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Some critics hailed The Miracle not only as a tour de force by [Anna] Magnani but as a reverent and even a 'Catholic' work. Francis Cardinal Spellman, the head of the Catholic Church in the United States, was not of that view, proclaiming that 'Satan alone' would make such a film. For many years the New York Board of Regents, that state's highest educational authority, had delegated a panel of professional film censors the task of deciding which films should be granted licenses for exhibition in movie theatres. Although these censors had approved The Miracle, the Regents, following Cardinal Spellman's accusation, overruled them, thereby forcing the theatre[s] to stop showing the film... From the perspective of Spellman and his advisers, by getting New York State to ban The Miracle, they had vindicated the chastity of Mary and the miracle of the Virgin Birth at a time when these and other essentials of the Catholic faith were being trampled upon by atheistic Communism. That Rossellini specifically intended to mock Catholic values seemed to them particularly evident because of hearsay comments to the effect that he was a 'Communist,' and because he and Ingrid Bergman, beloved for her portrayal of a nun in The Bells of St Mary's, had recently had a highly publicized affair, resulting in a birth out of wedlock. From Miracles and Sacrilege

"""Some critics hailed The Miracle not only as a tour de force by [Anna] Magnani but as a reverent and even a 'Catholic' work. Francis Cardinal Spellman, the head of the Catholic Church in the United States, was not of that view, proclaiming that 'Satan alone' would make such a film. For many years the New York Board of Regents, that state's highest educational authority, had delegated a panel of professional film censors the task of deciding which films should be granted licenses for exhibition in movie theatres. Although these censors had approved The Miracle, the Regents, following Cardinal Spellman's accusation, overruled them, thereby forcing the theatre[s] to stop showing the film... From the perspective of Spellman and his advisers, by getting New York State to ban The Miracle, they had vindicated the chastity of Mary and the miracle of the Virgin Birth at a time when these and other essentials of the Catholic faith were being trampled upon by atheistic Communism. That Rossellini specifically intended to mock Catholic values seemed to them particularly evident because of hearsay comments to the effect that he was a 'Communist,' and because he and Ingrid Bergman, beloved for her portrayal of a nun in The Bells of St Mary's, had recently had a highly publicized affair, resulting in a birth out of wedlock. From Miracles and Sacrilege"""

""Some critics hailed The Miracle not only as a tour de force by [Anna] Magnani but as a reverent and even a 'Catholic' work. Francis Cardinal Spellman, the head of the Catholic Church in the United States, was not of that view, proclaiming that 'Satan alone' would make such a film. For many years the New York Board of Regents, that state's highest educational authority, had delegated a panel of professional film censors the task of deciding which films should be granted licenses for exhibition in movie theatres. Although these censors had approved The Miracle, the Regents, following Cardinal Spellman's accusation, overruled them, thereby forcing the theatre[s] to stop showing the film... From the perspective of Spellman and his advisers, by getting New York State to ban The Miracle, they had vindicated the chastity of Mary and the miracle of the Virgin Birth at a time when these and other essentials of the Catholic faith were being trampled upon by atheistic Communism. That Rossellini specifically intended to mock Catholic values seemed to them particularly evident because of hearsay comments to the effect that he was a 'Communist,' and because he and Ingrid Bergman, beloved for her portrayal of a nun in The Bells of St Mary's, had recently had a highly publicized affair, resulting in a birth out of wedlock. From Miracles and Sacrilege""

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William Bruce Johnson is an attorney and writer based in New York. He holds a PhD from the University of London.

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