 Pius XII was rather distrustful of Alcide de Gasperi and Italy 's Christian Democrats , considering the party indecisive and fractious – reformist currents within it particularly , which tended to the moderate Left – represented by the Sicilian priest Luigi <unk> for example – he considered too accommodating to the Left . On the eve of the 1952 local elections in Rome , in which again the Communist and Socialist parties threatened to win out , he used informal connections to make his views known . Pius XII stated that the war against communism was a holy war and excommunicated members of the Communist Party . Having decided to encourage the Christian Democrats to consider a political alliance with the Rightist parties as part of an anti @-@ left coalition , he asked the Jesuit , Father Riccardo Lombardi , to speak with de Gasperi to consider such an alliance – an electoral alliance with those even of monarchist and neo @-@ fascist tendencies -including the Italian Social Movement . Adopting a domino theory he warned that , " If the Communists win in Rome , in Italy , it will cast a shadow on the entire world : France would become Communist , and then Spain and then all of Europe ' . de Gasperi rejected the idea as politically dangerous to the long term fortunes of a centrist Catholic party . 
