Word: monsignore
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Jubilant Communists this week were busily plastering Rome's walls with the picture of a Roman Catholic priest. The caption: "One vote the Christian Democrats won't get. Monsignor Cippico, Vatican official, can't vote because he's in jail. He would have voted Christian Democrat -if he hadn't been caught...
...Very Surprising." Monsignor Cippico's exposure, the only major Vatican scandal since 1915,* began last August. Pope Pius was at his summer retreat of Castel Gandolfo, deep in the Alban Hills. Beneath his long hand on the light walnut desk lay the morning's mail, with all the envelopes personally addressed to the Pope still unopened. Many begging letters Pius XII marked with a gold pencil, so that help should be sent immediately. Then he came to a letter from an industrialist who complained of the excessively high commissions charged by the Vatican for personal loans...
Tardini summoned tall, bent Monsignor Giulio Guidetti, administrator of Holy See property. Hobbling in on his cane, Guidetti said yes, he had supplied loans to the industrialist, but had taken no commission whatever. He had handed the money to Monsignor Cippico as directed in orders signed by Tardini and Monsignor Giovanni Montini, Substitute Secretary of State...
...just how were these militants to assist the saint? To a questioner after the celebration Monsignor Bicchierai gave a poker-faced reply: "As a priest I must tell you that the crucifix and the rosary are the arms of Catholics." He paused and with a twinkle of black eyes and a deprecating spread of hands added: "What can I know of tear-gas bombs and machine guns...
Last week as Milan waited, like every other key Italian city, to see where the Communists would strike next, the monsignor who had disclaimed knowledge of tear gas and machine guns summed up the stand of Milanese Catholics. Said Monsignor Bicchierai: "This is a kind of chess game. Right now we don't know what the next move will be-but it's theirs...