In "Il Messaggero" is published Pope's letter to Roosevelt
The great concern of Pius XII
"Italy is fully interlocked, without the means to defend itself " I wrote, Pius XII to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 30, 1943, after weeks following the tragic bombing of Rome. It was a letter pleading in defense Rome and Italy, so that new savings are mourning the cities, the civilian population, monuments, the churches. The document, so far unpublished, are preserved in the archives of the Knights of Columbus. It is published on the front page Il Messaggero of June 9, 2010 along with an extensive article Giansoldati Franca.
A Roma rid of the bombing was the first concern of Pius XII from the day Italy entered World War II, as evidenced by a note audientia former Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini, dated August 10 1940. This list includes the recommendation to diplomatic representatives of France and England that transfer to their respective governments exhortation to "want respect Roma in wartime" . But the July 19, 1943 to June 4, 1944 Rome was attacked 51 times, killing more than three thousand people and injuring another eleven thousand.
(© L'Osservatore Romano, June 10, 2010)
Pius XII wrote to Roosevelt:
"No more bombs on Rome!"
by Franca Giansoldati
A letter of 1943 is exhibited in the Capitoline Museums
Summer 1943: blackest period para Italia, quizás el más trágico de todo el segundo conflicto mundial. Pio XII, en una carta que quedó celosamente guardada en un archivo, escribió al presidente Roosevelt, haciéndole presente que Italia se encontraba “completamente encadenada, sin los medios necesarios para defenderse” . Tras ello un llamado a salvar a los civiles, las iglesias y las instituciones religiosas, las únicas que todavía estaban en posición de ayudar a la gente. Los acontecimientos se sucedían en cadena. Primero, el desembarco de los Aliados en Sicilia; después, los bombardeos sobre Roma; más tarde, el 25 de julio, el Gran Consejo, que lograba por fin reunirse al cabo de cuatro años, destituía a Mussolini y confiaba al Rey “la toma del mando efectivo de las Fuerzas Armadas” . La Capital se encontraba bajo estado de choc como consecuencia de la acción de 200 cazabombarderos sobre algunos barrios romanos: Tiburtino, San Lorenzo, Labicano, Prenestino. El balance es muy difícil de soportar: tres mil muertos y once mil heridos. Poco después, también Turín y Milán comenzarán a ser atacadas, sin que se libre ningún blanco: iglesias, edificios públicos, hospitales, universidades, cementerios, fábricas, barrios populares enteros… Era el caos. Una ola de fuego y terror. La gente huía enloquecida al campo en busca de refugio. Un clima verdaderamente opresivo.
In this picture of devastation, Pius XII took paper and pen to personally direct a call to the United States, calling for further bombings save to Rome, preventing further attack the church structures, the ones that continued to give assistance population.
Pacelli's letter, considered of great historical importance, eventually being jealously guarded in the archives of the Knights of Columbus, a leading American Catholic institution, active in Italy since 1920 by the will of Benedict XV. Roman headquarters of the Knights of Columbus played a crucial role, not yet studied, on the diplomatic front during the war, filling the gap between the Holy See and the United States, then no relations at the ambassadorial level [President Roosevelt had a personal envoy to the pope: the industrialist and diplomat, Myron Taylor, n. of t] . Who patiently wove subtle threads of the relationships between them was Count Enrico Galeazzi, a confidant of the pope, Pius XII which was served to bring to the White House personal messages.
The August 30, 1943, four days of the signing of the Armistice Cassibile (released on 8 September), broke the letter of the Apostolic Palace, containing a grim analysis of the state it was Italy and included a distress call:
"Excellence, recent events have focused, naturally, the world's attention on Italy and much-too-is said and written policy should or could look the country in their interest. Fear has been taken for granted that the country is completely free to follow the policy of your choice. We wish to express to Your Excellency that it is our conviction that this is far from reality. From the desire of peace and fulfillment through the conclusion of the war did not nurture any doubt but in the presence of exceptional forces opposing such conduct or even to the formalization of such desire, chained Italy is completely without the means to defend themselves.
"If in these circumstances Italy was forced to endure yet devastating attacks that are virtually defenseless, we wish and pray that the military leaders do their utmost to free the innocent civilians in a particular way, churches and institutions religious, natural disaster or war. Indeed we must be noted, with deep sorrow and regret, as eloquent images of the ruins of the major Italian cities and populated areas. However, the reassuring message dirigido a Nos por Vuestra Excelencia, alimenta Nuestra esperanza de que –incluso frente a las experiencias más amargas– las iglesias y las casas construidas por la caridad cristiana para los pobres, los enfermos y los abandonados del rebaño de Cristo, puedan sobrevivir a los terribles ataques. Quiera Dios en su piedad, amor y misericordia escuchar el llanto universal de Sus hijos y hacerles oír la voz de Cristo que grita ¡”Paz!”
«Nos complace aprovechar esta ocasión para renovar Nuestros sinceros respetos a Vuestra Excelencia.
«Vaticano, 30 de agosto de 1943».
El precioso documento –proveniente del archivo de la sede de los Caballeros de Colón New Jersey, is on display, along with other unpublished documents, vintage photographs and pieces, in a large exhibition, the first of its kind, over 90 years of presence in Rome of the Knights of Columbus. Arranged in the Capitoline Museums, the exhibition consists of six sections and covers the history of the long friendship between the Capital and this order of chivalry founded in Connecticut in 1882 by Venerable P. Michael McGivney (pictured below) , in order to assist its members according to the principles of charity, unity and fraternity. Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone, Mayor Alemanno, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and Jim Nicholson, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See (author of a recent book on the relations between his country and the Vatican with the title Use and Holy See, the lunga strada), who will inaugurate the exhibition this afternoon.
(© Il Messaggero, June 9, 2010)
0 comments:
Post a Comment