The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-09-03

chldeo FaCner C0ugnlln TOT atCack- ing the president in those terms, Bishop Gallagher said;
 When the editor of Osservatore Romano said Vatican officials criti- cized Father Coughlin'S action in calling the president a liar, he was clearly enunciating 8 self-evident truth"
 Father Coughlin went down the bay on the cutter to meet Bishop Gallagher on the Rex. The radio priest knelt and kissed the ring of his superior and the two church. men then greeted each other cor dially.
 "weIl how are you9" asked the bishop.
 T am fine, your grace, and how are you?" Father Coughlin replied.
 The prelate led the way to the reception room where he seated him. self in a ring of reporters and passengers.
 Not Opinion of Vatican
 '"The statements in the Osserva- tore Romano" Bishop Gallagher began, "do not reflect the opinion of the Vatican, they are the reflec- tion of, the opinion of that paper.
 :"The question of Father Coughlin was mentioned neither officially nor unofficially in my talks with the Holy Father. I had called Father Coughlin's attention to the impro- priety of calling President Roosevelt a liar before I left for Europe and he apologized. The matter was never discussed with any Vatican officials unless brought it up.
 Dragged Up for Election
 "This whole matter is dragged up for discussion because it is presi- dential election year. Otherwise 1t would not be heard. Anyone could see that the Holy See did not ap- prove of Father Coughlin's calling the president liar, whether he de- served 1t or not. There are certain parts of Europe where they never heard of Father Coughlin."
 At this point, Father Coughln leaned forward over the bishops chair to interject:
 They were all newspaper stories to sell papers, Bishop"
 Tt seems to me-" continued the bishop, that there must be big fi- nancial interests pushing this mat ter, trying to put Father Coughlin out. It's a newspaper hoax"
 Press Wants Him of Air
 ''The press wants me to get off the air but they want the freedom of the press for themselves" put in Coughlin.
 "There's a power behind the press, pushing" Gallagher said. There must be powerful financial interests behind it, big money"
 T start broadcasting a week from Saturday, bishop" declared the ra- dio priest.
 "It's about time they had your side of the case" the prelate said. eff there was no electioneering you would hear little about it. It's all electioneering. It is an understood principle that the weaknesses of the president are not exposed to the laughter of the nation. I am speaking now, of course, of the cus- tom of the country"
 Switched Subject
 Father Coughlin then switched the subject.
 :The bishop is just back from Europe" he said. You gentlemen of the press might like to hear what he has to say about Spain"
 Said Bishop Gallagher:
 "The Communists are behind the trouble in Spain. It is Russian in- trigue. In France there is open Communistic sympathy. Munitions are moving into Spain across the French border all the time. The rebels are the patriots"
 "They are like Washington" in terrupted Father Coughlin.
 Even the American paper in France, the Herald, is communiis- tically inclined and backing up the Communists while the Paris edition