Office of the Historian

385. Memorandum From the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Murphy) to the Under Secretary of State (Herter)0

September 16, 1958.

SUBJECT

  • Diplomatic relations with the Vatican

Agreeably to our conversation,1 I contacted Monsignor Paul Tanner, Chairman of the National Catholic Welfare Council. He expressed some surprise that there should be a suggestion at this time for the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Vatican. He said the situation remains unchanged since we last discussed it about two years ago.1 He also believes that this state of affairs will continue for three or four years. He does not believe that any representative element in the hierarchy in Illinois is agitating in favor of establishment of diplomatic relations. He said, for example, that the Vicar General acting in place of the late Cardinal Stritch2 is Monsignor Casey. He could state positively that Monsignor Casey would not be advocating establishment of diplomatic relations. He added that the attitude of the Bishops in the United States remains what it was at the time of our last discussion, namely, that they would prefer to see matters remain as they are in that respect.

  1. Source: Department of State, Italian Desk Files: Lot 68 D 436, Vatican Foreign Relations. Confidential. Drafted by Murphy.↩
  2. No record of this conversation has been found.↩
  3. No record of this conversation has been found.↩
  4. Samuel Cardinal Stritch, Pro-Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of Faith, died on May 27, shortly after assuming office. He was Archbishop of Chicago 1939–1958.↩