow radio had a good word to say about the Catholic Church: its Italian priests deserved praise for their "patriotic and democratic activity ... to save the world from a new catastrophe." Not to be outdone, Rome nodded approvingly at Soviet notions of morality: "The Vatican," reported Rome's Tribuna del Popolo, "has not hidden its pleasure over the fact that Soviet films present a standard of morality much higher than films of other nations. . . . This is among consoling indications . . . that the Church may soon resume its spiritual activity in Russia."

This little exchange of amenities did not mean that 27 years of bitter feuding had ended. The air still zinged with individual sniper's bullets, and a real Kremlin-Vatican friendship was as remote as ever --but last week the prospects for some sort of truce had progressed beyond the rumor stage.

The Bronx's Edward J. Flynn, onetime political boss turned diplomat, was busy on a mysterious mission to Moscow. Presumably, he was laying the groundwork for U.S. mediation. By the time Flynn finishes his business in Moscow, New York's diminutive Archbishop Francis J. Spellman, a Vatican favorite and the man most likely to represent the Pope in Kremlin negotiations, will reportedly be waiting for him somewhere in Europe or Africa.

High Vatican authorities have indicated that the Church wants to reach an understanding with the westward-moving Soviet Union. For its part, says the Church, the objective is strictly nonpolitical: all it wants is for the Kremlin to grant complete religious liberty to all persons in Russia and in the Russian sphere of influence. In return, Rome says that the Kremlin can count on the Church to "place no obstacle in the path of justifiable Russian political expansion."

The Kremlin has said little, and made no concessions whatsoever to the 8 to 10 million Catholics inside Russia. But evidence and logic are on the side of religious freedom for the 84 million Catholics (Vatican figures) in Russian-dominated territory. The Church has been left strictly alone irf Poland, even in the property-sharing schemes of the Lublin Government. Such a policy, while helping to dispel the general belief that Bolshevism is the enemy of religion, would unquestionably make it much easier for Russia to expand its spheres of influence.

That both sides would benefit from a truce is the best of all reasons for one.

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