Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses - Watchtower Archive

Yearbook 189
in order to make for expansion. There Is a small "Cht'lstlan"
population to work among, but the majority of the populace
are Mohammedans.
ITALY
While the pope calls for a "holy year" to be celebrated
in Rome during 1950, Jehovah's witnesses go
ahead steadily in the land of Italy, rendering holy
devotion to Jehovah God and working in the interests
of his holy kingdom. Despite the obstacles and problems
that the ministers of God face there, all were
able to make excellent progress during the service
year. One of the difficulties that could have slowed
down the work in Italy was the effort put forth to
remove the Gilead graduates from that land. But by
the Lord's grace we were successful in having them
return and continue in their witness work.
The newspapers have given good publicity to the
preaching of the gospel in Italy, but more important
than that have been the new pUblications furnished
by the Society for the edification of the brethren,
including the booklet Counsel on Theocratic Organization,
which proved a great aid to the companies.
The work in Italy was favored with a 69 per cent
increase; so now there are 1,211 publishers, the peak
for the 1950 service year. The branch servant gave
an interesting report, parts of which are set out here.
Even before the twenty-eight missionaries had arrived
in Italy in March, 1949, the office had made regular application
requesting one-year visas for all of them. At first
the officials indicated that the government looked at the
matter from an economic point of view and hence the
situation seemed quite assuring for our missionaries. After
six months we suddenly received a communication from the
Ministry of the Interior ordering our brethren to leave the
country by the end of the month, with less than a week's
notice. Naturally, we refused to accept this order without
a legal battIe, and every effort was made to get at the bottom
of the matter to find out who was responsible for this foul
blow. By contacting Individuals who worked in the Ministry
we learned that our files revealed no complaints by the police
or other authorities and that, therefore, only some "higher