ELECTIONS IN ITALY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26719, 13 March 1948, Page 7

ELECTIONS IN ITALY

“ABSTENTION A MORTAL SIN”

DECLARATION BY THE POPE Rec. 8 p.m. ROME, Mar. 10. The Pope declared to-day that al! who abstained from voting in the Italian elections on April 18, from laziness or cowardice, were “ guilty of a mortal sin.”

He said: “Each must vote according to his own conscience, but it is evident that the voice of conscience obliges every sincere Roman Catholic to give his vote for the candidates offering sufficient guarantees that God’s rights and the welfare of persons, families, and society, according to God’s law and Christian morals, will be observed

“The church, naturally, intends to remain outside and above political parties, but how can it be indifferent to the composition of a Parliament to which the Constitution gives the right to legislate in matters directly affecting the highest religious interests? ’’ The Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano claims that Left-Wing newspapers are unsuccessfully trying to turn the arrest of Monsignor Prettner Cippico on forgery and fraud charges into a political scandal. It adds: “ The Communists were in touch with Monsignor Cippico, and were preparing to publicise the whole story on the eve of the election ‘ unless Monsignor Cippico was willing to serve a foreign Power.’ The Vatican at this point decided to issue the. news of his arrest.”