The Press: Newspaper in Sanctuary

Osservatore Romano (Roman Observer) is the semiofficial evening paper of the Holy See. Printed behind the walls of little Vatican City (area: 108.7 acres; pop.: 1,025), it is accountable only to the Pope and the Papal Secretariate of State. Unlike all other Italian papers, its contents are not dictated by Fascist propagandists, but Mussolini allows it to circulate in Italy.

Besides printing every pronunciamento, bull and encyclical which the Pope may issue, Osservatore Romano’s, editor, blond, stocky Count Giuseppe Dalla Torre, has found occasion in the past to denounce athletics for women as a cause of sterility, condemn anti-Semitic feeling in Italy. No punch-puller is Editor Dalla Torre. More than once Osservatore Romano has dubbed Herr Hitler “Antichrist.” Before World War II Osservatore Romano had a circulation of 40,000. A few copies went to Catholic editors in other parts of the world, most of the rest were sold on the newsstands of Rome.

Then came the Polish Blitzkrieg, and Osservatore Romano’s, circulation rocketed to 130,000 copies daily. Reason: it was the only newspaper in Rome to carry full, and reasonably impartial, dispatches from the front.

No one was more disturbed by the sudden popularity of his paper than Editor Dalla Torre himself. Lest Osservatore Romano become a political storm centre, Dalla Torre limited its circulation, steadfastly refused to print more than 95,000 copies. Last week Osservatore Romano was one of few newspapers left in Europe which still had a relatively free hand in reporting war news and international politics. Then, probably due to Fascist pressure, Osservatore Romano began to slow its drift toward a pro-Allied stand.