Gifts to Caesar

THE VATICAN Gittsto Caesar

In the ornate baroque palace of the prince-bishops at Fulda, 45 German Catholic bishops met last week in accordance with the will of the Vatican. In solemn conclave the bishops agreed, according to the German News Agency, that:

"The Catholic Church in Germany is indebted to German troops for the victorious advance and defense of the German homeland. Without the successful warding off of enemy invasion by German armed forces, German Catholics could not have pursued so undisturbed and quietly their church work and ministerial offices."

Result of the conference: a pastoral letter glorifying Adolf Hitler and German feats of arms which will be read from every German Catholic pulpit if & when Hitler wins his war.

Thus did the Vatican, which has sought & found a modus vivendi with every victorious power except atheistic Soviet Russia, move to align itself with the new order in Europe. In an equally significant gesture to the southern Axis partner it announced that the semi-official Vatican newsorgan Osservatore Romano would cease publication. Banned outside Vatican City by the Italian Government because it printed British war communiques, it has lost circulation as rapidly as it gained it last autumn, when Romans discovered its unique (in Italy) impartiality (TIME, May 27). Osservatore Romano will be replaced by a Jesuit-owned paper, Corriere Vaticano, which will feature "artistic and literary subjects."

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