701.9466A/4½
The Apostolic Delegation to the Department of State
Memorandum
Prompted by the recent reports of the press in the United States that Japan was about to send a diplomatic mission to the Holy See, the Apostolic Delegation requested information on the matter from the Secretariate of State.
A reply has now been received from His Eminence, the Cardinal Secretary of State, and he has directed that its content be communicated confidentially to the Government of the United States.
The Government of Japan as early as 1922 had indicated to the Holy See its desire to send there a diplomatic mission. In view of the vast missionary interests of the Catholic Church in the Japanese Empire the Holy See gave its approval to this project. However, no conclusion was ever reached in the matter due to the marked opposition of Japanese Buddhists.;
Notwithstanding this opposition the Government of Japan did not relinquish the plan, and on various occasions expressed its desire to [Page 781] send a diplomatic mission to the Holy See. In August, 1939 and again very recently, through the Apostolic Delegation in Tokyo, the same desire was repeated, and the Government of Japan proposed to send an Envoy Extraordinary to the Holy See, to be replaced at a later date by a regular mission.
The Holy See confirmed its previously given approval, but up to the present no name has been presented by the Japanese Government for the agrément of the Vatican.