Opposition to the event gathered steam in May as the Vatican, Catholic intellectuals, and politicians all lined up against the event, which was scheduled for July 1-8. “We have to draw public opinion to their objective of changing to a type of society that is opposed to human and Christian values that are the foundation of our society and are in our constitution,” Gustavo Selva of the National Alliance Party said. Another National Alliance leader, Ricardo Pedrizzi, agreed: “It’s just the most emblematic case of the clash between two views of the world, of life, and of man.”

According to a Datamedia poll, more than 60 percent of all Italians believe World Gay Pride should not be held in Rome and 63 percent said they were particularly unhappy about the timing of the event. Only 19 percent said they approved of both the event and its timing. Carlo Giovanardi of the CCD party said he simply could not understand why homosexual activists would not compromise by changing the timing or venue of a rally which, he observed, “profoundly offends the feelings of millions of people.”

Throughout May and June, Church officials lobbied public officials heavily, hoping to cut down political support for the Gay Pride event. After the annual meeting of the Italian bishops in May, Cardinal Camillo Ruini reiterated the complaint that the homosexual activists were aiming for a confrontation with the Church. “I don’t think it is a coincidence that they chose Rome and that they chose this particular year,” he told reporters. Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State, met privately with Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato; Cardinal Ruini, the Pope’s vicar for the Diocese of Rome, met with Rome’s Mayor Francesco Rutelli and with Francesco Storace, the governor of the region that includes Rome. Eventually all three politicians sided with the Vatican, and issued public statements calling for the postponement or cancellation of the Gay Pride event. Prime Minister Amato said that the timing of the festival was “inopportune,” and pleaded with organizers to postpone it.

Mayor Rutelli, who had earlier indicated his support for the festival, announced on May 29 that he was withdrawing that support. The mayor indicated that his decision was influenced by the realization that some events on the Gay Pride Festival schedule—such as the “gay fashion show” to be conducted just outside a Catholic church—were intentionally provocative. Rutelli’s decision meant that the homosexual organizers would not be able to obtain city permits for outdoor events. But organizers said they would go ahead with public demonstrations, regardless of their legal status. And the mayor promised that he would honor the city’s previous commitments to the Gay Pride event, which included a $150,000 cash subsidy and a pledge that the city would “be the guarantor of the homosexuals’ freedom to demonstrate.”

Archbishop Poletto remarked that the display of the Shroud might even furnish an occasion for new advances in relations between Rome and the Russian Orthodox Church. The archbishop had recently returned from Moscow, where he had visited as part of a delegation of Catholic prelates meeting with Patriarch Alexei II. Archbishop Poletto said that he had issued an invitation for the Russian Orthodox leader to visit Turin and venerate the Shroud.

The Turin archbishop said that because “the cult of holy images” is particularly important to the Orthodox world, the invitation to view the Shroud might spur ecumenical progress. Although it is generally regarded as quite unlikely that Patriarch Alexei would accept the invitation, one high-ranking Russian Orthodox prelate has already announced that he will make such a visit. Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kalingrad will head an Orthodox delegation visiting Turin from September 23- 25.

Pope John Paul II also has received a formal invitation to return to Turin for the exposition of the Shroud. The Holy Father made that trip in May 1998, during the last public display. And Vatican officials have announced that he will not be able to make the same visit this year. But Archbishop Poletto said that he still holds out some hope for a papal visit, because the Pope has made several surprise additions to his Jubilee schedule.

The display of the Shroud this year was scheduled to begin on August 26. That schedule was adapted, moving the opening date forward into early August, so that the young people traveling to Italy for World Youth Day might have an opportunity to attend the exposition.

Organizers of the display in Turin will follow the same procedure that they employed in 1998, asking visitors to reserve a day and time for viewing the Shroud. Although there will be no charge for the viewing, the organizers explain that these reservations are necessary in order to ease the press of crowds around the Turin cathedral during the display.

The young man in question, a 27-year-old from Pisa, was facing a difficult medical operation, and apparently asked his friends to speed his death. The young man who carried out his wish was immediately pardoned by the parents of the deceased; they said the killer had carried out “an act of love.” Nevertheless, the man who gave the injection faces legal charges of “homicide with consent.”