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Un Papa non italiano? Un Papa non italiano? (Il "Times,, e l'opinione di Soldati) THE TIMES WEDNESDAY AUGUST 16 1978 Turin writer's plea for non-Italian Pope From Peter Nichols Rome, August 15- The strongest public appeal so far for a non-Italian Pope to succeed Paul VI Comes from Mario Soldati, the Piedmontese writer. Only hypocrisy, he tells his fellow countrymen, prevents Italians from seeing that an Italian papacy is a ball chained to the feet botti of Itaiy and the Roman church. _ His statement Comes at a rime when the fortheoming papal election could bring over tour centuries of tradition to an end by unseating the Italians from the papal throrie. In 1958, at the death of Pius XII, the Italian element in the Sacred College vras 17 out of 51 ; in 1963, the conclave which elected Paul VI included 29 Italians out of 80. This time the full college of electors is US (of whom at L'opinione espressa su Stampa Sera lunedì scorso da Mario Soldati il quale auspicava l'elezione di un pontefice non italiano, ha avuto ampia risonanza sulla stampa estera. A Londra, The Times con un titolo su quattro colonne l'ha presentata quasi come un auspicio sottolineando la least three, all non-Italians, will be absent because of illness) and the Italians are down to 27. Also for the first time, the European countries with 57 cardinale out of 115 bave lost their absolute majority. Despite statements by cardinals to the effect that the next Pope should colme from a different cultural tradition, the Italian claim stili ttas substantial backing. The Third World sees the Italian background as useful because Itaiy has long been free of colonia! connexions. The East Europeans see Italy afe an effettive spiritual background against which to conduct the delicate negotiarions with communist administrations. Signor Soldati will bave none of this. All foreigners want an Italian pope, he states, "for the simple reason that no other choice wouDd seem to guaran- parte in cui il nostro collaboratore dichiara che soltanto una sorta di ipocrisia impedisce di vedere che un papa italiano continuerebbe a essere una specie di palla al piede non solo per il papato ma anche per la Chiesa di Roma. Il Times sottolinea come proprio la città di Mario Soldati, ossia tee the Holy See a siiailar impartiality. But why muit Italy continue to live in confusion and sacrifice itself in this way for the sake of t'rfe rest of the world ? ", he asks. He goes on to plead that, once in a while, Italy be given a respite. And why should not the Pope be freed from this last aspect, and suspicion, of tempora! power ? " At this point, if the church does not want'to decay and die, it must one day seek to belong to all human beings. A nonIraian pope, if it were possible to chose one with every guarà ntee of impartiality—and admittedly this would be difficult— would bring a great benefit above all to the church itself", he believej. By coincidence, Signor Sol dati s appeal appears just when Turin, his native city, is hopingto be the first to receive the Torino, abbia maggiori probabilità di essere la prima a ricevere la visita del papa neo-eletto, che raggiungerebbe il Piemonte per venerare la Sacra Sindone esposta nel duomo di San Giovanni. Il quotidiano inglese, nella corrispondenza di Peter Nichols da Roma, parla anche di una «com¬ newly elected Pope after Rome. The situation would be parti cularly Italian in its complexity given that the Pope, if he were to go to Turin, would be received by the mayor who is communist. The reason for the new Pope's journey—stili a matter for speculation—would be . the occasion of the first showing to the public since the Second World War of the "Turin Shroud", the linen sbeet which tradition claims was used to wrap Christ's body inunediately after it was taken down from the cross. The city expeets several million vi sito rs. The shroud will be on show behind buUet-proof glass from August 27 to October 8. It was last shown hi 1933 and the purpose of the present exhibition is t» mark the fourth centenary of dts arrivai in Turin from Chambéry. plessità di situazione» dovendo, in Torino, il nuovo papa essere ricevuto da un sindaco che è comunista. Un rilievo curioso, se si considera che un analogo caso è a Roma, dove sindaco è il comunista Argan, e proprio nella capitale questa situazione sino a oggi, non ha creato imbarazzi.