Archive shows U.S.-Vatican diplomacy more complex than the public saw

Published: 2008-04-04

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The letter from the pope to the U.S. president about the war was diplomatically florid, but clear in its message. "Our contemporaries follow with their heartfelt prayers, and posterity will hold in honored memory, all those who -- undeterred by immense difficulties -- dedicate themselves to the sacred task of staunching the flow of youthful blood upon the fields of battle, and to the comforting of civilian victims despoiled and afflicted by the cruel conditions of our day," it said. "Blessed, indeed, are the peacemakers." The year was 1940. Franklin D. Roosevelt was president and the war about which Pope Pius XII agonized was World War II. The letter from Pope Pius to Roosevelt is part of a fascinating trove of material about U.S.-Vatican diplomatic relations on the Web site of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, N.Y. A series of memos and letters between the two leaders and their surrogates touches on efforts to avoid, then end the war; concerns for refugees and the fate of Christians in Russia; and worries about Allied bombing killing civilians and destroying important historic and religious sites in Rome. As current President George W. Bush prepares to welcome Pope Benedict XVI to the White House April 16, one topic widely expected to surface during their private meeting and during the pope's address to the United Nations April 18 is the five-year-old U.S.-led Iraq War and how to end it. As recently as March 17, Pope Benedict stepped up appeals for an end to the "bloodbath and hatred" tearing apart Iraq.

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