Italian Minister Plays Down Threat of Vatican Attack

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Nov. 5 — Italy's Interior Minister played down fears that the Vatican might be the target of a terrorist attack, but said Italy is on the highest alert against possible threats. “We have said from the beginning that Italy, since it hosts the Pope, is a strong symbol of the Christian world and, as a symbol, it is a target at risk,” said Claudio Scajola.

Earlier, an Italian Interior Ministry undersecretary voiced concern over a possible terrorist attack, saying the Vatican was “the No. 1 target” in Italy. “There is a real and serious threat,” said Alfredo Mantovano.

Cardinal Dismisses Speculation of Rome Appointment

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, Nov. 2 — Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said that he has not been offered a job at the Vatican and hopes that he won't be. The cardinal sought to end speculation that began after Pope John Paul II asked him to give the Lenten retreat last spring for the Roman Curia. Many of those who have led the retreat in the past have ended up taking curial positions.

Cardinal George, who lived in Rome as provincial of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, told the Chicago daily that a curial position would not hold much appeal for him. “It's a very hard job over there because the bishop is a pastor, and over there you don't have people, you just have paper. You're an office man. No matter how romantic it sounds, you just take care of an office, and that isn't much fun.”

Two Former Vatican Officials Charged with Art Fraud

THE GUARDIAN, Nov. 7 — Two former officials at the Vatican have been charged in Rome with trying to sell works of art falsely attributed to artists such as Michelangelo and Euphronius. Msgr. Michele Basso, a former administrator of the Chapter of St. Peter's, and Msgr. Mario Giordana, a former counselor in the Vatican's Italian Embassy, allegedly approached institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., said the London daily.

The case rests on whether the works are fake, genuine or wrongly attributed. They may belong to the artists' schools.

Msgr. Basso said that he wanted to sell his collection — which was reportedly left to him by fellow clergymen and noblewomen to whom he acted as spiritual advisor — to raise money for a hospital. His lawyer said that unscrupulous people exploited the priest's naiveté. Experts consulted by Msgr. Basso said the Michelangelo piece of St. John the Baptist was genuine.

Columnist Clarifies Greatest Offense to Catholics

NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE, Nov. 5 — In a column in which he clarified points that his readers had misunderstood, Jonah Goldberg said he had been mistaken about the “most offensive thing you could do to a Catholic.” It is not to murder the Pope, he said; it is to desecrate the Eucharist. “The Pope is, at the end of the day, just a man,” Goldberg wrote. “Several readers pointed out that it would be far more offensive to desecrate the Eucharist, a.k.a. Jesus. In fact, that is precisely what members of ACT UP did in the 1980s” at St. Patrick's in New York City.