Forlani's struggle likely to fail

The Guardian (Manchester, England)
June 1, 1981 - p.5

Forlani's struggle
likely to fail

From George Armstrong
in Rome

    ITALY'S search for new Governments was almost forgotten at the weekend as revelations or promises of revelations regarding the P-2 Freemasons lodge were made public.
    The Prime Minister-designate, Mr. Forlani, will meet party leaders today to sound them out about his chances of forming another government.
    He will probably tell President Pertini tomorrow night or on Wednesday that he has failed, and the President may ask him to try again. The Christian Democrats admit that the Prime Minister could, at some future date, be from another party, but the time is not yet ripe.
    There is strong feeling among the Socialists and Republicans that one of their men should be the next Prime Minister. The Liberals have said that they would join the next Government, provided it agrees to their nine points, which would seem like a lot of points for a party with only nine MPs.
    The authorities have now found two suitcases belonging to Mr. Licio Gelli, founder of the P-2 Freemasons lodge, each filled with documents. It already has been established that Mr. Gelli collected not only influential members for his lodge but also collected incriminating "lists."
    The latest to emerge is said to be a list of Italians who collaborated with the Germans, during the latter's occupation of Italy in the last war.
    Another document has emerged which at least suggests that Mr. Gelli had strong commercial ties with Eastern Europe.
    Other people "listed" as being alleged P-2 members have begun making "confessions" to the press. Today, L'Espresso will publish several, including one from Mr. Vanni Nistico, former information officer for the Socialist Party.
    He claimed that when he visited Mr. Gelli at his Tuscan villa a year ago, he showed him photographs which allegedly depicted the present Pope, nude on the edge of a swimming pool.
    Mr. Gelli's comment at the time was "The problem is with the Secret Services. If they can take these kind of pictures of the Pope, imagine how easy it would be to shoot him."
    The Pope had a swimming pool built at Castelgandolfo two years ago protected from view, and with a sliding roof to avoid the possibility of aerial photography.
    Inquiries into three recent murders have been reopened in view of the P-2 scandal. One is the murder two years ago of Mr. Mino Pecorelli, the editor of a Rome weekly, which seemed to have had links with the P-2, of which he had been a member.

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