Communist Catholics

Eight years ago Pope Pius XII trained Roman Catholicism's biggest gun on Communism. Party members and collaborators, he decreed, were automatically excommunicated. This tough tactic obviously could backfire--especially in areas like Bologna and Emilia, where 85% of the population was at least nominally Communist. To keep their flocks from evaporating, many a priest uncomfortably ignored the papal decree, went on marrying and burying known Communists.

Last week Italy's influential clerical weekly Palestra del Clero pointed out that the original decree provided a loophole for just such discretionary application. The Pope spoke of those who became Communists scienter and libere--with full knowledge and full freedom of choice. "These two adverbs, if fully understood." said Palestra, "prevent any excessive rigor in the application of what the decree lays down ... It is evidently up to the cleric in each individual case to distinguish between true willful Communists and those who are victims of illusion, hence of ignorance; between those who have freely chosen to belong to the Communist Party and those who have been driven by necessity to Communist Party membership."

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