The debate on public opinion is old hat but taken up a few days ago by Nanni Moretti in Berlin. He noted that he is a film director and writer, yet people always want his opinion on Italian politics. He went on to say that since people ask him, evidently the people who should be discussing the problem, auch as politicians, aren't doing so.

He remarked that after 15 years of being fed Berlusconi's propaganda, the new generations take the Italian situation for granted, as they have no means of comparison. The new generations are spectators of "politics", not citizens who participate in politics (which in the end is the defining nature of citizenry). Since inconvenient hard facts have been reduced to  opinions or swept under the rug, we cannot say that Italy has an informed public opinion. It's no wonder Italy continues to be classified at the bottom in terms of freedom of the press.

On Sunday, Eugenio Scalfari took up Moretti's argument in his Repubblica editorial- and today the debate continues.

Famiglia Cristiana of course does not express any official position of the Church which quite to the contrary much prefers Berlusconi. It is the most widely distributed weekly in Italy and does reflect the unease of Catholics who are by and large more modern and liberal than the hierarchy.

Obliquely, the Pope did come out against racism and its modern forms yesterday. Naturally, the government wholeheartedly agreed. Some noted that the Pope's words has utterly nothing to do with the government's recent actions. He must have been thinking about Greenland, I suppose.