LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS PIUS XII
TO PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA*

20 September 1941

We have received with satisfaction and pleasure your esteemed letter of September third and We gladly avail Ourselves of the return to Washington of His Excellency Mr. Myron C. Taylor to forward to you this note of cordial acknowledgment.

We learned with gratification of the coming of your Personal Representative, who has always been a devoted and conscientious bearer of tidings from Your Excellency and who remains a welcome link between you and Us.

Mr. Taylor has called upon Us several times and We have been very happy to receive him on each occasion. He has presented to Us a full exposition of those matters which are uppermost in the mind of Your Excellency at the present time and he has graciously informed Us of your personal feelings and of the general sentiment of your people. We, in turn, have expressed to Mr. Taylor Our point of view regarding the important matters which were dealt with in our conversations. He has assured Us that, upon his return to Washington, he will give Your Excellency an accurate report in this regard.

It is Our constant prayer and sincere hope that Almighty God may hasten the day when men and nations now at war will enjoy the blessings of a true and enduring peace – a peace in which We confidently foresee embodied those fundamental Christian principles, whose application can assure the victory of love over hate, right over might, justice over egoism, and in which the search for eternal values will prevail over the quest for merely temporal goods. Meanwhile We find Ourselves, however, face to face with the appalling and heart-sickening consequences of modern warfare. In these tragic circumstances We are endeavoring, with all the forces at Our disposal, to bring material and spiritual comfort to countless thousands who are numbered amongst the innocent and helpless victims. We should like, on this occasion, to express to Your Excellency Our cordial appreciation of the magnificent assistance which the American people have given, and continue to offer, in this mission of mercy. They are, indeed, demonstrating once again a charitable understanding of the needs of their suffering fellowmen and a noble desire to alleviate their misery.

In reassuring you of Our ceaseless and untiring efforts in the cause of peace, we renew to Your Excellency the expression of Our heartfelt good wishes, with a fervent prayer for the personal welfare of Your Excellency and for the prosperity of the cherished people of the United States.

From the Vatican, September 20th, 1941.

Pius PP. XII

*Actes et Documents du Saint-Siège relatifs à la seconde guerre mondiale, vol. 5 p.238-239.