The Foreign Service Journal, October 2005

Senate would block the establishment of formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See, in 1939 Roosevelt named businessman Myron Taylor to be his “personal representative” to the Vati- can, thus avoiding Senate confirma- tion. Based in the U.S., Taylor trav- eled to Rome periodically on Roose- velt’s orders, and Tittmann was sec- onded to run his office there. When the U.S. and Italy went to war in December 1941, Allied em- bassies to the Holy See had to close or move inside the Vatican’s walls. Although Tittmann’s office was not, strictly speaking, an embassy, the State Department instructed him to do the same, and the Vatican accredited him as chargé d’affaires. Still, conditions were difficult. Italian and, later, German authorities periodically threatened to expel the diplomats, and all messages had to be sent back to the department via open chan- nels. Accommodations were less than ideal for a Protestant family with two teenagers, and relations between Tittmann and his secretary deteriorated so badly that she eventu- ally left after safe passage could be assured. On the plus side, he had unparalleled access and numerous pri- vate meetings with Pope Pius XII. Tittmann’s account gives unique insight into the wartime mind-set of Vatican officials and the context in which they operated. It illustrates the interplay of politics and religious con- cerns that informed diplomacy on a variety of issues, including Roosevelt’s efforts to keep Italy out of the war and, later, his opposition to Vatican peace efforts that might have undermined the Allied goal of unconditional sur- render. The Vatican, for its part, guarded its neutrality jealously. While Pius XII hated the Nazis and consid- ered them a threat to civilization, he opposed Allied strategic bombing — especially of Rome itself. He also tried with little success to get the U.S. to pressure the Soviets to stop persecut- ing the Church (and was astonished by FDR’s benign assessment of Stalin). Many readers will find Tittmann’s discussion of the Vatican’s attitude toward the Holocaust to be particular- ly illuminating. Much has been writ- ten on this subject, but Tittmann is rare in writing from first-hand experi- ence. He acknowledges that expecta- tions of the pope’s role as a moral spokesman 60 years ago were very dif- ferent than they are today. Pius thought his often delphic pronounce- ments and veiled condemnations of the persecution of Jews were clear. On Christmas Day in 1942, he spoke of “the hundreds of thousands who, through no fault of their own and sole- ly because of their nation or race, have been condemned to death or progres- sive wasting away.” A few days later Tittmann met with him and then cabled the department that the pope believed “he had spoken therein clear- ly enough to satisfy all those insisting ... he utter some word of condemna- tion of Nazi atrocities, and he seemed surprised when I said there were some who did not share his belief.” Tittmann’s confinement in 1944 ended with the advancing forces of the U.S. Army throwing Hershey bars and cigarettes up to his sons on the walls of the Vatican. Tittmann’s next assign- ment was as ambassador to Haiti, and he eventually retired as a career ambassador. To the end of his life, however, he said the high point of his career were his years in the Vatican. This account goes a long way toward explaining why. n An FSO since 1985, Damian Leader is deputy director of the Office of Russian Affairs. He served earlier as political officer (and sometime chargé d’affaires) at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See. O C T O B E R 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 65 B O O K S u