740.00/1501a
The Under Secretary of State (Welles) to President Roosevelt
My Dear Mr. President: Father Carroll, the Assistant to Mon-signor Ready95 who is at the moment out of Washington, called to [Page 187] see me this morning at the request of the Apostolic Delegate.96 The Delegate had yesterday received a telegram from the Papal Secretary with a request that its contents be communicated to this Government.
The message was as follows:
The Pope desired you to know that because of his belief that the peace of Europe was gravely endangered, he had on May 3 approached the governments of Great Britain, France, Poland, Germany, and Italy and had inquired of them whether they believed the peace of Europe to be in imminent danger, and second, whether those governments believed a peace conference to be attended by the representatives of the five powers mentioned to settle outstanding problems would be feasible. The Vatican had been informed as a result of the approaches made that none of the five governments believed the situation to be precarious and that the general impression was that a conference of the type proposed would not at that time be expedient.
In conclusion, the Apostolic Delegate was instructed to let you know that if later on such a conference appeared to be expedient, the Pope would communicate with you before any final steps were taken.
I asked Father Carroll to tell the Delegate that I deeply appreciated the message received and that I would immediately communicate its contents to you.
Believe me [etc.]