Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1944, General, Volume I

500.CC/9–1844: Telegram

Mr. Myron C. Taylor, Personal Representative of President Roosevelt to Pope Pius XII, to the Secretary of State

Vatican City, September 18, 1944—5 p.m.
[Received September 18—4:10 p.m.]

320. Referring to your No. 32, September 14, 7 p.m. I would suggest for your consideration the following hypothetical case:

If Vatican State apply for membership in proposed International Organization as provided by Section Four, Moscow Declaration⁸ and Senate Resolution⁹ as small peace-loving state, could its application be denied? If admitted and if its integrity as independent state is violated by forcible aggression through Italian revolution or otherwise, would it be entitled to protection by armed forces if necessary to preserve its independence?

Taylor

8. For text of the Declaration of Four Nations on General Security, signed at Moscow at the Tripartite Conference of Foreign Ministers on October 30, 1943, and published on November 1, see Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. i, p. 755.
9. For text of the Connally Resolution (Senate Resolution 192, 78th Congress, November 5, 1943), see Senate Document No. 123, 81st Cong., 1st sess.: A Decade of American Foreign Policy, Basic Documents, 1941–49 (Government Printing Office, 1950), p. 14.