Heavyweight Bout

Is boxing sinful? Two Roman Catholic moralists are slugging it out over the issue, while Italy roots at the ringside. In the staid church fortnightly. Palestra del Clero, Jesuit Alfredo Boschi has been conducting a campaign against the sport as a violation of the commandment "Thou shalt not kill." "Professional boxing can not be justified from a moral viewpoint but must be condemned as something gravely illicit in itself," he wrote. "It not only produces but aims to produce serious injuries which can become permanent and can lead to death."

The Vatican's official Osservatore Romano answered back, but not exactly wholeheartedly, with an article by the Rev. Filippo Robotti: "Boxing is not something to be exalted or encouraged by Catholics . . . But it is not considered immoral and, in consequence, can at least be tolerated. Should boxing matches be gravely immoral, all promoters, boxers, managers and spectators would be in mortal sin. However, the great world champion, Gene Tunney, was chosen by ecclesiastical authorities president of U.S.

Catholic youth. Rocky Marciano is a fervent practicing Catholic . . . Many boxers, both in Italy and the U.S., cross themselves before entering the ring, which would be sacrilegious if boxing were es sentially immoral."

Last week Jesuit Boschi danced out of his corner with a long article citing authorities from St. Thomas to Joe Louis, and quoting past Osservatore comments against the prize ring: " Boxing makes a beast of man . . . the most brutal sport ever conceived . . . adoration of brute strength, of the fist which can pulverize the brain." Then he called on the Pope himself to referee. Though the decision may be several centuries in coming, it looked, from the newspapers' letters columns, as if all Europe were taking sides.

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