Evening star., 1942-09-27
Taylor's Talks at Vatican
May Prove of Great Value
Little Known of Meetings. but Conversations
Indicate Consideration of Fundamentals
Essential to Settlement of War
Rv eIfY Marie,
By FeHa Morley.

From shattered Stalin2rad to blacked-
0ut Belfast the leaves are falling amid
autumnal winds which presage the ad-
vent of Europes fourth winter of war
With cold impartiality the months ahead
will bring suffering, far beyond that
heretofore endured, to all the peoples of
a stricken continent. And it is against
that increasingly dreadful background
that the current conversations of Pope
Plus XII and Myron C. Taylor must be
interpreted.
Little is being written about the series
OF audiences which the Pope has granted
President Roosevelt's personal envoy to
the Vatican Except to a very limited
circle, little but the bare fact that the
meetings have taken place is known.
Yet these wholly unadvertised discus
sions may yet prove of supreme impo1-
tance to mankind
On September II Secretary of State
Hull announced that Mr.. Taylor was re-
turning for brief period to the post at
the Vatican to which President Roose-
velt named him nearly three years ago,
a few weeks after Germany invaded
Poland. On the very day of this an
nouncement in Washington Mr.. Taylor,
who has lately been resident in Spain,
flew to Rome, under safe conduct ar
ranged with the Italian government by
the papal secretary of state.
During the last few days the American
envoy has had interviews with the Pope
reported as record breaking In their
duration" Mr.. Taylor also has met with
the British and other ENJOYS to the Vati-
can, though there is no intimation that
these included representatives of the
Axis powers. 1t is further reported that
the Presidents spokesman plans to de-
part from Rome early this week. Moth
ing has been said as to whether or not
Washington is his destination.
Naturally there has been much
guarded, and for the most part verbal
specula ton as to the meaning of these
discussions at the Vatican Perhaps the
general conclusion is best summarized in
the message which the correspondent of
the New York Times at Bern, Switzer-
land, telephoned to his paper last Tues
day night AS printed in the Times of
September % this said:
Tonight the tendency is to believe
there is but one subject on which the
Pope would take such a personal inter-
est-the objective of his pontifcate,
peace" .----.- --.--...
Up to The present many people have
tacitly assumed that if the war ends
in Knockout victory by either side, the
Pope will play no larger role in the
construction of eventual peace than was
the case with his predecessor in 1919.
To picture Hitler as invoking the good
Offices of the papacy in this matter
would invite derision. But prior to Mr.
Taylor's current activities there also had
been little or no suggestion that Plus
XII might be invited to specify the
principles which should underlie the
peace terms in the event that the United
Nations arrive at a position in which
they can dictate the outcome.
Yet those familiar with the states
manship and secular policies of Plus
XII have long noted his deep concern
with regard to the character of the
SeIClcIIleHt WHICH must SOmeJlIIle emerge
from the present holocaust.
The very notable broadcast radioed
from the Vatican on Christmas eve
last year dealt largely with the neces-
sity of "a new order founded on moral
principles And as recently as Sep
tember 20, in a message celebrating the
goth anniversary of the Italian Cath
olic Action, the Pope again emphasized
that: 1T is the duty of every man to
contribute according to his means to
the realization of that new order which
is being given to the world
The new order" envisaged by Plus
XII is, of course, vastly different from
that which the Nazis are seeking to
impose on Europe But it is also very
different from the punitive peace un-
derwritten by the Allies at Versailles at
the close of the last war In the for
mutation of the next peace, the Pope
said in his broadcast last Christmas
there should be assured the co-opera-
ton not only of this or that peo-
pie, but Of all people, yea, rather of al
humanity. 1t is universal undertak-
ing for the common good which requires