Plea Against Perversion

The 1929 Concordat between the Vatican and Italy prescribes "respect of the sacred character of Rome." But, to the disgust of Pope John XXIII, many Roman revelers prefer a common law of their own: La Dolce Vita--the sweet life. Lately, seldom does a day pass when a newspaper he reads is not splashed with yet another scandal. Last week he appealed to temporal rulers of the Eternal City to control ''immorality that, as we are told, is raging in Rome no less than elsewhere."

The papal plea looked toward the forthcoming meeting of the Roman Catholic Church's ecumenical council, for which some 2,300 clerics and theologians will flock to Rome, many for their first view of the city. Urged Pope John, in a 4,500-word letter to Romans: Pray for "mortification of lust, aversion to mundane pomp and detachment from excessive avidity of riches . . . We like to call Rome a Holy City. God forbid it become a city of perversion."

Even as the Pope was preparing his message. Rome police broke up one of the city's thriving vice rings: a group of 35 college girls whose chief extracurricular activity was carried on in a brothel.

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