Roman Roundup

P: The Roman Catholic Church in Berlin has published statistics showing that Communist antireligious propaganda is paying off in Germany's East zone. Candidates for the priesthood number only 33%--about half the normal expectation. Church membership "leakage" increased from 3,733 in 1948 to almost 10,000 last year.

P: Two bestsellers went on the Catholic Index of Forbidden Books: The Second Sex (TIME, Feb. 23, 1953) and The Mandarins (TIME, May 28), both by French Existentialist Simone de Beauvoir. Her works, said Osservatore Romano, " spread a deleterious atmosphere of existentialist philosophy ... a subtle poison . . . Madame de Beauvoir defends emancipation of women from moral laws."

P: Vatican officials discovered a new racket flourishing under the noses of the Swiss Guards: forged tickets to papal audiences. Normally issued free by the chief chamberlain, the forged tickets omitted the stamped-on word Gratis, were sold for a pretty tourist penny. Commented the official Demo-Christian newspaper Il Popolo: "This activity is more than illegal. It is ignoble."

P: Sinking in a sailboat off Catalina Island, Calif., three Roman Catholic priests were rescued by a passing tuna boat. "We were so busy pumping out water," one of them reported, "that we didn't have time to think about praying."

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