740.0011 European War 1939/30167
The Apostolic Delegate at Washington (Cicognani) to Mr. Myron C. Taylor, Personal Representative of President Roosevelt to Pope Pius XII
No. 492/42
Washington, June 15,
1943.
Your Excellency: In reply to a recent communication to the Holy See, the contents of which are known to you, His Eminence, the [Page 919] Cardinal Secretary of State, requests that I bring to your attention the following points that you in turn may communicate them directly to the President.
- 1.
- In his paternal solicitude for the welfare of all peoples the Holy Father recommends anew to the President of the United States of America the fate of the Italian people.
- 2.
- His Holiness has been saddened by the news that the possibility of the bombardment of Rome has not been excluded. In such an hypothesis, which he hopes will never occur, the Holy Father, as he has said before, will be constrained to protest. The many weighty reasons for avoiding this bombardment have already been given, among them the grave danger to Vatican City and its wonderful religious and art treasures, that exists in the event of aerial bombing of Rome. Those effecting such a bombardment will be held responsible by Catholics the world over and by the judgment of history.
With assurance [etc.]
A. G. Cicognani
Archbishop of Laodicea