POPE SEEKS TO BAR SOVIET FROM PACT (6/7/39)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 6/7/39 | Camille M. Cianfarra

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Ping.

[alecqss]

BTTT

[BroJoeK]

"It is reported the Pope is considerably perturbed by the planned alliance of Britain, France and Russia because of fears that the soviet will be allowed to play an important part in European diplomacy. The church is an irreconcilable enemy of Bolshevism, so there is little doubt that the Pope will do everything in his power to prevent the conclusion of this alliance or to minimize its effect if the negotiations now in progress are successful."

I've long argued with Catholics who'd like to believe otherwise, that Pope Pius XII (unlike Pius XI) was so obsessed with the threat from godless Communism, that he literally could not see the more immediate threat from pagan Nazism.

Now I'd like to go even further -- anyone who wants to understand: where in the h*ll is Patrick Buchanan coming from? Peer inside the mind of Pius XII. There you will find Buchanan's intellectual fountainhead.

For practical purposes, Buchanan's "The Unnecessary War," is simply Pius XII's diplomatic ideas reincarnated.

imHHHo, of course. ;-)

Buchanan: "The Unnecessary War"

[Homer_J_Simpson]

A renewed effort to come to an arrangement with Soviet Russia was made by the British and French Governments. It was decided to send a special envoy to Moscow. Mr. Eden, who had made useful contacts with Stalin some years before, volunteered to go. This generous offer was declined by the Prime Minister. Instead on June 12 Mr. Strang, an able official but without any special standing outside the Foreign Office, was entrusted with this momentous mission. This was another mistake. The sending of so subordinate a figure gave actual offense. It is doubtful whether he was able to pierce the outer crust of the Soviet organism.

Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm

[Homer_J_Simpson]

6/12/39 update at #5.