{"id":1225,"date":"1942-09-29T10:10:50","date_gmt":"1942-09-29T14:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/?p=1225"},"modified":"2017-09-29T09:13:14","modified_gmt":"2017-09-29T13:13:14","slug":"u-s-envoy-holds-private-meetings-with-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/1942\/09\/29\/u-s-envoy-holds-private-meetings-with-pope\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Envoy Holds Private Meetings with Pope"},"content":{"rendered":"

The spiritual influence of the Vatican is worldwide, as Pope Pius XII is the leader of millions of Catholics on both the Allied and the Axis sides. But politically, the independent state is an enclave surrounded on all sides by Benito Mussolini\u2019s fascist regime.<\/p>\n

Even as Italy is at war with the United States, President Roosevelt\u2019s personal envoy, Myron C. Taylor, returned to his post at the Vatican under safe conduct. He spoke in three private conferences with the pope. The first, which took place last Saturday, Sep. 19, lasted for an hour and a half. It was one of the longest private audiences at the Vatican since Pius became the pope in March 1939.<\/p>\n

So far, the subjects discussed during these meetings have been kept secret. However, according to the Washington Post on Tuesday, Sep. 22, after the second meeting, Vatican sources disclosed that Taylor presented the president\u2019s personal definitions of U.S. war objectives to Pope Pius XII. He explained \u201cwhat the United States had set out to accomplish, how the United States proposes to do so, and what the country hopes to accomplish in guaranteeing world peace when and only when the victory is decided.\u201d Neither Pius nor Taylor has denied or affirmed these claims.<\/p>\n

Neutral Italian newspapers and American diplomats made other assumptions about the hidden details of these conferences. Some have asserted that Taylor spoke of anti-Semitic developments in Vichy France. Some suggested that he made a plain statement of the United States\u2019 opposition to the Nazis in a sort of moral strategy. That would imply that President Roosevelt sought to gain backing and cooperation from an influential religious figure like Pope Pius to help win the war. Many also believed that Pius was pressured to \u201ctake a hostile position against national socialism,\u201d according to the Washington Post. Still others assumed that Taylor and the pope spoke of a peace plan or a postwar collaboration for worldwide rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

The latter prediction may be rooted in Pope Pius\u2019s statements made very recently as well as at the beginning of the war in Europe. At the \u201cItalian Catholic Action\u201d ceremony on Sep. 20 in Rome, the day after his first audience with Taylor, he said, \u201cFaithful citizens of the church and the state must on their part support with all their energies the efforts of both the religious and civil communities.\u201d Listeners tried to pick up trends in the pope\u2019s speech that alluded to any topics discussed with Taylor. However, his address gave no direct indication of war matters.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Pope Pius XII in 1939 (from Wikimedia Commons).<\/p><\/div>\n

Stretching back to Hitler\u2019s invasion of Poland, Pope Pius issued his first encyclical on Oct. 27, 1939, titled \u201cSummi Pontificatus.\u201d The papal letter to all bishops of the Roman Catholic Church decried totalitarianism and \u201cthe evils it has brought on the world.\u201d He also stated: \u201cWhatever we can do to hasten the day when the dove of peace may find on this earth, submerged in a deluge of discord, somewhere to alight, we shall continue to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to that, on Aug. 24, 1939, in a plea for peace, he urged men to \u201cunderstand each other\u201d; that \u201chonorable success is never precluded to peaceful and purposeful negotiators.\u201d Also, on Christmas Eve last year, he spoke of \u201ca new order founded on moral principles\u201d over radio broadcast. Although Pius XII stressed that his statements did not indicate his and the Vatican\u2019s doctrinal stand, he has since taken the position of neutrality \u2013 much like his predecessor in the previous world war. In defense of the pope, Felix Morley of the Wall Street Journal said that Pius was \u201cnot an intimidated prisoner of the Vatican\u201d just because his public criticisms of the Axis powers have stopped.<\/p>\n

News organizations in Axis countries have issued their own interpretations of Taylor\u2019s meetings with the pope. Germany\u2019s official news agency, D.N.B., declared that \u201cAmerican diplomacy had suffered a rebuff.\u201d Such a claim does not hold much water, considering the duration and frequency of the meetings between the U.S. envoy and the pontiff.<\/p>\n

Apart from the unknown, what is<\/em> known is that religion plays a large role in world affairs. Anne McCormick of the New York Times noted that \u201cthe lesson is, by now, so clear that in all the occupied countries the most open and defiant opposition to Nazi tyranny comes from religious leaders.\u201d She later went on to cite that such opposition is happening within Germany and Spain, and there is \u201cmounting resistance of French bishops and clergy to Vichy\u2019s surrender to German pressure expressed in resistance to the deportation of Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Taylor left Rome today, he hinted that his meetings with the pope were a resounding success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can only say that I was well received,\u201d he said, \u201cand I am very satisfied.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTAYLOR RETURNING TO POST AT VATICAN.\u201d The New York Times, Sep. 18, 1942, p. 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cMyron C. Taylor Resuming Post at the Vatican.\u201d The Washington Post, Sep. 18, 1942, p. B16.<\/p>\n

Brigham, Daniel T. \u201cPope Has Long Talk With Taylor; Move to Aid Jews in France Seen.\u201d The New York Times, Sep. 20, 1942, p. 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cVatican View Awaited After Taylor Visit.\u201d The Washington Post, Sep. 21, 1942, p. 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cU.S. ENVOY TO SEE POPE TOMORROW.\u201d The New York Times, Sep. 21, 1942, p. 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident\u2019s Personal Definition of War Objectives Given Pope.\u201d The Washington Post, Sep. 22, 1942, p.1.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaylor Starts Reconstruction Plans, Swiss Hear.\u201d The Washington Post, Sep. 23, 1942, p. B2.<\/p>\n

Brigham, Daniel T. \u201cTAYLOR AGAIN SEES POPE AND HIS AIDES.\u201d The New York Times, Sep. 23, 1942, p. 4.<\/p>\n

Morley, Felix. \u201cConference at Vatican Inspires Hope for a Lasting World Peace.\u201d The Wall Street Journal, Sep. 26, 1942, p. 4.<\/p>\n

McCormick, Anne O\u2019Hare. \u201cA Move in the Field of Moral Strategy.\u201d The New York Times, Sep. 26, 1942, p. 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaylor \u2018Very Satisfied\u2019 After Talk With Pope.\u201d The Washington Post, Sep. 29, 1942, p. 2.<\/p>\n

Matthews, Herbert L. \u201cPope Assails Totalitarian Regimes.\u201d The Washington Post, Oct. 28, 1939, p. 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cPleas of President and Pope: THE POPE MAKES A PLEA FOR PEACE.\u201d The New York Times, Aug. 25, 1939, p.1.<\/p>\n

\u201cPontiff Urges Nations to Avoid Errors of Past When War is Over.\u201d The Philadelphia Enquirer, Oct. 28, 1939, p. 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The spiritual influence of the Vatican is worldwide, as Pope Pius XII is the leader of millions of Catholics on both the Allied and the Axis sides. But politically, the independent state is an enclave surrounded on all sides by Benito Mussolini\u2019s fascist regime. Even as Italy is at war with the United States, President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3780,"featured_media":1226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diplomacy","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/files\/2017\/09\/Pope-Pius-XII.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8bpwr-jL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3780"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1225"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1248,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225\/revisions\/1248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}